Barking up the Wrong Tree(s): Rohrabacher vs. Lewis
Posted under: Everyone seems to be looking for a solution to global warming these days (anything BUT reduce our emissions, Right?).
Credit : Wikimedia Commons – Meet U.S. Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. Apparently he thinks cutting down forests would be a great way to cut CO2 emissions. Do you?
Well luckily for us, U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher has contributed his 2 cents: “Is there some thought being given to subsidizing the clearing of rainforests in order for some countries to eliminate that production of greenhouse gases? ” As reported in Politico, he went on to suggest that because trees decompose and release greenhouse gases, clear-cutting the world’s rainforests would be an effective way of reducing greenhouse gases!
So how exactly is he going about defending this argument? Well he seems to be saying that 80-90% percent of greenhouse gas emissions are “generated by nature itself.” Sure we’ll give him that. It’s true we’re only aiming to control man-made emissions. But he forgets the other half of the argument (or maybe he didn’t think that it was relevant?), that forests regrow, and as they do so, they absorb carbon dioxide.
So how exactly is he going about defending this argument? Well he seems to fixate on the fact that forests emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, and he’s right. But he ignores the other side of that coin: that as forests grow they absorb and store huge amounts of carbon dioxide. We humans, who burn gas, build factories, etc., that give off carbon dioxide, do absolutely nothing to absorb it all back (all those reading this blog, claiming to be able to absorb their own CO2, give yourself a pat on the back – and probably seek a medical professional, because humans are NOT supposed to be able to do that).
Still with us? Well, let’s add another layer to this story:
Meet Dr. Simon Lewis, ecologist and tropical forest expert. He confirms that normally trees absorb the carbon they emit. BUT in a forest, say the Amazon, not only is the carbon dioxide being absorbed by the trees BUT it’s also fertilizing the trees, and causing them to absorb even more carbon – so now not only are they cleaning up their own mess, but ours too. In fact this figure is 1.5 billion tons of CO2 per year. (Take our word for it, that’s A LOT !)
But don’t just breathe a sigh of relief yet. As the Amazon gets drier, (did you not hear about this year’s droughts?) that’s how forest fires start and not to mention a lot of trees just die from lack of water. And when they die, do you remember all that carbon dioxide they were absorbing PLUS the extra being absorbed that we humans emitted? Well that is ALL going back into the atmosphere.
Credit: Ben Sutherland via Flickr Creative Commons – An drought in the Amazon. Trust us, it can get even drier than this.
So what have we learned?
- U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher needs to do his homework. He gets that trees release carbon dioxide when they die, but is kind’ve forgetting about the part where they absorb carbon, while they live, including the emissions from our cars, planes, factories, etc.
- Not only that, if we did as Rep. Rohrabacher suggests, according to a quote from Dr. Lewis, “If the forests of the Amazon were all removed, this would perhaps add 100-200 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere….. 10-20 years’ worth of today’s level of [man-made] emissions.” OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
- The trend in the Amazon recently, is that trees are absorbing 1.5 billion tons even more carbon than on average! BUT when these trees die, ie they’re cut down, die from thirst, 0r forest fires, they will give off more carbon than on average. PLUS let’s not forget there’s also fewer trees to absorb all of this extra CO2 emitted.
- Check in with us regularly for more interesting stories like this one. (Ok technically you didn’t learn that in our post, but you should still stop by!)
