Sunday, September 21, 2014 6:05:13 AM
NY Times forests oped is out on a limb: protecting trees still key to solving climate change
By Steve Schwartzman | Bio | Published: September 20, 2014
In an oped in Saturday's New York Times (To Save the Planet, Don't Plant Trees .. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/opinion/to-save-the-planet-dont-plant-trees.html), Nadine Unger argues that reducing deforestation and planting trees won't help fix climate change but will rather make it worse. One might ask how the 2,000-plus scientists and experts on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) got this one wrong – they found tropical deforestation the second largest source of carbon pollution, after burning fossil fuels for energy– but in fact it's Unger who's way out on a limb here.
Steve Schwartzman, Director of Tropical Forest Policy
When trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store it as carbon in their trunks, branches, leaves and roots. When people cut the trees down and burn them to clear forest for cattle pasture or crops, as they have at a rate of 13 million hectares of forest per year in the tropics over the last decade, this releases CO2 back into the atmosphere.
Unger argues that forests absorb more sunlight than crops or grassland, which reflect more sunlight back into space and cool the earth. But that's not true in the tropics. In tropical forests like the Amazon, where deforestation is happening and thus where the Climate Summit's attention is focused, trees take up water from rainfall and evaporate it through their leaves, and create cloud cover. These clouds reflect even more sunlight than grasslands or bare earth, thus cooling the earth more. This is why large-scale deforestation disrupts rainfall regimes – and why deforestation in the Amazon, if unchecked, may reduce rainfall in California .. https://connect2.edf.org/f5-w-687474703a2f2f626c6f67732e6564662e6f7267$$/climatetalks/2014/02/24/californias-carbon-market-could-help-stop-amazon-deforestation/.
Emissions from tropical deforestation are, from the perspective of the atmosphere, just the same as emissions from burning fossil fuels – carbon that was wood, coal, oil or gas is turned into CO2 and released to the atmosphere. In a living forest, trees do die and, over time release CO2 to the atmosphere. But then new trees grow, and absorb that CO2 again – not the case when forests that have stored carbon for centuries are replaced by grass to feed cattle or oil palm plantations.
Contrary to Unger’s claims, the "high risk" is to ignore the 200 billion tons of at-risk carbon stocks in the world’s tropical forests. In fact, as the IPCC has concluded, stopping tropical deforestation is a critical priority for controlling climate change.
http://blogs.edf.org/climatetalks/2014/09/20/ny-times-forests-oped-is-out-on-a-limb-protecting-trees-still-key-to-solving-climate-change/
SilverSurfer, that's to add to F6's reply. Oh, gotta say kudos for this one of yours.
The Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle Class
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2014/09/17/97287/the-top-10-solutions-to-cut-poverty-and-grow-the-middle-class/
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/replies.aspx?msg=106464428
It reads well. Wha's happening to you? Some 2nd thoughts? LOL
By Steve Schwartzman | Bio | Published: September 20, 2014
In an oped in Saturday's New York Times (To Save the Planet, Don't Plant Trees .. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/opinion/to-save-the-planet-dont-plant-trees.html), Nadine Unger argues that reducing deforestation and planting trees won't help fix climate change but will rather make it worse. One might ask how the 2,000-plus scientists and experts on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) got this one wrong – they found tropical deforestation the second largest source of carbon pollution, after burning fossil fuels for energy– but in fact it's Unger who's way out on a limb here.
Steve Schwartzman, Director of Tropical Forest Policy
When trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store it as carbon in their trunks, branches, leaves and roots. When people cut the trees down and burn them to clear forest for cattle pasture or crops, as they have at a rate of 13 million hectares of forest per year in the tropics over the last decade, this releases CO2 back into the atmosphere.
Unger argues that forests absorb more sunlight than crops or grassland, which reflect more sunlight back into space and cool the earth. But that's not true in the tropics. In tropical forests like the Amazon, where deforestation is happening and thus where the Climate Summit's attention is focused, trees take up water from rainfall and evaporate it through their leaves, and create cloud cover. These clouds reflect even more sunlight than grasslands or bare earth, thus cooling the earth more. This is why large-scale deforestation disrupts rainfall regimes – and why deforestation in the Amazon, if unchecked, may reduce rainfall in California .. https://connect2.edf.org/f5-w-687474703a2f2f626c6f67732e6564662e6f7267$$/climatetalks/2014/02/24/californias-carbon-market-could-help-stop-amazon-deforestation/.
Emissions from tropical deforestation are, from the perspective of the atmosphere, just the same as emissions from burning fossil fuels – carbon that was wood, coal, oil or gas is turned into CO2 and released to the atmosphere. In a living forest, trees do die and, over time release CO2 to the atmosphere. But then new trees grow, and absorb that CO2 again – not the case when forests that have stored carbon for centuries are replaced by grass to feed cattle or oil palm plantations.
Contrary to Unger’s claims, the "high risk" is to ignore the 200 billion tons of at-risk carbon stocks in the world’s tropical forests. In fact, as the IPCC has concluded, stopping tropical deforestation is a critical priority for controlling climate change.
http://blogs.edf.org/climatetalks/2014/09/20/ny-times-forests-oped-is-out-on-a-limb-protecting-trees-still-key-to-solving-climate-change/
SilverSurfer, that's to add to F6's reply. Oh, gotta say kudos for this one of yours.
The Top 10 Solutions to Cut Poverty and Grow the Middle Class
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/news/2014/09/17/97287/the-top-10-solutions-to-cut-poverty-and-grow-the-middle-class/
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/replies.aspx?msg=106464428
It reads well. Wha's happening to you? Some 2nd thoughts? LOL
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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