Forrest Fleischman on “trillion trees” projects
Some good points:
A project whose goal is to plant a certain number of trees is particularly vulnerable to failure because its counting the wrong thing. If the goal is to absorb emissions, we should count the carbon, not the trees. A few small large absorb more carbon than a bunch of little trees. When we plant trees with carbon uptake or forest restoration as a goal, we don’t try to maximize the number of trees. We try to maximize long-term carbon uptake, and this might actually mean planting fewer trees up front.
(tags: forestry science data climate-change planting trees forests carbon-capture carbon)