Trees To Beat The Climate Crisis

The simple yet elusive key to fighting the climate crisis: More trees It may get less press than more dramatic solutions, but planting trees–and protecting the trees we have–is a vital step in the climate battle.

Sarah Sax, May 10, 2019 (Fast Company)

“…Habitat destruction on land, overfishing in the seas, and overconsumption across much of the globe, [among many other human behaviors], now threaten to extinguish up to a million species in the near future…One of the major tactics at humanity’s disposal [to address and, hopefully reverse, this trend] is effectively managing and restoring the world’s forests–preservation and conservation efforts that could, quite literally, change the world…[Tropical reforestation holds the largest sequestration potential – but tropical deforestation is the largest contributor to land-use emissions globally because forests] can both sequester large amounts of carbon in things like trees and soil, but also be a huge source of CO2 when that carbon is lost through activities like agriculture, logging or wildfire…

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[New research shows warming can be limited] through technologies that exist today…[and] natural climate solutions…Agriculture, forestry, and other land uses contribute approximately one-quarter of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions but receive only a tiny fraction of climate mitigation dollars…[Meeting the Paris Climate agreement goals] is strongly dependent on not just cutting emissions from fossil fuels, but also avoiding deforestation [through conservation of actual forests, reforestation and sustainable management of forests] and reducing emissions from agriculture…[At least 477 companies have some form of voluntary zero-deforestation supply chain initiative…[but] a lack of definition over what zero deforestation means, as well as a lack of government regulation to hold companies accountable, are increasingly seen as major obstacles…” click here for more

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