s
* Reforestation sequesters C02 and helps reverse global warming Adrian Higgins. "A New Leaf on Life". Washington Post. 8 May 2008 - "According to a neat calculator on the Web site of Casey Trees, a fair-size white oak tree with an 18-inch-diameter trunk would reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide by 622 pounds per year. A mature apple tree would lower carbon dioxide by more than 300 pounds. Even the weedy tree of heaven would store ("sequester," in eco parlance) 391 pounds once it reached a trunk diameter of 12 inches.
That sounds like a way of enhancing your yard and giving polar bears a future, until you dig a little deeper.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a two-person household in the United States is responsible for releasing 41,500 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air annually through the direct and indirect burning of fossil fuels.
To offset that entirely, you would have to plant 483 young trees and wait 10 years, the EPA says."
Govindasamy Bala, lead author of a 2006 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory study on - "Our study shows that tropical forests are very beneficial to the climate because they take up carbon and increase cloudiness, which in turn helps cool the planet."
* Reforestation can immediately reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases Reforestation leads to the immediate growth of trees, and, therefore, the immediate reduction of greenhouse gases. "Carbon sinks won't solve global warming". Planet Ark. 9 Jul. 2001 - "The primary benefit of land carbon sinks is that they can be effective immediately."
* Reforestation, while not a silver bullet, can help solve global warming American Forests executive director, Deborah Gangloff - "We aren't going to solve global warming by planting trees, but we can take up a lot of carbon."
