A study about trees

There's an article from Science News that I'd like you to read and summarize. You can scan the QR-code, or type in this shortened URL:

tiny.cc/trees-trees

Read and respond

  • Read the article. Write up 3 main points or 'take aways' from the article: Summarize each one with a sentence (or two) in your own words.
  • What is 1 comparison that the author made, in order to put a number from the study into context?
  • What did you find yourself looking at or noticing on the map?
  • I have intentionally erased the title of the article. Come up with a title for the article that both:
    • Communicates something important about the study, and
    • Motivates your reader to read the article; "Draws your reader in".
  • What's one question you wonder about after reading this article?
  • Read the "How did I report this story?" box from the author. Did this cause you to think differently about anything in the article?

Carbon sequestration

Where does the carbon that plants consume end up?

Compare the roots of annuals (corn plants here):
Corn root development 360 Yield Minute

Versus the roots of perennials (trees)

Lawn Starter

Or perennial prairie plants (compared to perennial commodity crops labelled "Agriculture" below)


via Small Farmers Journal

Questions about trees / plants

What happens when fire moves through a forest? a prairie? What's different between the two?

Imagine that you plant a tree today. How might the tree die? Then what happens to the carbon in the tree?

Now change your thinking from tree$\to$forest: Imagine that you plant a forest today where there was none before. What happens to the carbon in the forest over time? Have you changed anything about the carbon in the atmosphere?

Forests at COP 26

  • Project Drawdown points out that when forest are cleared (say for agriculture) the carbon locked up in the trees and roots returns to the atmosphere, so forest protection is a major and necessary strategy to avoid those emissions.
  • Political leaders from more than 100 nation agreed to end deforestation and land degradation. Yay!
  • There will be funding for forest conservation, and countries can sell carbon credits for preserving existing forests.
  • Fred Pierce at e360 points out concerns on two fronts about a "Carbon heist":
    • Who gets the money? Peru has already been selling carbon credits from forests occupied by the indigenous Kichwa people. "Currently, indigenous groups in the Amazon occupy roughly 28% of the total Amazon basin, about 80% of which is recognized under national law." [Amazon Aid]
    • Does purchasing carbon credits allow airlines and other carbon emitters to just keep emitting?