Simon Choi

Prof. Galvin

ESL 1B

05 Mar. 2021

Writing Project 2

A tree planting day was a public holiday until just 10 years ago in South Korea. On that day, it was always on TV that politicians were campaigning for planting trees. The government encouraged people to plant trees to fight against climate change and gave them saplings for free. Planting trees has been considered a very important task and promoted as a way to be safe from climate change problems. Parker (2019) argues that planting trees is the simplest, most effective, and most economical way to fight climate change. Is it really realistic and worthwhile? I do not think so at all. I argue that planting trees is not a feasible and valuable way to fight climate change for some reasons.

First of all, planting trees is not as effective as we expect. McGrath (2020) states that Dr. Anping Chen’s research team at Colorado State University measured carbon density in northern China, where tree planting is actively underway, to see how much carbon the new forest absorbs. Surprisingly, it has been shown that trees planted in low-carbon soil have excellent carbon absorption capabilities, but the ones in high-carbon soil do not have carbon absorption capabilities as much as we expect. Many trees currently being planted in contaminated soil might not work properly. The carbon absorption effects of trees and our expectations for that are much exaggerated. Comment by Galvin, Mary Elizabeth: Explain, elaborate a bit. Does that mean trees are being planted in places that are already storing the maximum amount of carbon? Comment by Galvin, Mary Elizabeth: transition

Secondly, planting trees could be harmful to nature. It is impossible to select and plant trees that exactly fit the area. Because nature is so complexly connected, we do not know how the trees we plant will adversely affect the local ecosystem. In nature, plants compete with each other to survive. The trees we plant may threaten the existence of existing native plants. Furthermore, the diversity of ecosystem is being destroyed. For example, there is “Bonn Challenge”. This is a tree planting campaign involving more than 40 countries, aiming to restore 350 million hectares of forest by 2030. 80% of the trees planted through this campaign are from the same species. As such, such challenges and campaigns are deemed to be ineffective towards eradicating climate change. Comment by Galvin, Mary Elizabeth: good, can you follow this with an example? Comment by Galvin, Mary Elizabeth: cite Comment by Galvin, Mary Elizabeth: what are they? Where have they been planted?

Thirdly, a tree does not need to be planted to regenerate a forest. If allowed, a forest can heal on its own and regenerate without any form of human interference. Calma (2020) points out that self-regenerated forest grow to be more helpful and resilient in fighting climate change than newly planted trees. When forests are allowed to regenerate naturally, they provide conditions that protect tree and animal species from external interference, allowing biodiversity and ecosystems to flourish. The latter is contrary to when trees are planted as this activity causes human interferences affecting the forests’ natural ecosystem. Thereby, multiple planted trees do not achieve the desired effect but instead causing more harm than good on climate change. Comment by Galvin, Mary Elizabeth: Example?

Fourth is protecting the natural forests we have and the biodiversity they contain. Peter (2020) adds that maintaining indigenous forests is best done by leaving the forests by to indigenous people and not destroying them through industrial incentives as witnessed in various parts of the world. Indigenous forests have a higher success rate of reducing carbon than planted trees. Lands under indigenous control can lose carbon in very small quantities as the forests have stayed intact and regenerated in areas that have been disturbed. The same efforts should channel to protect the indigenous people to defend the lands and the forests and limit bio-diversity and ecosystem interference. Comment by Galvin, Mary Elizabeth: Sentence fragment Comment by Galvin, Mary Elizabeth: Last name?

Lastly, it costs too much to plant a tree. It is much more efficient to use the money to develop eco-friendly energy. When trees are planted, it takes time to grow and form a forest. It will take 20 years for the trees planted now to become forests. That means that the current effort will be effective after 20 years. On the other hand, eco-friendly energy such as solar and wind power system has the effect of reducing carbon dioxide immediately by reducing the use of fossil fuels. If we use the money for the eco-friendly energy subsidy, it can have an immediate effect. We cannot wait 20 years. We should remember that even at this moment the problem of climate change is getting worse quickly.

In summary, I choose a standpoint that planting tree is not a valuable and feasible way of fighting climate change based on the reasons explained above. Planting 1 trillion trees remain not to be a practical way to fight climate change. Contrary to what is expected to achieve, the reality is going to be different. Planted trees will have an overall harmful effect on the natural tree and animal species, forest regeneration, natural habits, and evict indigenous people from their natural habitats. The overall result of this is a change in biodiversity and ecosystem, and instead of reducing carbon levels, the trees will consequentially increase them and accelerate worse conditions for climate change. The same efforts need to be geared at conserving biodiversity through natural ways.

Reference

Calma, J. (2020). Planting 1 trillion trees might not actually be a good idea. The Verge, 1(1), 1-11. 

https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/31/21115862/davos-1-trillion-trees-controversy-world-economic-forum-campaign

Peters, A. (2020). 1 trillion trees: What would it take, how would it work, and is it even worth it? FastCompany, 1(1), 1-10. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/90464052/1-trillion-trees-what-would-it-take-how-would-it-work-and-is-it-even-worth-it

Parker, K. (2019) “Opinion: Want to Stop Climate Change? Start by Planting a Trillion Trees.” The Washington Post, The Washington Post, 24 July 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/want-to-stop-climate-change-start-by-planting-a-trillion-trees/2019/07/23/dcd8039c-ad8f-11e9-bc5c-e73b603e7f38_story.html.

McGrath, M. (2020) “Climate Change: Planting New Forests ‘Can Do More Harm than Good.’” Bbc.Com, BBC, 22 June 2020, www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53138178.