• Land

The UK Launches Revolutionary Carbon Sequestration Trials

• carbon footprint
• carbon sequestration
• carbon sinks
• CO2
• Forests
• greenhouse gasses
• peat
• trees

To meet the goals of the Paris agreement, experts say the world must invest in removing carbon from the atmosphere in addition to cutting emissions. But that can be a tall task as crucial carbon sinks fall victim to human activity and rising temperatures. The U.K. is facing this challenge head-on and has launched a series of carbon sequestration trials using trees, peat, rock chips, and charcoal.

Why This Matters: Carbon sinks are declining worldwide. 

• Forests

Can Drones Rebuild the Canadian Woods?

• Canada
• carbon sink
• drone
• Fire
• forest
• indigenous knowledge
• logging
• resilience
• trees

In Canada’s British Columbia, a new project plans to replant resilient forests with the combination of Indigenous knowledge and new technology. According to reporting by Grist in partnership with The Tyee, Seed the North will “collect seeds, combine them in biodiverse seedpods, and drop them using drone technology over thousands of acres.” 

Why This Matters: Over the past decades, British Columbia’s forests have been through climate change-fueled droughts, wildfires, and pest infestations.

• Forests

Mexican President López Obrador to Propose Cooperative Immigration Plan During Climate Summit

• climate change
• climate migrants
• immigration
• Mexico
• refugees
• restoration
• trees

As President Biden’s April 22 climate summit approaches, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico has announced by video that he will propose a new migration agreement between the nations of North America this week. This proposal would ask Central American and Mexican emigrants to work planting trees and crops in Mexico for three years in exchange for a six-month U.S. work visa and eventually the right to apply for U.S. citizenship. 

Why This Matters: As global temperatures warm, there will be a surge of predominantly impoverished climate refugees and migrants to many countries including here.

• Forests

New Study Finds Trees Absorbing More Carbon than Previously Thought

• carbon sequestration
• photo
• trees

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer A new study has found that, contrary to the expectations of the scientific community, trees are expertly adapting to increased carbon in the atmosphere and absorbing even more carbon while increasing their water use efficiency. However, while these findings reinforce the importance of forests as carbon sinks, many forests are plagued […]

• Forests
• Politics

Read This: The NYT on The Secret Life of Trees

• #30x30
• Darwin
• tree
• trees

This week’s New York Times Magazine includes a fascinating read by Ferris Jabr (with incredible photos by Brendan George Ko) about the work of forest ecologist Suzanne Simard.  Simard’s career began when studying for her Ph.D. she examined the fungal links between Douglas fir and paper birch in the forests of her childhood home in […]

• Forests

California’s Cap and Trade Offset System Created A Market for Forest Preservation

• California
• cap and trade
• carbon offsets
• conservation
• market
• trees

The Wall Street Journal published an eye-opening piece yesterday by Ryan Dezember (with beautiful photos and video by Brett Carlsen) that describes a burgeoning national market in carbon offset credits created by landowners promising to leave trees on their land standing.  The buyers are “investing” in trees and holding the credits — and it’s not […]