Climate Change and the Importance of Trees

By Teresa Cardoza

Fall is one of the prettiest seasons there is. Leaves change color and fall onto the forest floor. The sound of the leaves crunching under your foot leaves you wanting more. Climate change on the other hand is ugly. The warming planet is a great cause for concern and the warmer the planet grows, the earlier the leaves will fall.

According to researchers, “Global warming has resulted in longer growing seasons -- spring leaves are emerging in European trees about two weeks earlier, compared with 100 years ago.” Trees are overworking in order to compensate for the extra carbon in the atmosphere; they are “self- constraining productivity.” Increases in spring and summer productivity result in elevated carbon dioxide, temperature, and light levels which drive trees to lose their leaves earlier. Scientists estimate that trees will begin to lose their leaves 3-6 days earlier than expected.

We cannot continue to put out CO2 and expect the trees to do all the work for us. Previously scientists had suggested that warming temperatures means a longer summer but new studies are showing the opposite. They also suggest that trees are beginning to sprout earlier than expected. According to researchers, “Because of unrelenting plundering of natural resources, and human interruptions in the natural environment, cutting down trees, hence reducing the green cover, and human interruptions in the natural environment of several species has caused innumerable environmental disasters – from destructions caused by oil spills to bushfires, floods, and cyclones.” Deforestation can cause climate change, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, and increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. With fewer trees and no leaves the atmosphere will absorb CO2. Which leads to warmer temperatures and this causes rising sea levels as permafrost continues to melt. The endless cycle will be our downfall.

Scientists suggest that if we want to create a drastic change we could plant 1 trillion trees. I am not sure if that is realistic but I would love to think that people are willing to make a change. With 7.8 billion people living on the planet if we each planted 129 trees we could meet that number. Unfortunately many people believe that climate change is not real or climate change benefits them or they are contributing by creating greenhouse gases will never help because there is something in it for them. Of course we also have to reduce our carbon footprint because trees alone won’t help our problem but it would help if they did not have work overtime. It is estimated that in about 200 years there will be no more trees if we continue down this path. In the college’s online climate conference I did not hear much about trees and deforestation. I do believe that this is something we should be discussing more.