The best solution to climate change? Plant lot's of trees!

[living sounds]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/24/scientific-consensus-on-humans-causing-global-warming-passes-99

 

[alexc]

I do my bit - I think I've planted around 1K trees, shrubs and plants since the mid 90s.

Just today I celebrated  digging another 10 good quality tree  holes ..  which I can  plant at my leisure .. small fruit trees, in this case.

...

The first 10 years of 'gardening' it's tough ...  mostly cleaning, digging and planting.

And much reaping  [of weeds].

Constant - like. Thorny weeds (milk thistle)  , or giant bamboo things (crazy black Hong Kong construction grade 10m types!)  or toxic carrot weed (hemlock), some awful weed called 'dock'  (5year plan to defeat this guy) and so on.

...

The next 10 years is nicer, for a change ....  all nice soil, growth, flowers-n-fruit, bees and birds and small scale hoe-ing with a minimum of chems   Interesting interwebs  star becoming familiar,  like fungal things  and soil mycellium and all that.

But mostly great fruit, nuts, ornamentals and cereals (for the real players) otherwise hay. Oceans of hay.

Another 10 years and its veges that actually work ... 

...

Now I need to set up some sensor/deterrent things with monitoring at my pc 

....  possums mostly -  I just want to scare them out of my orchard ...  augment my 'scarecrow'  etc.

The myriad of hopping marsupial things in my yard each evening is crazy! And these guys are healtjy, happy and have made a lifestyle choice to live under my shrubs and trees 

..

Anyway 

Plant More TRees!  (please)

 

[living sounds]

alexc, that's great!

Another growing movement is Agroforestry, it makes much more sense than the current unsustainable agriculture:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agroforestry

 

[JohnRoberts]

I do my bit - I think I've planted around 1K trees, shrubs and plants since the mid 90s.

Just today I celebrated  digging another 10 good quality tree  holes ..  which I can  plant at my leisure .. small fruit trees, in this case.

..

I have planted more than a half dozen fruit trees over the last several years. I just ate a fresh fig a few minutes ago.  I don't have room for 1k trees on my one acre.

The first 10 years of 'gardening' it's tough ...  mostly cleaning, digging and planting.

And much reaping  [of weeds].

Constant - like. Thorny weeds (milk thistle)  , or giant bamboo things (crazy black Hong Kong construction grade 10m types!)  or toxic carrot weed (hemlock), some awful weed called 'dock'  (5year plan to defeat this guy) and so on.

I recently cut back some kudzu vines that were threatening my phone line and covering the power pole... One of the kudzu vines was so large I had to use my chain saw to cut it.

We have hedges that grow like weeds but worse, they grow all winter so must constantly be cut back or they crowd out more desirable flora.

...

The next 10 years is nicer, for a change ....  all nice soil, growth, flowers-n-fruit, bees and birds and small scale hoe-ing with a minimum of chems   Interesting interwebs  star becoming familiar,  like fungal things  and soil mycellium and all that.

But mostly great fruit, nuts, ornamentals and cereals (for the real players) otherwise hay. Oceans of hay.

Another 10 years and its veges that actually work ... 

...

Now I need to set up some sensor/deterrent things with monitoring at my pc 

This year I set up security cameras to spot squirrels who feed on my pecans. Last summer/fall I deleted 6 squirrels with extreme prejudice. I have an effective pellet rifle with a scope. Hopefully the new cameras will make it easier to surprise them.

....  possums mostly -  I just want to scare them out of my orchard ...  augment my 'scarecrow'  etc.

The myriad of hopping marsupial things in my yard each evening is crazy! And these guys are healtjy, happy and have made a lifestyle choice to live under my shrubs and trees 

..

Anyway 

Plant More TRees!  (please)

Do you want some squirrels? They hop but not like roos.

JR

 

[living sounds]

Bad news, unfortunately:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/25/amazonian-rainforest-near-unrecoverable-tipping-point

 

[living sounds]

And more:

https://www.livescience.com/66022-wildfires-burning-arctic.html

 

[alexc]

Thanks John R -  I do get some hifi descriptions  there ....      re. the dreaded kudzu  Oh my lrd!

It's like my 7year 'bamboo dig'  but probably worse 
...

It's  all still  a journey for me (gardening), and what with all this late evening orchard goings on ...  sometimes it seems like a big party going out there ...  there's a book down the road in the local bookstore  .. 'the field guide to tas scat'   

And I do go for the non lethal deterrents  .. I'm an old engineer gardener, not a real frontier farmer.

Mostly I don't mind if a good portion of it (produce) goes to the birds (my friends) or the fruit marsupials (many) or even my personal fav,  which is the omni voriferous  'southern brown bandicoot'.

These are reputed to have a very efficient metabolic system going on (amonsgt their peers) and good luck to them too.
...

The 'kudzu'  ...   

