Six Degrees Could Change the World

OverviewOverviewVideoVideoPhotosPhotosInteractiveInteractiveSix Degrees: The BookSix Degrees: The BookStopping The Mercury's RiseStopping The Mercury's RiseSimulating Volcanic EruptionsSimulating Volcanic EruptionsLenses In SpaceLenses In SpaceReplanting ForestsReplanting ForestsSeeding The Oceans With IronSeeding The Oceans With IronTurning Pollution Into Baking SodaTurning Pollution Into Baking SodaCreating Artificial WeatherCreating Artificial WeatherDeserts And Islands Into MirrorsDeserts And Islands Into MirrorsSIX_HTML_solutions-3

Photo: Sunlight streams through a green forest

Replanting Forests

Trees and plants are a major bulwark against climate change as they consume carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that forests have the potential to absorb into their biomass up to 15 percent of global carbon emissions in the first half of the 21st Century — assuming we still have forests by then. About half of the world’s forests already have been cut or burned down to harvest timber or clear land for building or farming, and by 2030, only 20 percent might remain. The destruction of forests, in fact, pumps 1.6 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere, accounting for 25 to 30 percent of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions. Reforestation projects could undo some of this damage and help reduce the rate of climate change. Carbon offset trading firms already are planting trees on a modest scale, and governments in developing countries have launched larger efforts. Ethiopia, for example, planted 700 million trees in 2007, and Indonesia planted 79 million trees in a single day last November as part of a global campaign to plant one billion trees. But making a major dent in global warming would require an even bigger multinational push.

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Six Degrees Could Change the World

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Six Degrees Could Change the World

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