Nobel Recipient-Plant Trees, a lot of Trees

TykeClone

Wed Nov 08 16:59:06 -0800 2006

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Then he'd better get started!

Nobel Recipient

turtledawn

Thu Nov 09 02:40:01 -0800 2006

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She's a she. And very impressive- the trees are what she's most well-known for, but she's played a significant role in producing real democracy in Kenya which is what got her the Prize.

Nobel Recipient

TykeClone

Thu Nov 09 05:02:05 -0800 2006

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Damn. That makes a bad joke even less funny.

Nobel Recipient-Plant Trees, a lot of Trees

President4242

Wed Nov 08 17:48:19 -0800 2006

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I seem to remember suggesting this on slashdot and getting laughed at.  But one of the replies did the math- we'd only need 34% forestation in the United States to make us CO2 negative, and an additional 1.5% per year to keep up with our increased usage.  That's a heck of a result.

carbon source at first

rubycodez

Wed Nov 08 18:12:02 -0800 2006

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A new forested area can be a carbon source .  after about decade it changes to a carbon sink

A third of our land area a forest? 

carbon source at first

President4242

Thu Nov 09 11:54:45 -0800 2006

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A new forested area can be a carbon source .  after about decade it changes to a carbon sink

Depending on what you plant, yes- native trees almost certainly.  But some faster growing species, like Weyerhauser SuperTrees or bamboo, mature *much* more quickly.

A third of our land area a forest? 

It's not so farfetched- the Native Americans used to burn forests to create meadows for hunting.  And of course, we now have Israel as an example for how to reverse desertification by mixing trees, condensation plants, and solar distileries.  Or we did until Hezebollah bombed (missled? what's the word I'm looking for) the experiment last summer.

new england

zogger

Thu Nov 09 13:02:53 -0800 2006

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You can go just about anyplace in the deepest woods you can find in new england-most places anyway-and find-stone walls! Even with all the huge trees around, it wasn't that long ago historically speaking when those areas were pastures, from all the animals people used to have. Before that-trees, after, meadows, now back to trees again.

In other words, this project is quite doable. You don't even have to plant them, just let a field go-I know, I get baby trees sprouting up all over the pastures every year. I have been slowly terraforming one hillside to turn it into an orchard. It was covered with sweetgum and tulip poplar (and rose pickers and poison ivy and all sorts of nasty stuff) mostly, I have been removing some every fall/winter, opening it up and planting grasses so as to not have erosion. Eventually I'll get down to just a few big trees, then take those and put in some dwarf hybrid fruit trees. It's one of my longe term projects around here, I estimated when we started about 5 years to pull it off and I am on schedule, working on the third thinning this week in fact. I want to take the taller trees down because they are too close to the greenhouse with the plastic sheet roof-can't have any big branches falling on it, and we need a place to establish a big orchard close by. I have a few fruit trees I put in in the yard, but this other area is much better for full sun. So I do both, cut some, plant some, I figure it works out. I just dig trees, love 'em, taking care of them pruning, getting the use from them, etc, and shade just can't be beat.

I think a big lost avenue is in suburbia, room for a lot more trees there, where they (usually) bulldoze it flat, wipe out all the native trees, then plant a few saplings so that 20 years from now there might be a little shade. Like why wait? I think if they took the time and effort and just worked around the native more mature trees it would be a good thing. I know our shade oaks and pecan would be sorely missed, we get by without AC in the intense summer time Georgia heat only from having those shade trees. I am just going to give a real raw guess, but I bet our electric use would quadruple or more without those shade trees.

Nobel Recipient-Plant Trees, a lot of Trees

Bhima

Thu Nov 09 00:03:09 -0800 2006

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I have to wonder what the results would be of planting something else which consumed more CO2 per acre... like hemp.

I also wonder how much of the US lies between the lanes of a interstate freeway.

Nobel Recipient-Plant Trees, a lot of Trees

rubycodez

Thu Nov 09 14:01:19 -0800 2006

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but then you'd have to do something with the hemp that didn't involve carbon going back into the ecosystem, and I for one don't want to wear scratchy clothing or sleep in a scratchy bed.   I'd rather turn seasonal planted stuff into biofuel, goes back into the system but doesn't add carbon like fossil fuels.  Switchgrass has a better yield.  I still wonder why "old hippies" among my friends and relatives like to harp on industrial hemp so much, seems to me it would endanger the genetic purity of their private stash of IH's wee little cousins if it was everywhere.

Nobel Recipient-Plant Trees, a lot of Trees

President4242

Sat Nov 11 16:36:16 -0800 2006

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scratchy clothing or sleep in a scratchy bed.

If the itch means anything, maybe we could make it into insulation for the walls.  Then you'd lock up the carbon for the life of the house!

Nobel Recipient-Plant Trees, a lot of Trees

VonSkippy

Wed Nov 08 23:02:23 -0800 2006

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Good to see a nice practical solution to all the worlds problems.

Just what we need to do, start taking advice from people in Kenya, cause ya know, they have a near perfect Country renown for their science and technical expertise.

Nobel Recipient-Plant Trees, a lot of Trees

Charles E Hill

Thu Nov 09 08:56:16 -0800 2006

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Insight, intelligence, wisdom and good ideas aren't the exclusive domain of the developed world.  You'd be amazed how fast a corrupt gov't can turn a country to crap, but that doesn't have anything to do with the potential for the people to actually have some smarts.

And, for Africa, Kenya is a damn sight better than most other places.  South Africa is renown for their science and technical expertise, but ever since the end of minority rule they've spiraled down to become one serious hell-hole with rampant inflation, massive unemployment and one of the worst violent crime rates in the world, short of a war zone.  Would you prefer taking advice from there, instead?