Forestry: February 2008 Archives

Trees are the muscles of urban landscapes. They provide a wide array of benefits to individual homes, neighborhoods, and the city at large. A wide variety of trees -- from forests at the outskirts that absorb and filter pollutants -- to flowering dogwoods and climbing trees -- all add livability to urban living.

The hard working "tree" is even more important today, with our concerns about air quality and climate change. If you have room to plant a tree -- in a yard, on suburban or rural property, or even in a container on your deck -- you have the opportunity to contribute to the restoration of our natural forest-covered earth's natural air, water and soil system that is self-healing.

Trees reduce carbon dioxide in the air, thereby reducing the warming “greenhouse” effect of the gas, in two main ways. First, as they grow, they take carbon dioxide out of the air and transform it into roots, leaves, bark, flowers, and wood. Over the lifetime of a tree, several tons of carbon dioxide are taken up (McPherson and Simpson 1999). In fact, trees are the only known feasible way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Even if we were able to switch immediately to fuel sources that do not emit carbon dioxide, the current levels in the air are higher than at any time in the past 400,000 years, according to the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change, and because of the long “lifetime” of carbon dioxide, will remain so for decades or even centuries.

Second, by providing shade and transpiring water, trees lower air temperature and, therefore, cut energy use, which reduces the production of carbon dioxide at the power plant. Two-thirds of the electricity produced in the United States is created by burning a fuel (coal, oil, or natural gas) that produces carbon dioxide–on average, for every kilowatt hour of electricity created, about 1.39 lbs of carbon dioxide is released (eGRID 2002). It is certainly true, as Dr. Duffy states, that not emitting carbon dioxide in the first place is a good strategy. Lowering summertime temperatures by planting trees in cities is one way to reduce energy use and thereby reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

SOURCE: Eco Preservation Society

PROBLEM: Urban heat contributes to climate change and air pollution

SOLUTION:  Plant and care for more trees -- and keep them healthy for longterm maturity.  Mature trees provide more benefits than young trees.

In 2005 Lawrence Livermore Laboratory and Carnegie Institution produced a study that concluded that reforestation has limited value in efforts to decelerate the warming of the planet.

Reforestation is not only a “viable option”; it is our “only option”. Investing in future technologies to reduce emissions does NOTHING to remove the CO2 that we have already dumped into the atmosphere. There is only ONE viable and proven way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and that is through the growth of trees and vegetation.

SOURCE: EcoPreservation Society

The Eco Prservation Society feels strongly to the contrary -- they find that a long-term effort at sequestering carbon is vital and that reforestation is the only means presently at our disposal.

By the study’s author’s own admission, the Lawrence Livermore study was predicated on an unrealistic scenario. The modeling was based on the single metric of replacing 100% of ALL grasslands and 100% of ALL croplands with evergreen trees! The modeling techniques did not take into account geological variations, topographical variations, altitude, regional weather patterns or microclimates. What the Lawrence Livermore study accomplishes is nothing more than a broad approximation based on a single variable, with that single variable being latitude.

However, according to Kevin Peterson, CEO of EcoPreservation, "from our view this is not an either/or proposition when comparing Emission Reductions to Carbon Sequestration, both are vitally important. It is of critical importance that we both reduce our emissions and reduce the amount of additional CO2 that we have added (and will continue to add for the next 20 or 30 years) to the atmosphere."

The earth is reaching, if it hasn't already, a tipping point in which natural systems are so damaged that it cannot replenish and restore itself. It will take action on many fronts -- reduction of carbon emissions from transportation and building, as well as reforestation, cooling urban centers...AS WELL AS replenishing our reduced forests, ocean phytoplankton...and even grass cover in deserts and plains. Every action will help speed the recovery of our natural systems. So...plant a tree, some shrubs, and remove your manicured llawn -- you can make a difference.

PROBLEM:  Climate change is  reducing earth's self-restoration systems

SOLUTION:  Take multiple actions to reduce climate change, air pollution and water shortages by planting and caring for mature trees; as well as reducing travel that causes carbon dioxide and emissions.

The vote in Feb., 2008 by CalPERS Board of Trustees creates sustainable management standards for its Forestlands Investment policy, part of a new inflation-linked assets class. The new standards require timber managers to use ecologically sustainable logging practices in order to foster long-term and steady growth of both forest and financial returns.

The move by CalPERS, the nation’s largest public pension fund, continues California’s precedent-setting leadership role in fighting global warming and comes at a time when the economic benefits of forests are expanding as the result of growing worldwide demand for protecting the environmental health of the planet.

Forestry experts at The Nature Conservancy point out that by requiring independent, third-party certification for its forest investments, CalPERS will gain access to increasing consumer markets favoring sustainable forest products and green building materials, and keep CalPERS ahead of new regulatory actions.

See California Green Solutions for full story

PROBLEM: Institutional investment supports deforestation when they do not require sustainable forestry management.

SOLUTION: Encourage your investment managers to support carbon sequestration by requiring forests to be maintained for longterm health and carbon reduction.  Make your voice heard!

Trees are the muscles of our  habitat.  They do some pretty heavy work -- they anchor the soil, convert humidity into  moisture for the soil, break rocks into smaller pebbles, and after all that work, they convert their leaves into humus, their limbs and trunks into humble soil.  And they are home and shelter for thousands of different kinds of insects, birds, mammals, worms and microbes. And they store carbon.

“It’s probably a nice thing to do, but planting trees is not a quantitative solution to the real problem. If you plant a tree (CO2 reductions are) only temporary for the life of the tree. If you don’t emit in the first place, then that permanently reduces CO2.” Dr. Philip Duffy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

And trees aren't permanent!  Surprise! :-)  But some, like the giant sequoias are closer to permanent than many buildings and energy reduction schemes.

But forests as a whole are permanent -- one generation feeding the next.  Carbon is the stuff of life...and trees are the staff of carbon.

PROBLEM: Carbon emissions are creating stress on natural systems that recycle CO2.

SOLUTION: Planting and maintaining trees through MATURITY adds filtration, water retention, shade for hot urban centers, soil replenishment, habitat for wildlife, as well as windbreaks for homes, shade to reduce utility usage, and adds to the livability and value of a building -- whether a home or commercial building.  Trees work hard for us!