Planting one trillion trees to save earth
Global warming is defined by Wikipedia as “the long-term heating of Earth’s surface observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning which increases heat-trapping green-house gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere.”
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Climate change, on the other hand, is defined by a UN source as “long-term” shifts in temperatures and weather patterns.
“These shifts may be natural but since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change primarily due to burning of fossil fuels (like coal, oil and gas), which produce heat-trapping gases.”
The two definitions show that global warming and climate change are not the same.
One, global warming is the cause, and the other, climate change, is the effect.
Global warming causes the earth’s temperatures to go up beyond acceptable levels.
Persistent temperature increases on the Earth’s surface do create harmful effects.
It causes the ice layers in the North and South Poles to melt.
Melting of the ice cover of the Poles not only raises sea water levels but also ultimately makes the sea warm up.
The ice covers of the Earth help in the moderation of the planet’s temperature levels.
Their melting away is a cause of global warming and climate change.
Deforestation caused by human activities and bush fires are other causes of global warming and climate change.
One of the several ways scientists have recommended to solve global warming and climate change is to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the Earth’s atmosphere.
Another is to stop use of fossil fuels – crude oil, gas and coal and wood burning.
One method that is technologically based, is capturing of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere through what is called carbon-capture technology.
It has been found out that trees are excellent captors of CO2.
Trees have been capturing and storing CO2 for millions of years.
Scientists have studied how trees do CO2 capturing and storing.
According to the scientists, over one year, a mature tree will take up about 22kg of CO2 from the atmosphere and, in exchange, the trees release oxygen.
Each year, 1.3 million trees are estimated to remove more than 2,500 tonnes of pollutants from the air.
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Findings by scientific calculations have shown that tree-planting on the surface of the Earth to replace lost trees (reafforestation), could remove one-third of all CO2 emissions from the Earth’s atmosphere.
“These new quantitative evaluation shows (reforestation) isn’t just one of our climate change solutions; it is overwhelmingly the top of one,” Prof Tom Crowther of the Swiss University ETH Zurich, has said.
“What blows my mind is the scale. I thought (forest) restoration would be in the top 10 but it is overwhelmingly more powerful than all of the other climate change solutions proposed.”
He added that tree planting “is the cheapest one possible, and every one of us can get involved”.
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Another scientist of the Swiss University ETH Zurich, Jean Francois Basting, asked governments of nations of the world to “factor tree-planting into their national strategies”.
Christiana Figueres, former UN climate chief and founder of the Global Optimum group, has said: “Finally, we have an authoritative assessment of how much land we can and should cover with trees without impinging on food production or living areas.
‘’This is a hugely important-blueprint for the government and private sector,’’ she added.
On the cost of planting one trillion trees, Prof Crowther said planting one tree could be done at 30 US cents.
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“That means we could restore the one trillion trees for $300 billion”.
He added that giving out financial incentives to land owners for tree planting was the only way to encourage landowners to plant trees.
According to Prof Crowther, the $300 billion needed for the planting of the 1 trillion trees on the Earth’s surface could come from the world’s billionaires, philanthropists and the public.
Scientists have estimated that ‘’there are currently about three trillion trees in the world which is half the number that existed before the rise of human civilisation’’.
“We still have a net loss of about 10 billion trees a year,” Prof Crowther added while explaining why forest restoration is needed to protect the earth from global warming.
Richard Houghton, a senior scientist at the Woods and Hole Research Centre who was one of the scientists that engaged in the research on tree planting to reduce global warming, said human activities released 10 giga tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere every year.
There are now about 850 giga tonnes of carbon in the atmosphere.
He added that planting one trillion trees as suggested by the scientists could cut carbon by about 25 per cent.
On the cost of planting one trillion trees, Prof Houghton said that trees were relatively cheap carbon consumers.
“There are technologies people are working on to take carbon-dioxide out of the air, and trees do it for nothing,’’ he added.
On June 9, 2023, Ghana’s President Akufo Addo in Accra, launched the year’s programme of what is known as Green Ghana Day.
The programme is part of the campaign to restore the lost forest cover of the country through re-afforestation.
In the 2021 tree planting day project, seven million trees were planted.
Last year, 20 million trees were planted and on June 9, 2023, ten million trees were planted across the country.
According to the UN, Ghana has one of the highest rain forest losses in the world. Ghana has a forest cover which is one-fifth of what it was a century ago.
Planting millions of trees in Ghana since 2021 is part of the country’s contribution to the expected planting of one trillion trees throughout the world – to reduce global warming.
What will happen to the Earth and human beings if global warming and climate change are not stopped by the ways the climate scientists have recommended?
The consequences of continued heating of the Earth’s surface can be catastrophic for human beings.
Global warming can cause sea levels to rise and flood coastal lands and submerge islands.
Warming of the sea could destroy plants that serve as food for fishes, and coral reefs that give shelter to fishes in the sea.
Global warming is projected to increase the incidence of bush fires, wind and sea storms and volcanic eruptions.
Water bodies, such as small and medium rivers and lakes, could dry up – the process has started and some rivers and lakes have, or are drying up.
To human beings, excessive heat on the human body could cause more cancer of the skin and eye cataract that could lead to blindness.
Mosquitoes like heat and in increased temperatures, mosquitoes could crow more where they are at the present, and new ones could surface where they have never been because of global warming.
The worst scenario is that the earth could blow up in a big bang.
These are some of the reasons why mankind must respond to recommendations by scientists that more trees should be planted where there is space to save the earth planet.
Email: therson.cofie@yahoo.com