Carbon Literacy with Trees

Many times have I seen publications and promotions about the planting of trees to address climate change, even occasionally, to prevent climate change or as a solution to climate change. A tree for every T-shirt purchased, for every bottle of wine, for every swipe of a credit card. These over zealous promotional examples show that people are not necessarily "carbon literate", but rather "green" conscious when it comes to trees and carbon.

Let’s say you have planted a crabapple (or similar small-growing tree) at considerable cost and effort. This is a carbon negative action, as more carbon will be used in this tree's planting and maintenance than it will ever sequester. Urban trees are often planted in restricted soil volumes. As a consequence, they will never make a meaningful contribution to local carbon capture.

Many tree-planting campaigns are focused on tree planting numbers, not on the success of the trees in the long term. Long-term tree care is rarely invested in. However, many people 'count their chickens before they are hatched,’ feeling they have done their part by planting some trees. In some cases, hundreds of thousands or millions of newly planted trees are neglected. Tokenism is common in this area. Caring governments and green organizations are seeing tree planting as an easy way out. They don’t have to work hard to reduce their emissions because they can just say, “Oh, we are offsetting that by planting trees."

Although we often hear about tree planting campaigns as a solution to climate change, this can put too great an expectation on trees and those that manage trees. No city can adequately compensate for the carbon output of the town or city in which it grows. Importantly, urban trees can mitigate climate change problems locally, but they cannot meaningfully contribute to lowering the current rate of climate change. Trees have many benefits but carbon storage is one of the lowest of these values. We plant and care for trees for so many other reasons, such as shade, air quality, property values, and aesthetic beauty. However, it helps to realize that to make a meaningful contribution to addressing climate change, we need to be talking about planting extensive forests in regions of the world where this is viable, and stop cutting down the many intact forests that our beautiful planet is currently adorned with. There is simply not enough land on earth to tackle climate change with trees alone.

Click for more information on how many trees are needed to offset our carbon emissions, according to MIT Climate

Creamy Spaghetti Squash with Fresh Peas and Bacon

Ingredients 1 spaghetti squash (about 5lbs) 5 slices of bacon, cooked and diced 2 cups frozen peas 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 4 oz cream cheese 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Instructions: Poke spaghetti squash with a fork throughout the skin, then place the squash in the slow cooker on high for three hours with a cup of water. When spaghetti squash is finished, remove from slow cooker. Cut open with a knife and scoop out seeds. Pull the spaghetti strands out with a fork. Leave the water from cooking in the slow cooker. Place spaghetti strands back into slow cooker with bacon, peas, cream cheese and salt and pepper, and cook on high for another 45 minutes. Add parmesan and stir mixture to make sure the cheese coats the squash.

Thanks for Reading and Happy Planting! Faith Faith Appelquist President & Founder