Forest and Green House Gasses

Forests and green house gasses Over the last couple years I have covered several stories about the new role trees are playing in removing toxins from the environment. One I remember in particular involved an East Coast town that planted bioengineered poplars to remove contaminates from the soil at the site of an old factory. Today, the power of the forest, rather than the individual tree holds incredible promise. A report from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change found that large swaths of forest are extremely effective in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, (greenhouse gasses) and this could be implemented for about the same costs as other emission reduction methods. But there is a problem. To effectively remove one- fifth of the annual emissions in the US, 148 million acres of timber, an area the size of Texas would be needed. While this appears daunting, The Pew study is proposing that governmental programs offer lucrative tax incentives for property owners to get this new program off and running. I'm Susan Allen and this has been Food Forethought. Source: ENN Environmental New Network January 20 2005