remember, tuesday is soylent green day
But more Soylent Green will help! Because it's made of people!
Guardian UK, via ProRev:
Planting trees to combat climate change is a waste of time, according to a study by ecologists who say that most forests do not have any overall effect on global temperature, while those furthest from the equator could actually be making global warming worse.
"The idea that you can go out and plant a tree and help reverse global warming is an appealing, feel-good thing," said Ken Caldeira of the global ecology department at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Stanford, California, a co-author of the study. "To plant forests to mitigate climate change outside of the tropics is a waste of time."
[snip]
Dr Bala's study, the first simulation to link carbon dioxide and the heat-absorbing effect of trees, found forests had different effects on global warming depending on latitude. He is to present his findings at the American Geophysical Union's meeting in San Francisco today.
"North of 20 degrees [latitude] forests had a direct warming influence that more or less counterbalanced the cooling effect of carbon removal from the atmosphere," said Prof Caldeira. Past 50 degrees, forests warmed the Earth by an average of 0.8C. But in the tropics forests helped cool the planet by an average of 0.7C.
Dr Bala explained that forest canopies, because they are relatively dark, absorbed most of the sun's rays heating falling on them. Grassland or snowfields, however, reflected more sun, keeping temperatures lower. Planting trees above 50 degrees latitude, such as in Siberia, could cover tundras normally blanketed in heat-reflecting snow.
In the tropical regions, though, water evaporating from trees increased cloudiness, which helped keep the planet cool.
<< Home