Setting back the cause of more federal land grabs, a study conducted by the Carnegie Institution and Lawrence Livermore National Lab suggests that planting trees willy-nilly could be like buying Mother Nature a bigger SUV.
Here’s an excerpt from their press release (bolding mine):
The researchers used complex climate modeling software to simulate changes in forest cover and then examined the effects on global climate. Their results were surprising. “We were hoping to find that growing forests in the United States would help slow global warming,” Caldeira said. “But if we are not careful, growing forests could make global warming even worse.”
The researchers found that while tropical forests help keep Earth cool by evaporating a great deal of water, northern forests tend to warm the Earth because they absorb a lot of sunlight without losing much moisture. In one simulation, the researchers covered much of the northern hemisphere (above 20° latitude) with forests and saw a jump in surface air temperature of more than 6° F. Covering the entire planet’s land mass with trees led to a more modest increase of about 2° F.
Read it all. Predictably, radical environmentalists will blame the simulation, the study, Fox News, and Karl Rove. And for extra marks, they will –- you guessed it -– demand further studies. And a proper study might -– you guessed it again –- take an awfully long time.
