TREE COVER AND CLIMATE CHANGE
THE CHANGING CLIMATIC CONDITIONS SHOULD BE A PRIORITY CONCERN TODAY, FOR OUR WORLDWIDE CITIZENS! RECENT REPORTS CONFIRM THAT THE SUMMER OF 2023 HAS BEEN THE WARMEST SUMMER MONTHS SINCE WE BEGAN RECORDING TEMPERATURES. MAJOR EFFORTS HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN TO FIND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES TO REDUCE THE RELEASE OF GREENHOUSE GASES INTO OUR ATMOSPHERE. THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PROGRAMS FOCUS ON THE REDUCTION OF FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS. MANY NEW POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS, SUCH AS SOLAR AND WIND GENERATING FIELDS, HAVE BEEN QUITE CONTROVERSIAL, DUE TO THE OBTRUSIVE APPEARANCE OF THE STRUCTURES AND LOSS OF USE OF THE LAND. DEVELOPMENT PERMITS HAVE BEEN DENIED IN NUMEROUS CASES AS A RESULT OF LOCAL PRESSURE. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED MANY OF THESE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PROJECTS, IN AN EFFORT TO REDUCE THE CHANGING CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. WE NEED TO CONTINUE OUR SUPPORT FOR THESE FORWARD-THINKING PROJECTS, BUT MUST ASK, ARE THERE OTHER WAYS OF INFLUENCING CLIMATE CHANGE?
THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING YES! SCIENCE REPORTS THAT DEFORESTATION HAS AS MUCH OF AN EFFECT ON CLIMATE CHANGES AS DOES THE CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS. MOST OF US ARE AWARE THAT TREES ARE ONE OF THE MAJOR STOREHOUSE OF CARBON DIOXIDE. PLANTS ABSORB CARBON FROM THE ATMOSPHERE, MIX IT WITH WATER AND MINERALS TO FORM A SUGAR SUBSTANCE THAT FEEDS THE TREE. THE TREE TAKES IN A LITTLE OVER ONE POUND OF CARBON DIOXIDE TO PRODUCE A POUND OF WOOD FIBER AND DISCHARGES CLOSE TO ONE AND A HALF POUND OF OXYGEN BACK INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. THE PROCESS IS KNOWN AS PHOTOSYNTHESIS. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFICIENT MEANS OF REDUCING THE ATMOSPHERIC LEVEL OF CARBON DIOXIDE. TREES BEING ONE OF THE MAJOR STORE HOUSES OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND ARE VITAL TO FUTURE LIFE ON EARTH. WHILE THIS PROCESS IS AT WORK, ANOTHER PROCESS IS OCCURRING, KNOWN AS TRANSPIRATION. THE TREE ABSORBS LARGE QUANTITIES OF WATER THROUGH IT’S ROOTS AND LEAVES, BUT ONLY USES THREE PERCENT OF THE WATER IT TAKES IN AND RELEASES THE REMAINDER INTO THE ATMOSPHERE TO FORM CLOUDS AND RAINFALL. WITH ONLY 26% OF OUR ORIGINAL FOREST COVERED LANDS REMAINING, THESE TWO PROCESSES HAVE LOST A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF THEIR EFFECTIVENESS. THESE PROCESSES DO AFFECT CLIMATE CONDITIONS BY SUPPLING THE REQUIRED OXYGEN AND MOISTURE FOR VEGETATION GROWTH ON EARTH, WHICH DOES PROVIDE A DEGREE OF COOLING TO SURFACE TEMPERATURES. SHADE PROVIDED BY TREES COOLS THE SURFACE OF OUR PLANET, AND ALSO SLOWS THE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION PROCESS OF OUR VALUABLE SURFACE WATER SOURCES.