I only know it from documentaries, but wow  what a thing.  I mean just wow.   

....



[thanks to mr john o'neill for the nice pic] 

Here's the Southern Brown Bandicoot  ..  which are amonsgt the locals ..

 

[alexc]

I remember Cologne, the great city, when I lived for a bunch of years in Antwerpen nearby in Belgium.

Cologne was my first big road trip,  with my new    'left hand side' driving skills    and permit 

Lunch and drinks before that wonderful clock tower with friends 

 

[alexc]

Squirrels are an interesting critter ..

I don't think we get them here, but instead there are some local equivalents.

I know one thing, can't beat the possums (marsupial squirrel like critter). These guys will be here long after I'm not.

They like to climb small fruit trees and completely shred them.

Even the 'wallaby's  aren't  as crazy - mostly being grass eaters.   

These guys [possum] are big,  like  a 'drop bear'.    Maybe 7kg-10kg or so.  And many with a liking for crops.

 

[JohnRoberts]

yup we have possums here too, but mostly seen eating out of garbage cans...not up in trees.

We have too many squirrels here and I do not take pleasure from killing them, I just take so much less pleasure from them ruining my pecan crop... It wouldn't be so bad if they just skimmed a modest share, but they start chewing on them early in the season before they are ripe, ruining way too many of them before they can ripen.

I had one squirrel in such a feeding frenzy last year, that he didn't run off after I shot at him and missed. He just kept eating. Give me a do-over while the squirrel is sitting still up in the tree, and it won't end well for that squirrel. Usually any second shots are just point and shoot without aiming as they flee across the yard, or through the tree tops.

JR

PS: The main threat to my figs are birds, and so far I have been reluctant to shoot at them. My best strategy is to not let figs sit on the tree ripe for any duration.

 

[alexc]

I have seen media of the 'american possum' ... a bloody fearsome thing it is, all teeth and agression wise.  I'd be very wary around those!

The tassy 'possum' is more like  a 'tree climbing kangaroo' kind of thing ...  but they aren't fearsome to man, except when you are driving after dark  ... the unfortunate thing that is 'road kill' wherever traffic and local animals collide ..  literally.

Anyway, most proper farmers have dogs setup in their commercial orchards ...  barking dogs does most of the work of orchard protection. And I almost never drive after dark  ;D

..

I have been reading of the frequency and distribtion of    'forest fires'  all over ...  it's a proxy for things going forward.

In this case, the arctic and greenland, alaska and so on have some burning  ...  I haven't looked closely, but it does seem to easily slot into my world view. Unfortunately.

More 'land fires' be they forest or grassland or whatever ...  in this case tundra too ?

I have quite a bit of trepidation regarding the 'forward estimates' in my own area ... at the other end of the globe down from Alaska.  One needs to have a good plan in place in order to 'weather' the summer fire season . .    sorry,  my faux-pun   

I always loved Alaska. It's my kind of place,  cold and spruce forested.  I'm hoping that great region can find some relief from the seeming increasing 'weather instability'  and so on. Its painful to read reports of fires and so on, of out-of-wack beetles  making kindling on a vast scale.

You have to love spruce, though, don't you ? It's one of my top 5 'woods'.  But crikey it burns like... like that!

I have planted a few in my time, I'm a 'pine tree' lover  ....  all kinds     especially the 'blue foilage'  ones  ...

....

Downhere it's middle winter ....  but it's quite 'spring' like  ...  warm, with sun and the buds coming out already, birds are in overdrive ... etc.

Predicting the next couple of weeks is any guess ...  from snow to spring ?  Or the crazy winds, hail and insane amounts of rain  ?

So far, it's been  'crazy cold start'    and then    'unusual warm middle'  (the present time)  .....  with      'low precipitation'  all round ....    meaning Jan-Feb,  the hot season will be ..  something to plan for.

.....

One year, a few back, the little 'creek' or 'rivulet' that borders my place for a bit ...  in the space of a couple of days, this 'trickle' turned in to a raging river, complete with rapids.  It completely over-covered my 'lower paddock' under water.

The sound of it was fearsome, and at the time one wasn't sure how much more intense it would get.  Just bonkers, it was.

My place has a top half and a lower half with about 15-20m drop along a 'grassy knowl'  .. I stood atop thinking 'amazing'.

And yet now, today, about two years later,    it's a picture of benign nature,    complete with triple-bows,  families of black swans, cygnets and beautiful parrots.

Cattle, horses, sheep, guineau fowl, chickens and the most insane little birds  ...  one type, the 'blue headed fairy wren'  is big in my garden.  It's kind of the local version of Charles Schulz 'Peanuts' bird 'Woodstock'.

..

I hope the wonderful alaskan/arctic regions  make it thru these terrible fire events.

Indeed may all the places do so likewise and have some some good weather.

