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On the first day of Climate Change, my true love gave to me; Trees, lots of trees [1]

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Date: 2023-12-18

In my spare thinking time, you know, when I’m at work, I think of lots of crazy ideas about lots of different things. One day I was thinking about carbon capture and trying to figure out a low cost, highly energy efficient (preferably solar powered), renewable carbon capture machine which would capture the carbon in some useful or at least beautiful form and be small enough for anyone to set up in their own yard and yet easy to manufacture on a large scale. I briefly thought about self-replicating machines buts that’s too Sci-Fi and way out of our current technological capacity. Oh? What do you mean I’m just a few hundred million years late to the party?

I’m sure pretty much everyone on Daily Kos knows about deforestation and its impact upon climate change. If not, here’s one link but there will be many other sites to check out. Deforestation has been going on since the start of agriculture, but has accelerated in the last few hundred years. Simply reclaiming land back to forest would make a significant impact upon reducing climate change.

Now as we saw from last year’s fires I Canada, all forests aren’t made the same. When we plant new forest we need to think about healthy habitat and ecologies. Forests have survived with forest fires for millions of years. We need to respect the knowledge those trees have acquired and help them live in fire resistant manners.

We can help by pulling back out of once forested areas and by increasing our agricultural efficiency. The open fields of New England have largely gone back to forest when we stopped raising sheep in large quantities there. Unfortunately, that was not an intentional back to nature movement but simply shifting our fiber producing farming to other locations. But the effect on New England was significant.

Making our fiber producing farming more efficient (particularly along sustainable agriculture methods) would allow some percentage of land to go back to forest. And changing our dietary habits can help that as well. As most of you know, a significant portion of the Amazon has been lost to cattle ranching driven by massive consumer demand. And most animals raised for meat are highly inefficient food sources requiring far more land and water than plant protein. If you need to eat meat, try to limit the total amount and choose more ecologically friendly choices such as venison, or chickens raised with sustainable agriculture methods.

And simply plant trees. My favorite tree is the lemon tree. I once worked on a farm in Italy where they had a lemon tree room. In the winter, the lemon trees were brought inside this large room to protect them from winter frosts. The farm made their own Limoncello from the fruit which was absolutely amazing. You can visit the farm if you wish. It’s called Spannocchia and is located outside of Sienna. It’s an agrotourism farm which practices sustainable agriculture.

But for those far from Italy, simply plant in what space you have. Not all of us have room to plant so you can also simply visit and support your local arboretums, parks, and farms. Encourage sustainable practices in the community. Or support organizations like the Sierra Club.

So for the holidays, and for the planet, give whoever you love a gift of trees this year in whichever creative way inspires you!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/12/18/2212399/-On-the-first-day-of-Climate-Change-my-true-love-gave-to-me-Trees-lots-of-trees?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

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