Will a Trillion Trees Stop Global Warming?

Copyright 2020 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon

As our society recovers from the triple threats of Coronavirus, economic collapse and social unrest, the longer term threat of global warming continues to hang over our heads. Earlier this year — just as the Coronavirus hit and our economy went into a recession — the Trillion Trees Act was introduced.

Representative Bruce Westerman, a pro-logging advocate from Arkansas introduced this act, along with several Republican colleagues. Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio hailed the act as offering a powerful solution to combat our changing climate. And President Trump declared the US will join this initiative. A fundamental claim of this initiative is that a trillion trees is an important part of solving the global climate crisis. In itself, this claim is an acknowledgment by Republicans that there is indeed a global warming problem that humans can effectively address.

Both political parties to some degree acknowledge that global warming is a man-made problem. With abundant apologies to Joyce Kilmer: "I think that I shall never see, a Global Warming Solution as lovely as a tree. So the real question becomes: “how effectively can a trillion trees solve global warming?”

Please listen to this week’s Energy Show as we delve into a few of the scientific and economic issues related to the Trillion Trees Act, including: how trees sequester carbon, how much CO2 will a trillion trees remove, how much land is required, how much will it cost to plant a trillion trees, how long will it take for these trees to capture atmospheric CO2, and to cap it all off — can Congress pass such a bill.