Does anybody know of a good article about this, because i find it extremely disappointing what i can find about this subject on the internet.
There is not even a
video about this subject longer than 20 minutes.
Which is so strange, because politicians in Europe want to throw trillions of euros at reducing
CO2 emissions of the citizens, which is great in itself, but not going to do a lot if other people on the other side of the planet are going to enjoy lower
energy prices and therefore burn more, resulting in the same CO2 emissions globally. Anyway i do not believe we are going to stop burning fossil fuels as long as the alternatives are still more expensive. I've heard my whole life a technological breakthrough that is going to really divert the whole world from fossil fuels is around the corner, and have become bitter and sceptical about this happening.
Of course we
should all together try to minimize the CO2 emissions. Using the atmosphere as a litter tray is not a good idea ever.
But closing your eyes for the economic reality of life isn't either.
And i'm struck by the weirdness of everything. Just consider this, plants take up CO2. Why not reforest the planet if that's cheaper and more effective in reducing CO2 levels? Why not reforest the planet anyway? And why not reforest the planet with food plants partially to get rid of wasteful polluting industrial agriculture?
But besides these big,big,big questions i am not expecting anyone to
answer, i wonder if the literal effect on climate change by deforestation in itself is not largely underestimated? Just being in the forest in a heatwave, it's 5 degrees cooler easily.
Here on Permies i've read how the microbes that live of the exudates of leaves in the tree
canopy go into a hibernation state in heatwaves, get blown of the canopy by the wind, where they might form the core of raindrop materialization. Which is genius, because it cools and feeds the forest when it's most needed.
Another reason i can imagine in deforestation contributing to climate change is wind breaks. Forests absorb the wind. Keeping it from heating up the soil and rocks underneath. Keeping the soil with it's
roots in itself is cooling the planet, because bare rock heats up in the sun, just like
concrete cities do, soil keeps moisture there which remains when it's mulched.
All this cooling forests do leads to rain, which creates lakes which are massive heat sinks in itself and when cooled by vegetation on top of
water absorbs 20 times more CO2 than air can contain, if i understood right.
I'd like everybody who can think of other reasons, or articles to chime in. And please don't make this a polarized discussion about the truth or untruth of climate change. This is for the forests and what they do for us.