The world, alas, is a complicated place. There are a lot of "on the one hand, on the other hand" realities that make the ideology behind the stop-global warming campaign seem somewhat simple.
The latest example of reality intruding on ideology appears in an article in today's edition of The Guardian (Great Britain) newspaper. The article, entitled "Tree planting projects may not be so green", observes:
Researchers have found that planting trees to soak up carbon can have detrimental knock on effects. "I believe we haven't thought through the consequences of this," says team-member Robert Jackson at Duke University in North Carolina, "I think the policy could backfire on us, but it will take decades to play out."
His team pooled more than 500 separate yearly observations from studies from five continents which compared planted areas with plots nearby that did not have trees. They report in Science that the plantations had a drastic effect on stream flow. By sucking water out of the ground and evaporating it from their leaves the trees reduced flow by half. And 13% of streams dried up for at least a year. This would have effects downstream where less water would be available for plants and animals.
The team found that nutrients in the soil were also affected by tree planting. Calcium, magnesium and potassium were all depleted while sodium was enriched, meaning that plantation soil was more salty on average. All of these changes would affect the range of plant species.
In any event, whatever beneficial effect tree-planting my have in reducing CO2 emissions may be short term, because the trees themselves ultimately become part of the problem:
Tree-planting has always been a controversial method of soaking up CO2 because it is little more than a short term fix. Once the trees die they rot, releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere.
The Guardian article is a stark reminder that politicians and the public need to think through supposed anti-climate change measures which may radically alter our lifestyles for little or no ultimate environmental benefit.
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Posted by: Vivienne Westwood レディース 財布 | December 03, 2013 at 03:27 PM
I don't think why illegal logging is still running in our system. There must be a force and good planning to eliminate it. Trees are important. Many people do not realize the importance of trees but if you look at it it gives so much than we expect.
Posted by: playmobil | September 01, 2011 at 06:02 AM