DURING LEAF-ON PERIODS TREES PROVIDE SIGNIFICANTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES BY SHADING THE EARTH FROM THE DIRECT HEAT ENERGY FROM THE SUN. OBVIOUSLY, HAVING DESTROYED SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF OUR FOREST COVERED ACREAGE, THE COOLING EFFECT OF TREE SHADE HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED. DEFORESTATION HAS A MORE DEVASTATING EFFECT BY ALLOWING THE ABSORPTION OF EVEN LARGER AMOUNTS OF THE SUN’S ENERGY, AND RAISING SURFACE TEMPERATURES SIGNIFICANTLY. RELYING ON CLEAR-CUTTING, AS THE PREFERRED SILVICULTURAL TREATMENT TO MAXIMIZE WOOD FIBER PRODUCTION PER ACRE, INCREASES SURFACE TEMPERATURES AS HIGHER LEVELS OF SOLAR ENERGY IS ABSORBED. WE ARE JUST BEGINNING TO RECOGNIZE THE IMPACT FORESTS HAVE ON WHAT IS CALLED, ALBEDO. ALBEDO IS A METHOD OF MEASURING THE AMOUNT OF SOLAR ENERGY THE EARTH’S SURFACE ABSORBS FROM THE ATMOSPHERE. CLEARED LAND HAS A RATING OF ZERO AND ABSORBS ALMOST 100 % OF THE ENERGY, THUS WARMING THE SURFACE MORE. A RATING OF .5 MEANS THE SURFACE IS REFLECTING 50% OF THE ENERGY BACK INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. THE TYPE OF SPECIES AND THE DENSITY OF THE TREES EFFECTS THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY BEING ABSORBED BY THE LAND SURFACE, AND AFFECTS CLIMATE CONDITIONS. HOW OUR FOREST ECOSYSTEMS ARE MANAGED CAN ACTUALLY INFLUENCE EARTH’S SURFACE TEMPERATURES. ONCE AGAIN, AS OUR FORESTED ACREAGE SHRINKS, SURFACE TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO RISE.
LARGE AREAS OF FOREST COVERED LAND PROVIDE A ROUGH SURFACE WHICH EFFECTS WIND VELOCITY AND DIRECTION. ALTHOUGH, HIGH VELOCITY WINDS, SUCH AS TORNADOES AND HURRICANES CAN DEVASTATE LARGE TRACKS OF FOREST COVER, TREE COVER DOES REDUCE WIND VELOCITY AND THE SEVERITY OF STORMS. LOWERING WIND SPEEDS DOES SLOW THE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION RATE OF SURFACE MOISTURE, HELPING TO DECREASE THE EFFECTS OF MORE SEVERE STORMS.
WITH THE WARMING OF TEMPERATURES ON OUR PLANET, THE TREE LINE IS ACTUALLY EXPANDING IN OUR NORTHERN BOREAL FORESTS DUE TO THE RAISING TEMPERATURES WE ARE EXPERIENCING. THIS CREATES ANOTHER PROBLEM WHICH IS RESULTING IN CLIMATE CHANGE. AS THE TEMPERATURES WARM, THE ARTIC PERMAFROST MELTS CAUSING THE TREE LINE TO MOVE NORTH. THIS IS CAUSING MAJOR CHANGES IN THESE FAR NORTH ECOSYSTEMS. THE PERMAFROST CONTAINS VERY HIGH LEVELS OF STORED CARBON DIOXIDE, AND AS IT MELTS THE CARBON DIOXIDE IS RELEASED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE CAUSING SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN ATMOSPHERIC LEVELS OF GREEN HOUSE GASES. IF ALL OF OUR PERMAFROST WERE TO MELT, THE CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS IN OUR ATMOSPHERE WOULD FAR EXCEED WHAT HUMAN BEINGS COULD TOLERATE.
THE TRUTH IS, FOREST COVER DOES EFFECT CLIMATE CHANGE AS MUCH AS THE CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS. WE HAVE 194 COUNTRIES FOCUSED ON TRYING TO SOLVE THE CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE BY REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. MOST PROGRAMS ARE FOCUSED ON REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS BY FINDING ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES THUS, THE CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS HAS BEEN GETTING THE VAST MAJORITY OF ATTENTION. EQUAL ATTENTION SHOULD BE FOCUSED THE MANAGEMENT OF OUR REMAINING FORESTED LANDS! CURRENT MANAGEMENT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOCUS ON THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES FROM THE FORESTS, AND DEMAND CHANGING TO A FOCUS ON THE HEALTH AND DIVERSITY OF THE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS.
THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT CLIMATIC CONDITIONS ARE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTED BY TREE COVER AND HOW THESE TREE COVERED AREAS ARE MANAGED. IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS THAT THE CURRENT PREFERRED EVEN-AGED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, TO INCREASE WOOD FIBER PRODUCTION, ARE NOT THE BEST OPTION FOR SLOWING CLIMATE CHANGE. DEFORESTATION IS EVEN MORE DEVASTATING ON CLIMATE CONDITIONS. AS THE WORLDS POPULATION CONTINUES ITS CURRENT RATE OF EXPANSION, THE DEMAND FOR LAND CLEARING WILL EXPAND. THE UNITED NATION’S ESTIMATES THAT WE ARE DEFORESTING 10 MILLION HECTARES OF FOREST LANDS EVERY YEAR. WITH ONLY A LITTLE OVER ONE QUARTER OF OUR ORIGINAL FORESTED LANDS REMAINING, WE MUST FOCUS ON QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF WHAT REMAINS, AND ATTEMPT TO REDUCE DEFORESTATION TO MINIMAL LEVELS.
YES, FOREST COVERED LANDS DO IMPACT CLIMATE CONDITIONS AS MUCH AS THE CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS! WE MUST CHANGE OUR MANAGEMENT GOALS FOR THE REMAINING FORESTED AREAS, AND IT DOES NOT REQUIRE LEGISLATIVE ACTION. THE FOCUS NEEDS TO BE ON OUR PUBLIC FORESTED LANDS AND IT ONLY REQUIRES EXECUTIVE ORDERS OR LEADERSHIP DIRECTION. CLIMATE CONDITIONS ARE CHANGING AND WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PROPER FOREST MANAGEMENT GOALS ARE ESSENTIAL AND MUST FOCUS ON A SUSTAINABLE FLOW OF LIFE SUSTAINING ELEMENTS THAT ARE PROVIDED BY HEALTHY AND DIVERSE FORESTS ECOSYSTEMS. WE CAN IMPROVE OUR FUTURE DESTINY! LIVING IN BALANCE WITH THE NATURAL WORLD AND REALIZING WE ARE BUT ONE PART OF NATURE, MUST BE OUR GOAL! FUTURE GENERATIONS ARE DEPENDING UPON THE ACTIONS WE TAKE TODAY!
THE CHANGING CLIMATIC CONDITIONS SHOULD BE A PRIORITY CONCERN TODAY, FOR OUR WORLDWIDE CITIZENS! RECENT REPORTS CONFIRM THAT THE SUMMER OF 2023 HAS BEEN THE WARMEST SUMMER MONTHS SINCE WE BEGAN RECORDING TEMPERATURES. MAJOR EFFORTS HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN TO FIND ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES TO REDUCE THE RELEASE OF GREENHOUSE GASES INTO OUR ATMOSPHERE. THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PROGRAMS FOCUS ON THE REDUCTION OF FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS. MANY NEW POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS, SUCH AS SOLAR AND WIND GENERATING FIELDS, HAVE BEEN QUITE CONTROVERSIAL, DUE TO THE OBTRUSIVE APPEARANCE OF THE STRUCTURES AND LOSS OF USE OF THE LAND. DEVELOPMENT PERMITS HAVE BEEN DENIED IN NUMEROUS CASES AS A RESULT OF LOCAL PRESSURE. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED MANY OF THESE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY PROJECTS, IN AN EFFORT TO REDUCE THE CHANGING CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. WE NEED TO CONTINUE OUR SUPPORT FOR THESE FORWARD-THINKING PROJECTS, BUT MUST ASK, ARE THERE OTHER WAYS OF INFLUENCING CLIMATE CHANGE?
