North/South divide (0)
Posted 30 March, 2008 in Climate change, Forests and woodlands
Again, I posted something elsewhere, this time about efforts to understand how climate change is going to affect Scots pine. The question is important to me right now – for reasons I might go into some other time – but the immediate (and much more general!) significance is the way the research highlights the complex relationships between even a single species and its environment. The results, published in Ecology Letters, aren’t Earth-shattering, although they are well shored-up from a methodological point of view. (more…)
That sinking feeling (0)
Posted 10 March, 2008 in Carbon offsetting, Climate change, Forests and woodlands, Political issues
Welcome to www.eighteenpercentcarbon.com. Let’s talk about trees. Here’s an article, first published in Conservation magazine (April-June 2007), then in the Nature Conservancy’s mag, about the role of trees in carbon sequestration.
That Sinking Feeling
We dig fossil fuel out of the ground, burn it and fill the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, and then plant trees to soak it back up. If only it were so simple.
Aren’t trees great? There’s something so utterly natural about meandering through a leafy woodland glade, staring up at that immense, almost overwhelming beech tree, and giving the big old thing a hug. And not only are trees our friends, but they can also save the planet. Right? According to the website of the CarbonNeutral Company (formerly known as Future Forests), “the invisible nature of greenhouse gases contrasts with how easy it is to understand how trees absorb CO2 and put out oxygen.” So there you have it. We dig fossil fuel out of the ground, burn it, and fill the atmosphere with carbon dioxide—and the trees soak it right back up. (more…)
