How Killing Trees Could Save The Planet

When it comes to fighting the climate crisis, one thing that we know we need to do is carbon capture and long-term carbon storage. But researchers have been struggling to find ways to actually get this to work. Which is why they've had to get creative, and one solution they've come up with is... killing trees. It's so crazy, it just might work, and here's how.

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[MYTHISTmusic]

I’ve planted like 500 trees or so when working for a regional fishery enhancement group. We had a native plant nursery where we raised thousands of seedlings to little baby trees and had volunteers meet us alongside rivers and streams where native plants and trees were struggling or had been removed. These were areas where either privately owned or public land along salmon bearing water sources was identified as needing more vegetation to protect the water from erosion, runoff, and sun exposure (salmon need cold, clean and clear water) and of course we also removed invasive plants like Himalayan blackberry, reed canary grass, knotweed, and more which take up the space that those little baby trees need to grow. These root systems of invasive plants don’t do nearly enough work holding soil in place as many of them just don’t have the necessary root structures, but they Love That riverside real estate.

If you live in Washington state, you can volunteer to plant trees and remove invasive plants every weekend in the spring/summer with your local regional fishery enhancement group.

[ryankunst]

As a forestry student, my biggest concern with this is that while, yes, it removes the carbon from the cycle, it also removes all the nutrients from the cycle. Some lumber companies practice no-waste harvesting, and try to utilize every bit of every tree harvested in an effort to be (or at least appear) environmentally conscious. However, people quickly realized that this just means there are no nutrients from that tree going back into the ecosystem it came from, and it's actually better for the health for the forest to leave the less easily usable timber behind.

[Rainforestdelight]

When doing habitat restoration it’s best to plant native species that once grew on the land that you want to restore.

[StyTheMage]

I feel this has been a well known thing for a while. Back when I was studying forestry we were also taught about the carbon sequestering abilities of bogs. Not only that, stimulating bogs, swamps, and other wetlands in places where they've naturally formed in the past also helps retain water. Meaning they're also a way of combating droughts!

[Sinaeb]

plant trees, harvest trees to be used in long term useage things (furnitures), replant trees. repeat process

[Xicada-]

Trees turn carbon into hard stuff (themselves), we can use that hard stuff to make things instead of plastic and concrete (which make so much more carbon)

Make more things out of wood

[hikerstl]

We are essentially burying trees in our wood frame houses. It might be a good idea that lumber from torn down wood houses be buried rather than burned.

[Nothing-fz]

4:10 Its important to note not all carbon goes back in air, a lot of carbon form ash or decay matter, Stays in the ground and becomes soil.

[lucidmoses]

I suspect they accounted for all the extra co2 from the chainsaw, backhoe, delivery trucks, etc. but I wonder what that amounted to.

[FirstnameLastname-bpcm]

Ok, NOW can we talk about biochar? You’re so close. I would love a scishow deep dive.

[DIESELJZ]

The fact that researchers who planned on burying a tree to try to store carbon came across a nearly 4000 year old buried tree with its carbon perfect lay stored means they where absolutely on the right path, you couldn’t make that up!

[oneoveralpha]

I remember twenty or so years ago, hearing about an idea of planting some fast-growing trees that mature in fifteen or twenty years and then cutting them down and shipping them to Antartica as a carbon freezer. I think when other people looked at the idea, they calculated that shipping them to Antartica would emit more carbon than they captured. I guess this idea you'd bury the trees closer to where they grew to cut down on shipping costs.

[mellissadalby]

I would not plant trees to "fix Climate Change", I would plant trees to help restore the original habitat that the early European settlesrs destroyed, followed by decades of no-holds-barred logging and land exploitation.

[lemonlizard]

Prairies are so underrated for storing carbon, I would love to see a video just on that subject

[smudge]

So, what you're saying is, that in order to undo the damage we've done by burning a bunch of fossil fuels, we need to start making fossil fuels.

[AceAlbatros]

6:10 “That’s really old!” You got me, I said it the exact same time, I love the edit and that you knew our reaction would be that right on cue!

[EarthScienceFun]

Interesting stuff! The US Forest Service here in Colorado is constantly trying to close roads when the forest is supposed to be preserved for all citizens to use and appreciate. Part of the responsibility of having a forest is maintaining it properly, removing dead trees, and keeping roads in place which are our only fire breaks in the event of a forest fire. Neglect of the forest leads to more fires and more climate problems. Dead trees are an especially big problem right now because of the damage the pine beetle has done to our forests in Colorado.

On a side note, burying trees in a low oxygen, low energy setting has the added benefit of making tons of fossils a few million years in the future. Kind of a fun thought!

[maverickjones]

Hemp grows fast and absorbs more carbon and uses less water than cotton.

[BobMotster]

You should change the title to "How Planting Trees Properly Could Save The Planet".
Some might read the current one without watching the video and decide that mowing down forests with unabated fervour is fine.

[danielsimonds]

Excellent job! I have learned - over many years - that is often best to avoid 'popular science' presentations on subjects where I have real expert knowledge. As a rule, the overly simplistic treatment of complex topics is just too frustrating to enjoy and appreciate. As a forester and specialist in sustainable certification, that should have been the case for this video. But I took a chance. And I'm glad I did!

Your treatment of this remarkably complex topic is nothing short of brilliant. Touching all the important, and usually overlooked, complexities of carbon cycling in forests, you still find a way to introduce the surprising and non-intuitive idea of burying wood as a meaningful option for our uncertain future. I'm still not sure how you managed all this in 7:41, but I'm glad you did. Well done indeed!