Plant a trillion trees: Republicans offer fossil-friendly climate fix

[douglas9]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers on Wednesday will propose legislation setting a goal for the United States to plant a trillion trees by 2050 to fight global warming, a plan intended to address climate change by sucking carbon out of the air instead of by cutting emissions.


The proposed legislation reflects an acknowledgement in the Republican party of rising voter demand for action on climate change, even as it seeks to preserve the economic benefits of an historic drilling boom that has made the United States the world’s biggest oil and gas producer.

President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly cast doubt on the science of climate change, had expressed support for the idea of a massive tree-planting campaign during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.

“I’m working on legislation that would do just this: plant 1 trillion trees by 2050, with the goal of sequestering carbon and incentivizing the use of wood products,” said Arkansas Congressman Bruce Westerman, a member of the House natural resources committee, which is expected to unveil the bill.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-usa-trees/plant-a-trillion-trees-republicans-offer-fossil-friendly-climate-fix-idUSKBN2061FG?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

[tanyev]

1. Great idea, but unless they commit to having it managed by someone truly competent,

I expect it will have as much success as this Turkish effort:

Up to 90% of the millions of saplings planted in Turkey as part of a record-breaking mass planting project may have died after just a few months, according to the country’s agriculture and forestry trade union.

On 11 November last year, which the government declared National Forestation Day, 11 million trees were planted by volunteers in more than 2,000 sites across the country, including by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the parliament Speaker, Mustafa Şentop.

The government-backed programme broke the world record for the most trees planted in one hour in a single location, with 303,150 saplings planted in the northern Anatolian city of Çorum.

The head of the union claimed, however, that 90% of the saplings his teams have inspected so far have died because of insufficient water. Speaking to the Guardian, Şükrü Durmuş attributed the deaths to the saplings being planted at “the wrong time” and “not by experts”, as well as a lack of rainfall.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/30/most-of-11m-trees-planted-in-turkish-project-may-be-dead

[Zoonart]

3. beat me to it.

[tanyev]

7. We know the likelihood of a project like this being given to a GOP crony.

[Zoonart]

2. Here's the rub with massive tree planting....

The head of the union claimed, however, that 90% of the saplings his teams have inspected so far have died because of insufficient water. Speaking to the Guardian, Şükrü Durmuş attributed the deaths to the saplings being planted at “the wrong time” and “not by experts”, as well as a lack of rainfall.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/30/most-of-11m-trees-planted-in-turkish-project-may-be-dead

Unless they are planted by the proscribed horticultural procedure... which can be expensive and labor intensive, many of the trees will die. How do you irrigate thousands of saplings at one time? Not to mention the fact that all over the world the current climate crisis is causing forests to thin and die...so we don't even know where it would be best to plant these trees because forestation bands are migrating.

My husband is a horticulturalist and he has always said that for success with trees... you need to plant a hundred dollar tree in a three hundred dollar hole. While I laud the idea of mass tree planting, I think the whole idea is being oversimplified.

[hatrack]

4. "Just stick it in the ground - it'll grow!!!"

Uh, no.

[Duppers]

5. They'll need experts, like your hubby, supervising

Which, more than likely, they won't hire.

[Zoonart]

6. Exactly, and experts cost money...again

experts will be sidelined because...back to the $300.00 hole for the $100.00 tree.
Also... saplings should be "grown on" until they have a decent size root ball before planting. I would not be surprised if the geniuses
that head this up take the lowest bid and plant bare rooted saplings that would be almost guaranteed to die.

It is all ass backwards on purpose. Planting a trillion trees to mitigate carbon emissions is preferable to corporations to having to actually work on decreasing carbon emissions.

This smacks of an expensive fell good boondoggle to make it seem as if they are addressing the problem.

Massive tree planting is window-dressing the crisis.

[Duppers]

8. Yes! You nailed it and we know ..

They are ignorant, hypocritical, lying pieces of shit.

And they're killing us all.

[Zoonart]

9. Absolutely.