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Forest restoration is needed now.

The One Trillion Trees Act has a number of problems.  First, it has become a political talking point that is promoted as the one solution to climate change that won’t disrupt fossil fuel use.  The trillion trees idea is associated with researcher, Thomas Crowther, who exclaims, “I’ve never said we should plant a trillion trees.”

In response to numerous criticisms of the science behind planting a trillion trees, researcher, Thomas Crowther, issued a lengthy response in the journal Science, explaining the benefits of reforestation, but that he did not mean “reforestation was a potential magic bullet or a substitute for reducing fossil fuel use.”

“U.S. forests cover about 750 million acres, according to the U.S. Forest Service.  These forests sequester about 15 percent of the 6.5 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases emitted in the USA each year.”  15% is pretty good, and we can probably get to as much as 20% says Chris Wright, a research associate at the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Forest restoration is needed now.  Getting to 20% carbon sequestration by forests, however, will take years (20 or more?) and that still leaves 80% of our CO2 emissions from fossil fuels.  Meanwhile, world governments continue to subsidize fossil fuels to the tune of 5 trillion dollars each year.

 

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John McDonald

EcoFaith Network NE MN Team
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Duluth, MN

Northeastern Minnesota Synod

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