Trees

A recent paper in The Scientist notes that trees can rid us of a significant amount of CO2. No real news there. I have a tree density of in excess of 150 trees per acre. That is in New Jersey. Unfortunately neighbors have removed almost all trees in favor of grass, the lawn type.

The article notes:

Not counting agricultural areas, cities, and existing forests, the globe can accommodate an additional 0.9 billion hectares of forest, the study found. That much forest area, if allowed to mature, could result in the storage of an estimated 205 gigatons of carbon, or about two-thirds of the carbon that humans have added to the atmosphere since the 1800.....Thomas Crowther, who led the study, tells the Associated Press, adding that it’s also the most effective solution available. “Forests represent one of our biggest natural allies against climate change,” ....., a carbon storage researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park, and NASA who was not involved in the research, tells Science, adding that “this is an admittedly simplified analysis of the carbon restored forests might capture, and we shouldn’t take it as gospel.”

 I could not agree more. I grow ginkgo trees, have 40+ seedlings set out this year alone. Ginkgo trees absorb an excess of any other tree, they came into existence when CO2 was much higher. We should probably aggressively enforce the tree laws in our towns, keeping trees and strongly penalizing the folks who cut them down.