A new study released by researchers at the University of California, Riverside, has found that planting trees can help cool the planet in the face of rising global temperatures. However, even if every tree lost to deforestation since the 19th century were replanted, it would not offset human-generated planet warming; that can only be undone through cutting pollution.
Researchers modeled forests by discovering their pre-industrial make-up and found that the trees could lower the global average temperature by 0.34 degrees Celsius (.61 degrees Fahrenheit), a figure that is only a quarter of the 1.1 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit) the planet has experienced.
The study found that in tropical areas, trees have a more powerful cooling effect as they are more efficient at absorbing carbon and they produce greater BVOCs, which are biogenic volatile organic compounds that are crucial to reflecting sunlight and producing cloud formation.
Bob Allen, a climate scientist who led the study, said, "When you include these chemical effects, the net cooling impact becomes more significant. It's a crucial part of the picture."
This study is different from other modeling studies on reforestation because it zooms in on the tree's ability to produce a chemical cooling effect, rather than just how trees remove carbon from the atmosphere.
It's not just a potential for atmospheric cooling that researchers looked at. A 2.5% reduction in atmospheric dust dramatically improved air quality when forests were modeled at their preindustrial levels, according to the researchers. Poor air quality is responsible for about 7 million premature deaths globally each year, and reforestation is key to mitigating these impacts.
Researchers addressed that the modeled scenario is unlikely as it would require prioritizing forests over housing and industrialism. Nevertheless, it does highlight the incredible power of trees in making a dent in human-generated climate destruction.
"Its conclusion is cautiously optimistic: forest restoration is a meaningful part of the climate solution, but not a substitute for cutting fossil fuel use," according to the university write-up.
Most compelling are the localized effects that can come from smaller efforts.
"Smaller efforts can still have a real impact on regional climates," Antony Thomas, a graduate student and co-author of the study, said. "Restoration doesn't have to happen everywhere at once to make a difference."
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