To save the planet (cont'd)

It turns out that Nadine Unger's Op-Ed in the NY Times ("To save the planet, don't plant trees"), cited in my previous post, has attracted quite a bit of attention. See in particular the open letter by a group of scientists strongly disagreeing with the Op-Ed.

And for an excellent, readable critique whose elements should sound familiar to those who followed my lecture on Land Use, see the piece by my colleague, Abby Swann, from the University of Washington, posted at the RealClimate blog.

Seems like this should make good material for our upcoming mid-term!

To save the planet, don’t lose the forest for the trees?

Atmospheric chemist Nadine Unger, writing in the September 19, 2014 New York Times Op-Ed page advises us:  "To save the planet, don't plant trees."  She wirtes there that “the science says that ... climate change mitigation [through] forestry is high risk” and “a bad bet.”  

With today's lecture on land-use change as a driver of climate change, this issue is well-timed for our class to consider.  What do you think?   Let us know in the comments section below, or as your own post to the blog.

Any comment or post will bring extra credit in the from of an extra point on the just completed mid-term (the best posted comment will gain 2 points!).

Climate attribution story on NPR

Climate attribution science makes the news...

http://www.npr.org/2014/10/01/352762019/when-can-a-big-storm-or-drought-be-blamed-on-climate-change