Trees are not re-growing in burned-out forests. This strange occurrence is becoming more frequent as global warming turns verdant flora into flammable tinder, causing more and bigger wild forests fires.<\/p>\n
This article will examine the science behind failure of trees to regrow in burned-out forests. Additionally, and as a collateral issue, this puts one more distorted face on the consequential impact of the multi-billion dollar business called \u201cwoody biomass,\u201d which burns trees in place of coal to meet carbon neutral protocols.<\/p>\n
As a consequence, between the twin impacts of burned-out forests failing to regrow and woody biomass chopping down mature trees that are strong carbon sinks replaced by frail seedlings, one has to wonder about nature\u2019s \u201ccarbon sink\u201d capacity. Is it shrinking just when it\u2019s needed like never before?<\/p>\n
Woody biomass is as bad, if not worse, as burning coal. (See “The Woody Biomass Blunder<\/a>“, November 15, 2021.)<\/p>\n Regarding the effectiveness of CO2 uptake by commercial tree plantations used to produce wood chips for sale in the international woody biomass market:<\/p>\n Single-tree commercial crop plantations may meet the technical definition of a \u2018forest\u2019 \u2013 a certain concentration of trees in a given area- but factor in land clearing to plant the crop and frequent harvesting of the trees, and such plantations can actually release more carbon than they sequester.\u00a01<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n There are several studies and outspoken scientists\u2019 statements about woody biomass emitting more CO2 than burning coal. Yet, in order to meet carbon neutral standards, 60% of EU renewable energy is from wood chips. Somebody at the EU is cuckoo.<\/p>\n Failure of Tree Regrowth <\/strong><\/p>\n A University of Colorado\/Boulder study shows that when forests burn across significant portions of the Rocky Mountains, the forests do not regrow.\u00a0 Even after 15 years post-fire, 80% of the surveyed plots contained no new trees.\u00a02<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The study looked at 22 separate burned-out areas from southern Wyoming thru central\/western Colorado to northern New Mexico. The study included regions that had burned as long ago as 1988, including land ravaged by the 2002 Hayman Fire near Colorado Springs; the 1996 Buffalo Creek Fire southwest of Denver; the 2000 Eldorado Springs and Walker Ranch fires near Boulder; and the 2002 Missionary Ridge fire outside of Durango.<\/p>\n This study and others clearly show that the resilience of our forests to fire has declined significantly under warmer, drier conditions.3<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Global warming has contributed to a doubling of the number of acres burned across the country since the 1990s.<\/p>\n Increasing global temperature wipes out seedlings, especially in the US West where summer temperatures have increased so much that young trees do not have a chance to develop thick protective bark, and failure of regrowth in dry conditions finds seedlings shriveling before roots can grow deep enough to reach groundwater.<\/p>\n Anthropogenic global warming is inhibiting and\/or destroying one of nature\u2019s biggest, and best, solutions for combating CO2 emissions. And, even worse yet, humans are chopping down trees to burn for energy, thereby releasing years and years of stored CO2 from the trees into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n Global Warming Ravages Forests Throughout the World<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNew studies show drought and heat waves will cause massive die-offs, killing most trees alive today.\u201d\u00a04<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n According to Bill Anderegg, a forest researcher at the University of Utah:<\/p>\n Global warming has pushed many of the world\u2019s forests to a knife edge\u2026 in the West, you can\u2019t drive on a mountain highway without seeing how global warming affects forests.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Giant Sequoias, the Grand Daddy of the world\u2019s trees are \u201cdying from the top down.\u201d This has never been documented before. According to Christy Brigham, chief of resource management for national parks: \u201cWe\u2019ve never observed this before.\u201d\u00a06<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n According to the National Geographic<\/em> article: The loss of Giant Sequoias is but one example of a worrisome worldwide trend:<\/p>\n Trees in forests are dying at increasingly high rates, especially the bigger, older trees.5<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Nate McDowell, an earth scientist at the US Energy Department\u2019s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the lead author of a major worldwide study of tree loss, says:<\/p>\n We\u2019re seeing it almost everywhere we look.\u00a07<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The numbers are staggering: From 1900 to 2015 the world lost more than a third of its old-growth forests. Ever since, the numbers are accelerating. The causes are mostly anthropogenic, meaning logging and land-clearing, plus fossil fuel emissions that bring forth rising global temperatures significantly magnifying the rate of dying, as droughts extend longer and harsher, resulting in extremely brittle tinder, leading to massive wildfires. The upshot is a world on fire like never before as dead trees burn quickly and easily.<\/p>\n According to Henrik Hartmann of Germany\u2019s Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, in central Europe:<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to look for dead trees\u2026 They\u2019re everywhere,.\u00a05<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Africa and South America are likewise feeling the brunt of massive tree deaths. Global warming has brought drought conditions that are severe, repeating within ever-shorter time sequences that don\u2019t give nature enough time to revive, to regrow, to survive.<\/p>\n Recent Siberian fires have been Biblical in scale and intensity. A June 2020 article in SciTechDaily headlined: \u201cMeteorologists Shocked as Heat and Fire Scorches Siberia.\u201d One half of the massive fires are peatlands, which, once started can burn almost forever if the heat is intense enough, which it was\/is, emitting both CO2 and CH4.<\/p>\n The CO2 Cycle at Work<\/strong><\/p>\n The curse of CO2 blanketing the atmosphere and trapping heat, as the planet gets ever-hotter, it causes the atmosphere to suck excessive levels of moisture, which causes trees to shed leaves and\/or close pores to hold in as much moisture as possible. This, in turn, curtails CO2 uptake. It\u2019s a vicious cycle that impedes the carbon uptake cycle that\u2019s key to maintaining an ecological balance for the planet.<\/p>\n In the final analysis:<\/p>\n Forests are our last, best natural defense against global warming. Without the world\u2019s trees at peak physical condition, the rest of us don\u2019t stand a chance.\u00a08<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trees are not re-growing in burned-out forests. This strange occurrence is becoming more frequent as global warming turns verdant flora into flammable tinder, causing more and bigger wild forests fires. This article will examine the science behind failure of trees to regrow in burned-out forests. Additionally, and as a collateral issue, this puts one more [\u2026]<\/p>\n The post Burned-out Forests Are Not Re-Growing<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8512,3051,393,39283,776],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417842"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/254"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418296,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417842\/revisions\/418296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}