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To Save Our Climate We Need Taller Trees Not Taller Wooden Buildings
Talberth, John
http://www.counterpunch.org/2020/03/03/to-save-our-climate-we-need-taller-trees-not-taller-wooden-buildings/Date Written: 2020-03-03 Publisher: CounterPunch Year Published: 2020 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX24080 To many of us working at the intersection of forest conservation and climate stability recent opinions and news coverage of proposals to fill our cities with tall wooden buildings presents not a stirring vision of sustainability but a nightmarish scenario of a land base increasingly scarred by clearcuts, logging roads and small diameter tree plantations at a time when climate science insists that reestablishing natural forests and letting them grow much bigger and older is one of humanity's last best hopes to keep climate change from accelerating out of control. To save our climate we need taller trees not taller wooden buildings. Abstract: - Excerpt: The second key reason why big tall trees are preferable to tall wooden buildings has to do with the ability of our forest dependent communities to adapt to climate change. An alarming conclusion from many scientific studies approaching the issue from many directions is that landscapes dominated by clearcuts and corporate tree plantations are far less resilient to the effects of climate change. They are more susceptible to wildfires, flooding, insects, disease, wind damage, landslides and harmful algae blooms than the natural forests they’ve replaced. These stressors are already on the rise due to climate change – timber plantations make the effects so much worse. For example, in fire prone regions of the West, these timber plantations burn hotter and faster than natural forests. They produce far less water in the dry season and the waters that trickles out are more vulnerable to harmful algae blooms (HABs) because they’re hotter and laced with a cocktail of chemicals and fertilizers that help boost seedling growth but fuel HAB growth as well. Hurricanes have a field day in monoculture tree plantations while real forests with a diversity of ages and tree sizes survive more intact. In addition, the conversion of structurally diverse forests into monoculture tree plantations is helping to drive many species towards extinction. In the Pacific Northwest, the expansion of industrial tree plantations puts over 1,000 species that need real forests to survive at risk. Northern spotted owl populations are declining at a rate of 4% per year, in part due to continuing habitat loss. North America has lost over a third of its birds since 1970, and loss of natural forests is a key factor. Clearly, we need to reduce logging pressures on the land and not increase demand with wooden skyscrapers and cross laminated timber – a product based on small diameter plantation trees. Subject Headings |