Curbing Emissions Is Easy as One, Two, Tree

Trees, I say! Trees, trees and more trees!

That is one vital thing we need if we are going to make substantive progress in lowering and maintaining lowered emissions on this planet. An article in Time quotes Greenpeace spokesman Daniel Kessler as saying that protecting standing forests "is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to take a big bite out of the apple when it comes to emissions."

I'm not sure how greenhouse gases came to be equated with fruit, but I get the point. Intact forests absorb carbon dioxide, which, if not absorbed, would be floating around the atmosphere mucking up the climate. So protecting forests that in all likelihood would be cut down if no action is taken means reducing astmospheric carbon.

So how do we make sure forests stay intact?

A UN program called REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) transforms the number of tons of carbon a country prevents from entering the earth's atmosphere by preserving forests into carbon-offset credits. Developing countries, which are in possession of most of the world's forests, can then sell these credits to developed countries and companies striving to meet their UN emissions-reduction targets.

The idea is that the developing country governments will then put this money toward further forest protection and improving living standards for forest communities, which will motivate those people not to turn to logging and slash-and-burn agriculture to better their lot.