Millions 'Wasted' Planting Trees That Reduce Water

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 7-29-2005 | Charles Clover

[DoughtyOne]

Thought you guys might like to see this AP report clipping from 2003.


Reagan was right!

Associated Press

Thursday, March 13, 2003

Ottawa — Coniferous forests around the world may be emitting more smog-causing nitrogen oxides than traffic and industry combined, suggests a report in the prestigious journal Nature.

The report, released Wednesday, flies in the face of the accepted view that forests reduce pollution by absorbing it — a theory Canada relied on in demanding credit for forests as pollution "sinks" under the Kyoto climate change accord.

[seowulf]

Changes in U.S. forests caused by land use practices may have inadvertently worsened ozone pollution, according to a study led by Princeton University scientists. The study examined a class of chemicals that are emitted as unburned fuel from automobile tailpipes and as vapors from industrial chemicals, but also come naturally from tree leaves. These chemicals, known collectively as VOCs, react with other pollutants to form ozone, a bluish, irritating and pungent gas that is a major form of smog in the lower atmosphere.

http://www.scienceblog.com/community/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4211

Trees really do contribute to smog.

[DoughtyOne]

I hope I didn't give the impression that I didn't think trees could emit pollutants. I just didn't think that they all did.

Leaving the pollen arguement out of it, would you state that all trees emit significant amounts of pollutants?

Trees do emit oxygen also. Isn't it still a net overall good?

[seowulf]

Absolutely trees are beneficial. I don't think I'd ever live any place I couldn't go out and walk in them and smell them. They take in CO2, and expire O2 just like you say. Besides that they're a necessary crop for raw materials.

Some give off more VOC's than others. Evergreens give off a lot. A pretty good rule would be the more you can smell the tree the more it gives off. If you go out in the national forests on a hazy day, it is not the big city causing the smog.

I think what Reagan was trying to point out is that human beings are not the cause of all the world's ills. Some things are just beyond our capacity to control and we just have to live with it. Also, he was trying to say we can't regulate our way to a perfect world. EPA tends to think that with just a little more regulation, just a little lower limits, we can get to utopia. That'll never happen.

[The Coopster]

That's fine about Reagan. As I stated, I don't remember.

But - with all due respect, Google the simple question "Is pollen considered pollution?", and see what you get.

Pollen IS part of pollution, it's just not man-made.

And it's WAY more than "bothersome" for a lot of people.

[bmwcyle]

It is great for stereo stands, tooth picks, picture frames, baseball bats, skis, decks, homes, barns, clocks, chests, etc.

[CobaltBlue]

I think the article is pretty strange, myself, but it seems like the qualifier is "plantation trees," which means one type of tree, rather than a natural forest. Like the white pine plantations in your home state.

Anyway, before I make up my mind I'd need to see more on this.

Although I live in the DC suburbs, the back half of our lot is covered in mature hardwoods with typical understory which we don't mess with. We even let fallen trees stay where they fall. Behind our lot is another three acres in similar condition, and the neighborhoon on the other side also lets their trees grow.

The rest of the yards in our own neighborhood are typical suburban lawns.

Our back yard stays plenty cool in the summer, and I can see that rain runoff concentrates in the sward between the trees and our house. Rain in the woods just soaks in.

I'll trust my own eyes over a newspaper article any day.

I have no idea how this affects rainfall, my guess is that it's too complicated.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Water attracts trees, not the other way around. Some people just don't think logically.

Indeed, forest land is graded by how much rainfall it receives annually, the best forest land has the greatest rainfall, and supports the fastest forest growth.

[TC Rider]

Astounding ignorance. Trees make good firewood or wood pulp.

Fine furniture, cabinets, gun stocks, outdoor decks...

mmmmmmmmmmmm, wood!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We have wood falling out of the ground around here.

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, I think you're right on target there. Thanks for the comments.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks for the additional comments.

I don't consider something that is biodegradable to be pollution. You and probably a lot of other people do.

Trees make a real mess of things sometimes. They also give off pollen which can bother people. As a kid I suffered from extreme asthma. That's life. I still don't consider something that will be part of the earth in a few months, and help to sustain other life, to be polution. Hey, that's just my take on it.

You take care.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

"Really. Which trees don't produce pollen?"

Pollen = Polution? No, I don't think so...

[The Coopster]

So sez you.

With all due respect, I'm not having the conversation twice.

Cheers.

[SunkenCiv]

Just adding this to the GGG catalog, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
Gods, Graves, Glyphs PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)