Forests Fight Global Warming
- jhansen49
- Apr 14
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 16
By Suzanne McCarthy
Climate and weather are always changing, and, currently, changing in the direction of global warming. How do we know the planet is warming? According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 1997. And the National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration (NOAA) reports that recent decades have been the warmest since at least around 1000 AD. Those are exactly the kind of patterns that climate scientists study. And as the climate changes, weather changes too, and not always in the ways you'd expect.
We all know that weather has been extreme in recent years. According to the World Resources Institute, 2018 is an example. In that year we saw the second highest number of category 5 cyclones in history; a record 1.6 million acres of California forest was lost to wildfires; record levels of flooding occurred in Japan, heat waves developed in New England during winter, ice storms happened in sunny Florida, and there were two of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history.
2024 wasn’t better. Extreme weather reached dangerous new heights last year. 2024’s record-breaking temperatures fueled unrelenting heatwaves, drought, wildfire, storms and floods that killed thousands of people and forced millions from their homes. Record-breaking global temperatures in 2024 translated to record-breaking downpours. From the Southern Appalachians to Kathmandu, to Dubai, to Rio Grande do Sul, the last 12 months have been marked by a large number of devastating floods.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WEATHER AND CLIMATE?
But weather and climate are not precisely the same. Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere in a specific location at a specific time. The weather is right outside your door. Climate is described as a predicted long-term weather pattern within a region. Climate is why the Caribbean is known as a sunny beach paradise and Antarctica as a bone-chilling expanse of ice. Weather may change in an hour. Climate shifts over decades and centuries.
The best solution for combating climate warming is to reduce the volume of CO 2 being expelled in excess by humans via industry, heating and cooling our cities, automobiles, machinery, and even cattle-raising. But shifting to renewable energy and achieving reductions in gas and pollutant emissions is a slow and difficult process and may not be attained in time.
One good solution in the fight against global warming is the retention and expansion of
forests. Trees are primary soldiers in the reduction of global warming. The trees of a forest capture and store carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), which is the main gas that is contributing to heating up the planet. Depending on trees for carbon storage is a strategy that is successful but not easy to quantify.
SO, HOW MUCH CO2 DOES A TREE ABSORB?
The answer is that the amount of carbon is related to tree growth and there are many factors that affect growth, including type of tree, its location, the amount of water and sunlight it receives, and the local climate and soil conditions, among others.
Nevertheless, it is possible to calculate a range for the amount of carbon stored (sequestered) across a forest area in the first 20 years of growth. For a temperate broadleaf forest, as found in New Jersey, this number is between 4.5 and 40.7 tons of carbon dioxide per year per hectare (one hectare is equivalent to just under 2.5 acres) during the first 20 years of tree growth. The actual rate depends on location and type of forest.
It’s also possible to compute an average tree absorption base rate per year for the first 20 years of a single tree’s life, when most of its growth occurs. This figure is about 10 kilograms or 22 pounds of CO 2 per tree per year. Forests globally absorb around 16 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) annually, which offsets about 30% of the world's annual CO 2 emissions. Forests act as a net carbon sink, absorbing more carbon than they emit. They store carbon in their branches, leaves, roots, and soils. And, of course, they emit oxygen to our atmosphere.
Unfortunately, we are losing one tree for every two trees “established” (planted or naturally regenerated). The loss is mainly due to extreme weather events, insects and diseases, trees being removed for buildings, and improper planting practices. On this path, we are facing a projected loss of 8.3% in tree cover by 2060, primarily in urban tree coverage. We need to plant more trees because trees play a vital role in human well-being!
YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT:
You can calculate your own carbon footprint and determine the number of new trees that would offset that impact. To do so, go to the CO 2 Calculator at the Nature Conservancy’s site at
Sources:
Benet, Ross. “How Much CO2 Does a Tree Absorb?” OneTreePlanted. July 25, 2023.
Chaplin, Diana. “Hot Planet, Cold Winter: The Difference Between Climate and Weather.” OneTreePlanted. December 8, 2020. https://onetreeplanted.org/blogs/stories/difference-between-climate-weather
“When Risks Become Reality: Extreme Weather In 2024.” World Weather Attribution. December 27, 2024.
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