Dear editor:
Earth receives sunlight, and we are warmed by it. Heat as infrared energy is released from the Earth into the atmosphere and that would be OK if the CO2 layer were not there, but that absorbs it and reradiates it into the atmosphere, returning some of it towards the Earth.
The CO2 around the Earth is thus a reflective layer and as time goes on, and human activity continues, the layer increases, and more heat returns to Earth. The process is like the glass of a greenhouse, hence the name, the greenhouse effect.
There is a problem here, however. CO2 is a very stable substance: It stays around, it accumulates. The CO2 released by an ancestor triumphantly warming himself by a coal fire is maybe still there.
The way to decrease its amount up to now has been vegetation, using it and releasing O2 during photosynthesis. Of all the vegetation, trees and forests have saved us — trees have a huge canopy, whose leaves access CO2, and so are efficient CO2 users.
They have done so since prehistoric times, and we are releasing the stored CO2 now, as oil and gas, destroying a possible stable situation.
The only way we have now of decreasing the amount of CO2 surrounding us is to increase the green vegetation, to increase the number of trees.
We cut trees down. Can we replace them? How might we estimate the replacement number? This is bigger than we think.
Let’s consider diameters and replace trunk areas: Say the tree to be replaced has a diameter of one foot and an area of about 108 square feet. If it is replaced by trees with a diameter of two feet and a trunk area of three square feet, the number equivalent to the original is 36.
Trees are cut down for development, for farming efficiency and aesthetic reasons. How many should be planted to replace those cut down in Virgil recently, for example? (The Lake Report, “Virgil housing development removes at least 700 trees,” March 6).
It is essential for our existence to appreciate trees. We must plant them — in yards, cemeteries and public places and along lines and concessions.
The last could provide a wonderful opportunity for cooperation between the region and the town, between gardeners and farmers.
There is nothing that we presently know of to remove CO2, except trees!
Cynthia Rand
NOTL
NOTL
