• Question: since there is a community challenge going about planting 20million tree's,if they reached the 20 million goal what will it do to the planet and will it stop climate change?

    Asked by Tim to Daoud, Jess, Jenny, Jason, Janis, Caitríona on 12 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Caitríona Sheridan

      Caitríona Sheridan answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      Planting trees is a great way to help the environment. They absorb carbon dioxide, light and water then through photosynthesis they release oxygen back into the atmosphere. It one of many things we can do to slow down and reduce the impact of climate change. I’m asking for a tree for Christmas to help offset my carbon footprint!

    • Photo: Jason Mc Guire

      Jason Mc Guire answered on 12 Nov 2019:

      No. Globally we require about 5,800 million trees to offset what we emit every year. So 20 million trees wouldn’t actually help unless we stop emitting carbon, and with extreme weather comes more bush fires, so who is to say 20million trees don’t get burned every year?
      I did a quick calculation if we stopped emitting carbon today we would need 315 billion trees planted tomorrow to return the atmosphere to pre-industrial conditions within 2060!

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