I Used To Plant A Lot Of Trees, Back In The Day

(CNN)When you think of Florida, beaches and palm trees come to mind. But what if those palm trees were slowly replaced with other trees? That could happen over time because of climate change, and communities in South Florida are trying to save the world from the climate crisis, one tree at a time.

"Palm trees do not sequester carbon at the same rate as our native canopy trees and do not provide shade, cool down streets and sidewalks to help counter the urban heat island effect that canopy trees do," said Penni Redford, the Resilience and Climate Change Manager for West Palm Beach. 

 

Scientists are working on solutions to capture and safely contain atmospheric carbon. One approach is called "terrestrial sequestration" -- which is essentially planting trees. A tree absorbs carbon during photosynthesis and stores it for the life of the tree.  

Kristine Crous, a senior lecturer at Western Sydney University, explains that palms don't produce wood, so they're poorer at storing carbon. 

 

Having that many palms will not allow for these cities to handle carbon sequestration nearly as well as they would have with other tree varieties. By 2050, Miami Beach's palms should make up no more than 25% of the public tree population, according to Miami Beach's Rising Above plan.

"Southern Live oak, Quercus Virginiana -- large canopy trees, can withstand occasional floods and hurricanes and are resistant to salt spray, provide habitat for birds and a variety of moss and bromeliads in south Florida," Redford said.

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/23/weather/weather-trees-adapt-climate-change/index.html?

 It's great news from a carbon mitigation standpoint. We still need to reduce human emissions of greenhouse gases, but knowing that some species of trees are able to adapt to increased levels of CO2 is encouraging.