Re: Tree planting 'has mind-blowing potential' - sorry, not really. Archived Message
Posted by Ian M on August 3, 2019, 2:24 pm, in reply to "Re: Tree planting 'has mind-blowing potential' - sorry, not really. "
Can't access the arcticphoto pic I'm afraid. Garry's photo (nice spot - your van/dog?) shows that yes there is a certain amount of whitening on evergreens but not as much as the blanket coverage that would go on grasses, herbs or shrubs. I managed to get onto the real climate page and they give these 2 papers as references: https://www.pnas.org/content/104/16/6550 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa6b3f From the second: 'Boreal evergreen forest vegetation has lower albedo than grasses both during the growing season (evergreen leaves are darker than deciduous leaves and herbaceous vegetation) and during winter, when tree crowns shade the underlying snow layer and reduce the albedo considerably' (references this paper for Nature which I can't access: https://www.nature.com/articles/35041545 ) There are plenty of disturbing implications from their research findings - basically that from a global climate perspective it would be better to completely deforest northern regions, while preserving and/or expanding forest cover in the tropics. The first paper at least notes that: '[W]e must bear in mind that preservation of ecosystems is a primary goal of preventing global warming, and the destruction of ecosystems to prevent global warming would be a counterproductive and perverse strategy. Therefore, the cooling that could potentially arise from deforestation outside the tropics should not necessarily be viewed as a strategy for mitigating climate change because, apart from their potential climatic role, forests are valuable in many aspects. They provide natural habitat to plants and animals, preserve the biodiversity of natural ecosystems, produce economically valuable timber and firewood, protect watersheds through prevention of soil erosion, and indirectly prevent ocean acidification by reducing atmospheric CO2. In planning responses to global challenges, therefore, it is important to pursue broad goals and to avoid narrow criteria that may lead to environmentally harmful consequences.' For me it shows the fundamental injustice of trying to get the nonhuman world to pay for the excesses of industrialism. I would also favour the regrowth of forests in areas where the climate is suitable and there was a history of tree cover, while noting the many examples where afforestation has run roughshod over the needs of locals, for example the forestry commission plantations after WW1 or the Israeli use of pine forests to cover up and perpetuate ethnic cleansing of Palestinians: https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/wales/entries/afb90b42-ee15-34f5-ac3a-e6972d189ba7 http://www.jonathan-cook.net/2017-12-01/forest-fires-israel-goats-zionism/ cheers, I
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