As our society recovers from the triple threats of Coronavirus, economic collapse and social unrest, the longer term threat of global warming continues to hang over our heads. Earlier this year — just as the Coronavirus hit and our economy went into a recession — the Trillion Trees Act was introduced.
Representative Bruce Westerman, a pro-logging advocate from Arkansas introduced this act, along with several Republican colleagues. Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio hailed the act as offering a powerful solution to combat our changing climate. And President Trump declared the US will join this initiative. A fundamental claim of this initiative is that a trillion trees is an important part of solving the global climate crisis. In itself, this claim is an acknowledgment by Republicans that there is indeed a global warming problem that humans can effectively address.
Both political parties to some degree acknowledge that global warming is a man-made problem. With abundant apologies to Joyce Kilmer: “I think that I shall never see, a Global Warming Solution as lovely as a tree. So the real question becomes: “how effectively can a trillion trees solve global warming?”
Please listen to this week’s Energy Show as we delve into a few of the scientific and economic issues related to the Trillion Trees Act, including: how trees sequester carbon, how much CO2 will a trillion trees remove, how much land is required, how much will it cost to plant a trillion trees, how long will it take for these trees to capture atmospheric CO2, and to cap it all off — can Congress pass such a bill.
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