Should We Be Planting More Trees?

[BillTre]

I think you misunderstand the purpose of the thread. It wasn't about growing trees, it was about growing trees to address a problem, which the majority of my comments are relative too.

A) I think you should let the guy who started the thread say what its about.
B) I think most of your comments have been about your comments not getting the respect you expected.

The irony is your post is also, not about growing trees.

Neither are many of yours. Oh the irony!

 

[paradoxlost]

A) I think you should let the guy who started the thread say what its about.

he did actually

A very popular activity here in Australia is the planting of trees for all sorts of reasons.

I am a huge supporter in order to offset the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

But an article in Scientific American thinks it is critical to remove CO2:

so you see where he says "in order to offset the destruction of the Amazon rainforest"

and than when he goes "it is critical to remove CO2"

notice where he doesn't ask "how can I grow trees" or anything analogous. So this means he is more interested in the secondary effects that emerge from trees being in existence. A positive externality if you will.

B) I think most of your comments have been about your comments not getting the respect you expected.

show me? i think wondering why a guy is following me around and editing my posts isn't the same as wondering why my posts aren't getting the respect I expected. Now what is unexpected is how out of touch with reality many of the members here to the point where mods are editing posts and its not even registering with them that they are editing posts.

Neither are many of yours. Oh the irony!

Good job derailing a thread about growing trees to combat the effects of climate change. Could have been a good thread too. We could have talked about emission spectra, heat capacities, environmental modeling, resource management, etc.

[Insult deleted by moderator]

 

[Bystander]

Been there, done that; grass type (fescue, zoysia, bermuda....) and sun angle throughout the day make for a very "mixed" data set.

..., see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevenson_screen ; turned into "can of worms."

 

[ShadowKraz]

One of the flaws I feel like with academics, at least environmental sciences, is they spend to much time trying to get grant money and not enough time actually interacting with the thing that inspired them to get into that field to begin with. Precious few scientists spend over 50% of the year outside.

Hunh... really? I put my ex though her grad studies in Edaphology; Ph.D. awarded in 2002. To this day she spends at least 50% of her time, even in the depths of winter, even while fighting for funding, outdoors.
Besides, do you spend at least 4,380 hours per year outdoors? She does.

 

[Vanadium 50]

One of the flaws I feel like with academics, at least environmental sciences, is they spend to much time trying to get grant money

Please don't post nonsense here at PF.

So how do you think they should get the resources to support their research? Wait for bags of gold to drop out of the sky? It sure would be nice if every time soneone had an idea the Science Fairy would wave her wand and suddenly there would be a puff of smoke and a postdoc , two students and some equipment would magically appear. But that's not how the world works.

 

[BillTre]

That paradox guy was a kind of mental plate cleanser.

 

[Nik_2213]

Please, please do not lose track of the need for a robust ecological succession.

The first trees etc planted must be of a type and spacing to tolerate their sub-optimal environments, support progression to a mature, mixed forest..
Eucalyptus has been mentioned as a prolific 'Water Thief'. This leaves immature stands vulnerable to wild-fire. Both their depletion of water-table and resin sprinkling may impair establishment of follow-on cultivars...

IIRC, there's interesting work on productive plantings in 'adverse' ground conditions eg
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/learning-love-hardscrabble-life-lanzarote-180977943/


Also, I've seen several reports of 'flechette' seeding', where 'ground-penetrators' are air-dropped to sufficiently bury packaged seed to stand a fair chance...

Then there are the brave projects in eg Sub-Saharan Africa and semi-desert Asia planting a mix of seedlings / saplings appropriate to local culture and climate. Hopefully, 'Useful', too.

Disclosure: I've a couple of adventitious Sycamore saplings stood waist-high in my cat-friendly garden: Still trying to decide if / when I must pot such saplings for safety, or simply remove...

 

[sophiecentaur]

Disclosure: I've a couple of adventitious Sycamore saplings stood waist-high in my cat-friendly garden: Still trying to decide if / when I must pot such saplings for safety, or simply remove...

Do whatever suits you EXCEPT concreting the place over. Drainage is much more important than small scale CO2 production imo. The relationship between a plant and its effect on the environment is very non-linear whereas 100l of water is 100l everywhere on its way to the sea.
Huge geo-engineering projects are a massive risk; just the same as monoculture farming. No one seems to think long-term enough or holistically.

 

[Nik_2213]

"No one seems to think long-term enough or holistically."

Sadly, all too true...
There is an oft-embarrassing lack of 'Joined-Up Thinking'...