Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best? • Hacker News Board

Re: Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best?

#211

Post by yo1 » Thu, Aug 01, 2019, 4:21 PM UTC

Many of my 4 year old Spanish Cedar trees (cedros) are already 20cm (8") diameter at chest height and ~15m tall. Planting hardwood trees in the tropics is one of the best long term investments you can make, especially if you plan to have furniture etc made with the wood. Some types of trees are ready to harvest in 5 years, others in 10, others in 20, others in 40+ (for your kids)

I've planted about 30 hectares so far, will do another 15ha this year. To keep maintenance costs down, you can plant them in contour rows along with closely spaced leguminous trees like inga edulus to shade out the weeds below.

Selecting trees that are hardy against insects when they are young is a good way to go (cedros and mahogany are not, need spraying..) I'm not a fan of teak, eucalyptus or pine being planted in the Amazon, I think fast growing native species are best.

If you do the math, the numbers are really good. And it's good for the animals. And climate.

Re: Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best?

#212

Post by philipkglass » Thu, Aug 01, 2019, 5:29 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #177

philipkglass wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Introducing nuclear power in climate discussions tends to cause flamewars because it's often introduced by someone making extreme blanket statements, like "humans cannot be trusted with nuclear power" or "nuclear is the only available solution to climate change." Just mention it as one of the low-emissions alternatives to fossil power. Cite climate-focused organizations for support rather than industry-specific organ…

The problem with Nuclear is it needs huge subsides to be cost competitive with battery backed Wind / Solar or Hydro, even more if you want it to load follow. With just a carbon tax and no specific Nuclear subsidies, Nuclear is rarely a good option. In theory it seems like a great idea, in practice with decades of 10’s to 100’s of Billions in R&D it’s unlikely to improve that much within the next 5-10 years. (106 Bill…

I agree that new nuclear power doesn't appear to be competitive with new renewables in the near term. It might be competitive again as renewable penetration gets high and storage costs rise. If there were just one tax incentive scheme, aimed at reducing CO2 emissions, we could be sure that tax incentives were optimizing for low emissions without distorting the market in favor of overly specific technology choices. But as I mentioned before, I'll take the overly specific and distortionary incentives if the alternative is "no incentives at all for reducing emissions."

Re: Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best?

#213

Post by JudgeWapner » Thu, Aug 01, 2019, 5:35 PM UTC

gnode wrote: post #210

JudgeWapner wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Processing and transport requires energy which is unlikely to be renewable. To maximize impact I think we need to find some efficient system, perhaps algae or GMO plants or weeds, that sinks carbon straight into the earth. Perhaps very verdant places like Minnesota, residents could be encouraged to collect deciduous leaves each year and round them up for sequestration (which again requires energy). Or renewable and n…

We could artificially capture arbitrary amounts of carbon using nuclear and renewable power, but I think it's important to consider how such activities would be paid for. It seems more politically feasible to me, to incentivise ecologically healthy consumption through taxation (e.g. carbon tax; fuel duties; severance taxes), than to fund grand reparative projects.

> how such activities would be paid for.

they should be paid for by the industries that caused the pollution: oil and gas, automobile, manufacturing. I don't think there is any dichotomy regarding encouraging healthy consumption. Even if we were carbon neutral today, how are we going to siphon back the excess carbon that has been released over the last century?

Re: Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best?

#214

Post by mikehotel » Thu, Aug 01, 2019, 9:00 PM UTC

hangonhn wrote: post #6

Slightly tangentially related, for those of us who are into gardening and coding, there is a plant monitor made by Xiaomi called Xiaomi Flower Care that will monitor moisture, light, temperature, and soil fertility. It works over Bluetooth and can be purchased on Amazon for as low as $8 per probe but the vendors will often charge around $25. You see a lot of rebranded ones but they're all the same from Xiaomi. It wor…

Good luck with your plans!

Think about using a bell siphon [1]. Its typically used in aquaponics with a constant stream of water being pumped, but the pump can certainly be switched with a relay/pi/sensor setup to allow for intermittent dry spells (depending on what your growing). Water can be pumped from a nearby reservoir or tank.

[1] https://worldwaterreserve.com/aquaponics/bell-siphon-for-aqu...

Re: Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best?

#215

Post by netjiro » Fri, Aug 02, 2019, 7:50 AM UTC

Iv wrote: post #181

ShlomoS wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>whether it is better to let tree grows on a parcel, or cut grass regularly and let it compost, adding biomass to it. Of those two options, trees. Compost does not sequester carbon in and of itself. That's a wishful thinking myth that is based on a lack of understanding of soil. Compost is organic matter, in various stages of life, death and decay. We want soil to have more organic matter. So people assumed adding co…

Thanks! I was looking for that kind of answers! So does that mean that at any given place, there won't be soil for deeper than the roots go? What happens to the soul if all the roots die or are removed (assuming it is not washed away by water)? Does it decay into CO2?

Different plants have different behaviours. Some sequester carbon well in the ground, others have near zero long term sequestration value. Some of the best are algae and seaweed that are allowed to sink to the bottom when they die. Plants that grow in bogs behave similarly. Chestnut is one of the best long term carbon sequestering trees.

Re: Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best?

#216

Post by elliotcoad » Fri, Aug 02, 2019, 4:50 PM UTC

If you want to plant lots of trees cheaply, and watch your forest come to life we created a platform for exactly that. We don't take a cut of your money to pay ourselves either. We just want to let people achieve amazing things and grow billions of new trees. It's Offset Earth - https://offset.earth/

Re: Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best?

#217

Post by avierax » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 4:04 AM UTC

tareqak wrote: post #167

N.B. Crazy idea follows: I wonder if there would be a away for the government to allow people to purchase land at a reduced cost and tax-free (sales and property taxes) for the sole purpose of planting trees. Land purchased this way would be legally protected against the government's power of eminent domain/expropriation [0]. Sale of the said land would be restricted in the same way. If someone did want to develop th…

What would be the advantage of making the land private compared to planting trees in public land?

Re: Tree planting: Where can I do it and which type is best?

#218

Post by tareqak » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 11:43 AM UTC

avierax wrote: post #217

tareqak wrote: post #167

N.B. Crazy idea follows: I wonder if there would be a away for the government to allow people to purchase land at a reduced cost and tax-free (sales and property taxes) for the sole purpose of planting trees. Land purchased this way would be legally protected against the government's power of eminent domain/expropriation [0]. Sale of the said land would be restricted in the same way. If someone did want to develop th…

What would be the advantage of making the land private compared to planting trees in public land?

It’s so that a future government can’t sell that land to someone else to cut down the trees and develop it. That can still happen with private ownership, which is why I had the idea of giving concessions that would have to be paid back to deter it.