[Michaelangelica]

Planting trees-A good thing?- A bad thing?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/16/op...=1&oref=slogin

Trees May Be Bad for You - New York Times

WA Country Hour - 25/08/2004: Rabbit proof fence rain variation

Trees: Guardians of the Earth

Nature Conservation Council of NSW - Woodchipping in South East Forests

http://www.rainforest-crc.jcu.edu.au...ud_forests.pdf

(I still think we need an environment forum)

[Ganoderma]

i have only read the first one so far.

In contrast, tropical forests appear to be doubly valuable to the earth’s climate system. Not only do they store copious amounts of carbon, the roots of tropical trees reach down deep, drawing up water that they evaporate through their leaves. In the atmosphere, this water may form clouds that reflect sunlight back to space, helping to cool the earth.

in Al Gores book "An inconvenient truth" he seems to think that water in the atmosphere is a natural greenhouse gas. his logic is the sun is coming in and traped below the clouds.....

i see how colour and reflectivity can be a big impact, but if there are lots of various things in the air it is going to be reflected far less. the way i see it is this. if we stop putting water in the air we die (i know we dont put it in there....you know what i mean). if we stop putting other emissions in the air, CO2 for example, we live. Hope that came out as readable, its late sorry.

[cwes99_03]

Ok, I perused the first as well, and this thought is similar to one I had on an earlier thread where I suggested that by melting and plowing snow from city streets and rooftops we are reducing the albedo of the earth.

Now there is one major difference between reducing the albedo with blacktop and reducing the albedo with green plants. Blacktop absorbs and reradiates the absorbed sunlight in the form of heat. Tree leaves absorb sunlight and store the energy in the cells of the organism (for the most part) only reradiating as much heat as cannot be consumed by the biological processes of the plant in question.

Thus the article doesn't take into consideration the actual affect of planting a tree on the radiant heating of the earth.

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Planting trees-A good thing?- A bad thing?

Just as you say, It's just so completely arbitrarily relative to specifics. What kind of trees? Where? How many? For how long? When?

Contrary to one of your articles, here in the Pacific Northwest US, much of the wood for paper pulp is grown for that purpose. Sustainable yield forestry I think they call it.

I happened to catch a time filling bit on TV yesterday or so done by Penn and Teller about paper recycling. Woven into the comedy was a preponderance of evidence that recycling paper wastes more energy than it saves. Who ya gonna call?

[PedroH]

I think trees are good most of the time.Even when they are burned down, life grows from their ashes(what beautiful phrase,I think I'm going to cry ).
Young trees helps to put some oxygen into the environment and consumes a lot of carbon dioxide;and grown up trees are very balanced(consumes as much oxygen as they "spit out",at least most of them). I don't think trees could contribute significantly to global warming or anything harmful to other live beings nowadays.
But everything is possible,I don't think those articles really prove trees are a bad thing,they didn't make tests to really prove it with numbers.Even if they are,in a short period they can be useful untill we reduce our CO2 emissions.If you have some other links I would like to take a look.

[PedroH]

Why my post doesn't have the spaces I put in it?Well,anyway,it's understandable.

[Racoon]

I agree with Turtle in what trees? and where?

I recall a docu on species of Fir trees in Africa, somewhere, being a problem.. where they are normally welcomed around this region...
They draw up too much moisture and displace local trees, along the mountains.

Properly planting a tree is a good thing!

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Racoon

I agree with Turtle in what trees? and where?
:

so in some places

and some types of tree are bad?

I always assumed that it was a good idea but some say no.

Do Trees Pollute?
Do Trees Pollute? The role trees play in ozone pollution. Eric Taylor. Forestry Specialist ... trees do in fact contribute significantly to ozone .

..
extensionforestry.tamu.edu/publications/pdfs/805-112.pdf

What Can Trees Do For You?

* Shade
Trees make our homes and neighborhoods cooler, reducing utility bills in the
* Economically Valuable

* Trees are natural filters of all too familiar city sounds. From cars driving

Our water is made cleaner by the presence of trees, especially trees near watersheds or other drainage areas.

trees help to stabilize soils by gripping soil particles with their roots.

* Trees also protect us against wind by diverting it over or around us. Evergreen species planted on the north side of homes in Stillwater can reduce cold North winds during the winter. Quality of Life

What Can Trees Do For You

Hippyshopper: Planting trees may do more harm than good
... also in California, says that trees reduce greenhouse gasses by taking in ... Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Planting trees may do

...
wirelessdigest.typepad.com/hippyshopper/2006/12/planting_trees_.html

[Cedars]

I wondered exactly what Turtle did. What trees? Why, where.....

Example: Dutch elm disease wiped out huge numbers of trees in the Minneapolis/St Paul area. Beautiful trees that worked like a canopy over the streets of the city. You could drive miles under the shaded streets of these trees. It was a terrible mistake having this one species of (fast growing) tree enhancing the beauty of this area. Now they are just empty streets. Some areas have been replanted with a wider variety of tree to try to avoid such an impact in the future. Its going to be 40 years before the canopy returns. I have no idea what the energy consumption impact was from the loss of these magnificent shade trees during the summer air conditioning drain. Live and learn.


Back in the 70s there began a push for tree planting by individuals. One of the positives promoted was trees increase land value when selling your home later. The dismal (for me) part was watching all these same and imported types of conifers being planted as screens between your home and the roads. The lack of imagination by the average home owner resulted in row after row of christmas trees rather than diversity. I am lucky. The people who owned this land before I was here valued diversity and I have 3 types of conifer in different areas. Last year, one of my neighbors stopped by and commented on the Juniper trees (approx 45 years old now) and how diverse they are from the average screen they see planted elsewhere in the neighborhood. Beautiful trees and asymmetrical. But extremely slow growing. For me, worth the wait.

Then there is the aspect of planting for wildlife. A wide mix of tree types provides the most habitat for the greater variety of wildlife. But this only works on a larger scale. If my five acres is surrounded by 50 acres of christmas tree, I will not have the diversity of the areas which are 50 acres of diversity surrounded by 500 acres of christmas tree.

Even in city parks I am somewhat disapointed in the lack of diversity. I think alot could be done by the general public to promote a better regional planning for these spots surrounded by a bunch of people.

Trees, in general are not bad. They store carbon, the use CO2 and produce oxygen. What I dont know is the ratio. For my fish tank (which has live plants) there is a balance that needs to be achieved. The plants need CO2 for growth and produce oxygen during the day. But at night this reverses and the plants take oxygen from the water, but not at such a rate to oxygen deprive the fish (but I have ariation). I dont know what this ratio is for land plants/trees. I do not know if the trees take as much oxygen as they produce. I also dont know if some types of tree produce more oxygen/take more CO2 than others.

There is alot of value in planting trees, but there are also things that need to be taken into consideration when planning this type of long term commitment. We have gone thru the 'just plant a tree' cycle and learned there is more to this issue than that.

Hopefully, later today I will get a chance to scan a copy of the MN DNR pamplet "Managing your Woodland for Wildlife" and link to it. I searched their website and couldnt find it there. It was a freebie handout at the state fair I picked up one year.

[Buffy]

People can get really worked up about trees:
They're putting a new sports facility on campus in Berkeley and the radical greens, er, whites, er...anyway, are putting up quite a protest. Oddly enough if you look at pictures of the East Bay from a hundred years ago or more, its amazing: no trees there:

Source: USGS

Now its completely covered with trees except for the houses.

And of course there's these "weeds" called Eucalyptus that invaded California from Australia (and you Aussies claim not to be imperialist!)....Gross!

I like trees, but trees are not universally good....

Go weed a book,
Buffy