While climate change can be a politically controversial topic, tree planting rarely is. Planting trees and climate change are directly correlated. Even Donald Trump, who once said climate change was “a hoax perpetrated by China”1, wanted to plant one trillion trees when he was the US President.2
The importance of planting more trees is something that we appear to universally agree on. Yet, it’s not always clear how planting trees affects climate change.
How can planting trees help to reduce climate change?
Trees help us to combat climate change by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide in the air. They soak up CO2 and water. Using the process of photosynthesis via sunlight, they turn this into energy and oxygen. Trees are the ‘lungs of our planet’, and they are the best mechanism that we have to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. The carbon is used for energy and to build plant matter, such as stems, trunks, and leaves.3
It is estimated that a mature tree can absorb and store up to 48 pounds (21 kilograms) of CO2 per year. That is roughly one ton of carbon throughout its lifetime.4
Some species and older trees can take in and absorb more carbon dioxide than younger trees.5 Therefore, it is vital for us to retain older trees instead of cutting them down and planting new trees in their place. In fact, cutting down trees releases stored carbon dioxide, increasing the number of greenhouse gases in the air.6
What are the benefits of trees?
Trees offer various benefits to our environment and communities, in addition to helping stop climate change. Trees and their roots protect the soil, keeping it nutritious and preventing it from flooding. Moreover, the roots keep the soil in place and keep important organisms in the soil locked in.7
People’s livelihoods also depend on trees. In fact, the UN states that over 1.6 billion people depend on forests for food, resources, and employment. In addition, millions of people also depend on trees for as much as 90 percent of their fuel needs. Moreover, forests also support jobs in forestry, tourism, and recreation.8
Planting trees for the health of the planet
But, it’s important to note that trees don’t just support people. In fact, forests are home to 80 per cent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity. They create and live in complex ecosystems of organisms. These include plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria – all of which are extremely important for the health of the planet.9
Sources
- Wong, E. (2016). Trump Has Called Climate Change a Chinese Hoax. Beijing Says It Is Anything But. The New York Times. [online] 18 Nov. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/19/world/asia/china-trump-climate-change.html.
- Friedman, L. (2020). A Trillion Trees: How One Idea Triumphed Over Trump’s Climate Denialism. The New York Times. [online] 12 Feb. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/climate/trump-trees-climate-change.html.
- BBC (2019). What is photosynthesis? [online] BBC Bitesize. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zvrrd2p/articles/zn4sv9q.
- Usda.gov. (2017). The Power of One Tree – The Very Air We Breathe. [online] Available at: https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2015/03/17/power-one-tree-very-air-we-breathe.
- Fen Montaigne (2019). Leaving trees alone might be better than planting new ones. [online] Grist. Available at: https://grist.org/article/leaving-trees-standing-might-be-more-important-than-planting-new-ones/.
- Union of Concerned Scientists. (2012). Tropical Deforestation and Global Warming. [online] Available at: https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/tropical-deforestation-and-global-warming.
- Sciencing. (2011). The Effects of Soil Erosion. [online] Available at: https://sciencing.com/effects-soil-erosion-8483288.html.
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2015). Forests and poverty reduction. [online] Fao.org. Available at: http://www.fao.org/forestry/livelihoods/en/.
- WWF (2000). Forest Habitat | Habitats | WWF. [online] World Wildlife Fund. Available at: https://www.worldwildlife.org/habitats/forest-habitat.
