Plant a Trillion Trees and Pump That Gas, House Speaker Says
Plant a Trillion Trees and Pump That Gas, House Speaker Says
The idea became popular after a 2019 study was published, but the authors have since clarified that planting trees won't stop climate change.
He’s so incredibly sure the GOP base is ignorant enough to buy this stupidity it’s infuriating. I mean, he’s not wrong but he knows better and it’s just so insulting.
"Ok, let's plant a Trillion Trees."
"No, that's woke."
carbon capture aka planting trees will actually affect the climate - in the long term, like 500+ years down the road - but you have to plant fast growing trees, harvest them every 50 years (using some method that is carbon negative), and then you have to find something to do with the quadrillions of board feet of lumber (which can only be processed using some carbon negative method). cant burn it, that'd just release the carbon back into the atmosphere. burying it is too much work. maybe use it as feedstock in continent spanning mushroom farms or something?
it works but there's issues with how it works.
Here's the problem, the messaging is "confusing", carbon is not the issue, at least in the North American continent. Estimated CO2 production is less then Estimated CO2 "recovery" from estimated trees. Other greenhouse gases on the other hand is a different story, yet everyone focuses on carbon. Inaccurate messaging is a big problem.
You’re right and you’re wrong.
You’re right that methane emissions are a bigger problem than CO2 and they are drastically underestimated.
You’re wrong in dismissing CO2. Regardless of North American emissions, atmospheric CO2 ppm is increasing and we need it to decrease. Afforestation is one of the only reasonable ways to achieve CO2 reduction. Climate modeling also suggests that more forests could have other beneficial effects(increased rain, local temperature stability in shorter heat spikes) in attenuating extreme weather beyond CO2 drawdown.