THE ANSWER IS A RESOUNDING YES! SCIENCE REPORTS THAT DEFORESTATION HAS AS MUCH OF AN EFFECT ON CLIMATE CHANGES AS DOES THE CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS. MOST OF US ARE AWARE THAT TREES ARE ONE OF THE MAJOR STOREHOUSE OF CARBON DIOXIDE. PLANTS ABSORB CARBON FROM THE ATMOSPHERE, MIX IT WITH WATER AND MINERALS TO FORM A SUGAR SUBSTANCE THAT FEEDS THE TREE. THE TREE TAKES IN A LITTLE OVER ONE POUND OF CARBON DIOXIDE TO PRODUCE A POUND OF WOOD FIBER AND DISCHARGES CLOSE TO ONE AND A HALF POUND OF OXYGEN BACK INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. THE PROCESS IS KNOWN AS PHOTOSYNTHESIS. THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFICIENT MEANS OF REDUCING THE ATMOSPHERIC LEVEL OF CARBON DIOXIDE. TREES BEING ONE OF THE MAJOR STORE HOUSES OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND ARE VITAL TO FUTURE LIFE ON EARTH. WHILE THIS PROCESS IS AT WORK, ANOTHER PROCESS IS OCCURRING, KNOWN AS TRANSPIRATION. THE TREE ABSORBS LARGE QUANTITIES OF WATER THROUGH IT’S ROOTS AND LEAVES, BUT ONLY USES THREE PERCENT OF THE WATER IT TAKES IN AND RELEASES THE REMAINDER INTO THE ATMOSPHERE TO FORM CLOUDS AND RAINFALL. WITH ONLY 26% OF OUR ORIGINAL FOREST COVERED LANDS REMAINING, THESE TWO PROCESSES HAVE LOST A CONSIDERABLE AMOUNT OF THEIR EFFECTIVENESS. THESE PROCESSES DO AFFECT CLIMATE CONDITIONS BY SUPPLING THE REQUIRED OXYGEN AND MOISTURE FOR VEGETATION GROWTH ON EARTH, WHICH DOES PROVIDE A DEGREE OF COOLING TO SURFACE TEMPERATURES. SHADE PROVIDED BY TREES COOLS THE SURFACE OF OUR PLANET, AND ALSO SLOWS THE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION PROCESS OF OUR VALUABLE SURFACE WATER SOURCES.
DURING LEAF-ON PERIODS TREES PROVIDE SIGNIFICANTLY COOLER TEMPERATURES BY SHADING THE EARTH FROM THE DIRECT HEAT ENERGY FROM THE SUN. OBVIOUSLY, HAVING DESTROYED SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF OUR FOREST COVERED ACREAGE, THE COOLING EFFECT OF TREE SHADE HAS BEEN SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED. DEFORESTATION HAS A MORE DEVASTATING EFFECT BY ALLOWING THE ABSORPTION OF EVEN LARGER AMOUNTS OF THE SUN’S ENERGY, AND RAISING SURFACE TEMPERATURES SIGNIFICANTLY. RELYING ON CLEAR-CUTTING, AS THE PREFERRED SILVICULTURAL TREATMENT TO MAXIMIZE WOOD FIBER PRODUCTION PER ACRE, INCREASES SURFACE TEMPERATURES AS HIGHER LEVELS OF SOLAR ENERGY IS ABSORBED. WE ARE JUST BEGINNING TO RECOGNIZE THE IMPACT FORESTS HAVE ON WHAT IS CALLED, ALBEDO. ALBEDO IS A METHOD OF MEASURING THE AMOUNT OF SOLAR ENERGY THE EARTH’S SURFACE ABSORBS FROM THE ATMOSPHERE. CLEARED LAND HAS A RATING OF ZERO AND ABSORBS ALMOST 100 % OF THE ENERGY, THUS WARMING THE SURFACE MORE. A RATING OF .5 MEANS THE SURFACE IS REFLECTING 50% OF THE ENERGY BACK INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. THE TYPE OF SPECIES AND THE DENSITY OF THE TREES EFFECTS THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY BEING ABSORBED BY THE LAND SURFACE, AND AFFECTS CLIMATE CONDITIONS. HOW OUR FOREST ECOSYSTEMS ARE MANAGED CAN ACTUALLY INFLUENCE EARTH’S SURFACE TEMPERATURES. ONCE AGAIN, AS OUR FORESTED ACREAGE SHRINKS, SURFACE TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO RISE.
LARGE AREAS OF FOREST COVERED LAND PROVIDE A ROUGH SURFACE WHICH EFFECTS WIND VELOCITY AND DIRECTION. ALTHOUGH, HIGH VELOCITY WINDS, SUCH AS TORNADOES AND HURRICANES CAN DEVASTATE LARGE TRACKS OF FOREST COVER, TREE COVER DOES REDUCE WIND VELOCITY AND THE SEVERITY OF STORMS. LOWERING WIND SPEEDS DOES SLOW THE EVAPOTRANSPIRATION RATE OF SURFACE MOISTURE, HELPING TO DECREASE THE EFFECTS OF MORE SEVERE STORMS.
