Some of the more radical proposals to address and mitigate climate change involv
ID: 176921 • Letter: S
Question
Some of the more radical proposals to address and mitigate climate change involve geoengineering, which involves deliberately modifying Earth's climate. Evaluate how the actions listed below would affect the global climate and global biogeochemical cycles by answering the questions that follow. Option 1: Plant more trees. Describe two ways that option I would affect the carbon cycle. Based only on its effect on the carbon cycle, how would you expect option 1 to impact the global climate? How long would it take for the effects to be seen? How long would you expect these effects to last? What potential problems are there with this option?Explanation / Answer
Option 1. Plant more trees.
One of the reasons for global warming and climate change is the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has shown a steady increase from the beginning of the industrial revolution. The burning of fossil fuels has led to a constant increase in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. Before the industrial revolution, the CO2 concentration was estimated to be 280 ppm (parts per million). Currently it is 400 ppm. This increase in the CO2 content is one of the factors contributing to climate change.
By planting more trees, we can hope that the plants will sequester more of the CO2 into the atmosphere. It is definitely a step in the right direction. Planting more trees will reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere and will help in mitigating the effects of climate change.
For this option to be viable billions of trees would have to be planted in each and every piece of land available. It is a costly and time consuming affair.
Planting more trees would slowly reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere and bring down the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. On average, one acre of new forest can sequester 2.5 tons of CO2. Young trees are estimated to absorb 13tonsof Carbon dioxide per year/ after reaching the age of ten years young trees can absorb 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
It is estimated that the earth needs us to replant 321 million acres of trees to be planted to remove 780 millions of tones of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. For every new ton of wood growth, 1.5 tons of CO2 are removed from the air and 1.07 tons of oxygen is added.
Trees also remove other pollutions such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
How it will affect the carbon cycle.
b. Tree planting is estimated to have only a limited effect on climate change. According to IPCC, tree planting could remove and estimated 1.2 – 1.5 giga tones of CO2 from the atmosphere whereas the annual emission of CO2 is around 50 giga tons/year. Forests alone cannot combat the climate change brought about by burning fossil fuels. Unless CO2 emissions stop or fall drastically it will not be possible for trees to drastically reduce the CO2 in the air. Even if we assume that there is a complete cessation of CO2 emission around the globe due to a complete cessation of the use of fossil fuels it will be a long time before the CO2 levels come to preindustrial age levels.
Trees also release CO2 back into the atmosphere due to decay of the plant parts. Therefore to try to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere just by planting trees and keeping the rates of emission just as they are today is not going to work. We may have to wait till the end of the world for that to happen.
The problems with this option are,
It is estimated that we need to cover 42% of the globe with trees for the above option to work. There is simply not so much land available. Most parts of the earth are arid/ desert regions where trees find life very difficult e.g. Kalahari, Sahara, Arctic etc.
Trees also release back CO2. In many cases it has been observed that the death and decay of trees equals the new CO2 fixed. I.e. many forests are carbon neutral.
We should also not cut the trees. There are far too many people living around the world who are not able to survive without cutting down the trees. So if the newly planted trees are going to be cut, then they may not be as effective.
This process is effective only so long as the tree is not cut down or burnt. Burning it will release the CO2 back into the atmosphere and the whole exercise will be a waste.
Trees also do not have the same rate of growth throughout their lives. As they age, the amount of CO2 fixed will also be reduced.
Problems with this idea,
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