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The Plant a Trillion Trees Campaign to Reduce Global Warming – Fleshing Out the Concept

Journal Article · · Journal of Sustainable Forestry
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). College of the Environment; WoodLife Environmental Consultants, Corvallis, OR (United States)
  2. WoodLife Environmental Consultants, Corvallis, OR (United States)
  3. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). College of the Environment
  4. Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States). School of the Environment
+ Show Author Affiliations
The campaign to plant a trillion trees provided an easily understood approach to reduce the threat of global warming. However, focusing on trees does not consider that a maturing forest releases carbon (C) from dying trees offsetting C intake from growth of other trees, and results in only a one-time carbon storage benefit. Under sustainable management that harvests before forest growth slows down, forest C is transferred to wood products that substitute for fossil fuel (FF)- intensive products, reducing the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with every harvest. Sustainably managed forests maintain growth by replanting (or regenerating), sustaining the C stored in products, as well as avoiding FF-intensive product emissions with every harvest. This paper addresses the question: Could planting more trees significantly reduce atmospheric CO2; and if so, how? Survey data from many wood-producing mills show life cycle inventory (LCI) data on C that has been tracked through every stage of processing for many different wood products specific to each United States (USA) supply region, as well as C displacement measurements when substituting wood for FFintensive products. Results show that more and better-managed forest lands and more efficient product uses provide significant opportunities to reduce CO2 emissions, especially in highly productive forest regions.
Research Organization:
Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM), Corvallis, OR (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0002992
OSTI ID:
1848397
Journal Information:
Journal of Sustainable Forestry, Journal Name: Journal of Sustainable Forestry Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 40; ISSN 1054-9811
Publisher:
Taylor & FrancisCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Carbon mitigation
Forestry
carbon capture
carbon renewable technology
forest carbon
global warming
planting trees
sustainable forest management
trillion trees
wood products