WITH THE WARMING OF TEMPERATURES ON OUR PLANET, THE TREE LINE IS ACTUALLY EXPANDING IN OUR NORTHERN BOREAL FORESTS DUE TO THE RAISING TEMPERATURES WE ARE EXPERIENCING. THIS CREATES ANOTHER PROBLEM WHICH IS RESULTING IN CLIMATE CHANGE. AS THE TEMPERATURES WARM, THE ARTIC PERMAFROST MELTS CAUSING THE TREE LINE TO MOVE NORTH. THIS IS CAUSING MAJOR CHANGES IN THESE FAR NORTH ECOSYSTEMS. THE PERMAFROST CONTAINS VERY HIGH LEVELS OF STORED CARBON DIOXIDE, AND AS IT MELTS THE CARBON DIOXIDE IS RELEASED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE CAUSING SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN ATMOSPHERIC LEVELS OF GREEN HOUSE GASES. IF ALL OF OUR PERMAFROST WERE TO MELT, THE CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS IN OUR ATMOSPHERE WOULD FAR EXCEED WHAT HUMAN BEINGS COULD TOLERATE.
THE TRUTH IS, FOREST COVER DOES EFFECT CLIMATE CHANGE AS MUCH AS THE CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS. WE HAVE 194 COUNTRIES FOCUSED ON TRYING TO SOLVE THE CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE BY REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. MOST PROGRAMS ARE FOCUSED ON REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS BY FINDING ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES THUS, THE CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS HAS BEEN GETTING THE VAST MAJORITY OF ATTENTION. EQUAL ATTENTION SHOULD BE FOCUSED THE MANAGEMENT OF OUR REMAINING FORESTED LANDS! CURRENT MANAGEMENT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOCUS ON THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES FROM THE FORESTS, AND DEMAND CHANGING TO A FOCUS ON THE HEALTH AND DIVERSITY OF THE FOREST ECOSYSTEMS.
THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT CLIMATIC CONDITIONS ARE SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECTED BY TREE COVER AND HOW THESE TREE COVERED AREAS ARE MANAGED. IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS THAT THE CURRENT PREFERRED EVEN-AGED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, TO INCREASE WOOD FIBER PRODUCTION, ARE NOT THE BEST OPTION FOR SLOWING CLIMATE CHANGE. DEFORESTATION IS EVEN MORE DEVASTATING ON CLIMATE CONDITIONS. AS THE WORLDS POPULATION CONTINUES ITS CURRENT RATE OF EXPANSION, THE DEMAND FOR LAND CLEARING WILL EXPAND. THE UNITED NATION’S ESTIMATES THAT WE ARE DEFORESTING 10 MILLION HECTARES OF FOREST LANDS EVERY YEAR. WITH ONLY A LITTLE OVER ONE QUARTER OF OUR ORIGINAL FORESTED LANDS REMAINING, WE MUST FOCUS ON QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF WHAT REMAINS, AND ATTEMPT TO REDUCE DEFORESTATION TO MINIMAL LEVELS.
YES, FOREST COVERED LANDS DO IMPACT CLIMATE CONDITIONS AS MUCH AS THE CONSUMPTION OF FOSSIL FUELS! WE MUST CHANGE OUR MANAGEMENT GOALS FOR THE REMAINING FORESTED AREAS, AND IT DOES NOT REQUIRE LEGISLATIVE ACTION. THE FOCUS NEEDS TO BE ON OUR PUBLIC FORESTED LANDS AND IT ONLY REQUIRES EXECUTIVE ORDERS OR LEADERSHIP DIRECTION. CLIMATE CONDITIONS ARE CHANGING AND WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PROPER FOREST MANAGEMENT GOALS ARE ESSENTIAL AND MUST FOCUS ON A SUSTAINABLE FLOW OF LIFE SUSTAINING ELEMENTS THAT ARE PROVIDED BY HEALTHY AND DIVERSE FORESTS ECOSYSTEMS. WE CAN IMPROVE OUR FUTURE DESTINY! LIVING IN BALANCE WITH THE NATURAL WORLD AND REALIZING WE ARE BUT ONE PART OF NATURE, MUST BE OUR GOAL! FUTURE GENERATIONS ARE DEPENDING UPON THE ACTIONS WE TAKE TODAY!