 

[alexc]

I was just about to write, that the highlight of my day was reaping a little parsley, from my garden and planting a bunch of purple garlic in there ...  to bed in over winter  ...  argentian purple garlic  ...  whichhas been a nice little grower.

Just now I read of a us event at a 'garlic festival'  and I think ... once again the syncronicity of ..  the world  shows me again.

Mercy and graces to those victimes and families at Cali    ...    :'(

 

[JohnRoberts]

In recent years I have planted more trees on my property than I cut down, mostly fruit trees.

This weekend I cut some more hedges and kudzu vines that were threatening my telephone pole. I don't care if kudzu consumes CO2, its evil.

That remedy (plant 1T trees) seems more harmless than most, kind of merging tree huggers with climate alarmists. How is CA doing with all those extra trees, that still should be thinned/managed?

I only skimmed the article, but didn't see any mention of the clear-cutting massive acreage in the Amazon rain forest... A pretty big deal years ago.

I don't buy that this could remedy a species extinction (us not the trees) event. I guess they want to scare boys and girls into subscribing.

JR

I suspect we would be well served to enforce the rules/laws in So America protecting the Amazon rain forest that continues to shrink.... Easier to save the existing foliage than recreate it.

This shrinkage does not have a simple single cause, but multiple different ones in different countries, as varied as careless new highway development, to expansion of farming/livestock into previous forest, even peace agreements with rebel groups. 

Since there is not one cause, there is not one remedy, but perhaps trade restrictions on goods coming from this new repurposed farmland could help. Brazil had some success blocking soy purchases from protected areas. Of course it is difficult to stop illegal gold mining, criminal activity, china's belt and road plans to build infrastructure there, etc.

Of course it is a difficult trade off to deny residents the economic benefit of commercial use.  Planting a tree in the yard may make us feel good inside, this problem has many sides and sharp angles.

JR

PS: I try to ignore "tipping point" claims that make better science fiction than global resource advice, but thoughtless actions can have consequences. 

 

[boji]

Older article, but I was surprised I never saw the report: Trump Administration publishes study projecting 7 degrees

Either ACG is fake or it's real. If it's real, saying it's too big to do anything about is a terrible plan.

 

[cyrano]

One of the very major reasons for deforestation in the Amazon region, but also in Asia and Africa, is called Cargill.

The CEO promised the US govt to start doing something about it, like no longer buying coco buds from collectors operating in protected areas, but he was simply lying.

 

[JohnRoberts]

One of the very major reasons for deforestation in the Amazon region, but also in Asia and Africa, is called Cargill.

The CEO promised the US govt to start doing something about it, like no longer buying coco buds from collectors operating in protected areas, but he was simply lying.

I think there may be a more obvious even higher profile villain. The president of Brazil just fired his science advisor who was in charge of tracking the amazon deforestation... The science advisor had the temerity to tell the public the truth about worsening amazon deforestation, so he got canned.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/08/brazilian-institute-head-fired-after-clashing-nation-s-president-over-deforestation

The president of brazil is promoting commercial growth (a good thing that Brazil's economy and people needs) but is deaf to concerns about the amazon rain forest's long term health and sustainability.  Lose too much acreage to clear cutting and the rain forest, becomes just a forest.

This is a classic trade off between short term and long term benefit and I'm not sure how the voters in Brazil will respond (this just happened ).

JR

PS: If it wasn't Cargill there is probably a line of companies behind them willing to take the gig.

 

[living sounds]

I think there may be a more obvious even higher profile villain. The president of Brazil just fired his science advisor who was in charge of tracking the amazon deforestation... The science advisor had the temerity to tell the public the truth about worsening amazon deforestation, so he got canned.

Similar things are happening under the Trump administration. Many decades of scientifc data may be lost forever. I'm not sure many of the voters know / understand / care.

 

[boji]

Similar things are happening under the Trump administration. Many decades of scientifc data may be lost forever. I'm not sure many of the voters know / understand / care.

Didn't Tocqueville say something about people getting the government they deserve?  We'll be the most egalitarian of countries in the belt of sand!

 

[Tubetec]

I should plant more really ,
Ive noticed an upswing in people planting to save the planet , its not going to do any harm ,but if we have underlying causes of extinction it wont make a toss of a difference other than make us feel slightly better as we get sucked down the plug hole .

Lets suppose for a moment an Alien race arrived here , saw what was happening ,
would they wipe us out to preserve the diversity of  the planet ? or sit back and watch 'ring side' as we self destructed ?

 

[JohnRoberts]

Didn't Tocqueville say something about people getting the government they deserve?  We'll be the most egalitarian of countries in the belt of sand!

Alexis de Tocqueville ("Democracy in America") also said that as soon as the politicians figure out that they can bribe voters with their own money, democracy is dead. He was prescient.

Look at the proposed give aways in the primary campaign going on right now from multiple candidates, tens of trillions dollars.

JR