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Climate and Agriculture in the Southeast

Recent stories about trees and climate

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In the news today (see first story below) was a story that we can put a dent in climate change by planting billions or even trillions of trees, which will absorb and store carbon dioxide. While that will help slow the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere, it really only buys some time, since the efficiency of sequestering CO2 goes down as the trees get older, so it is probably not as much a solution as some of today’s news stories would have it. And of course some areas are not suitable for planting.The best course is just to slow down CO2 emissions in the first place.  Here are some other recent stories in the news which discuss the relationship between trees and climate.

CBS News: Planting a trillion trees could be the “most effective solution” to climate change, study says

Physics Today: Troublesome Trees: Spread of Forests Contributed to Ancient Extinction

Popular Science: Some trees can make droughts worse

Stuff: Ancient Northland kauri tree reveals secrets of Earth’s polar reversal

Smithsonian: A 16-million-year-old tree tells a deep story of the passage of time

The ancient kauri tree was uncovered during excavations at Ngāwhā for a geothermal power plant expansion.
Tonkin +Taylor
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