If you pay attention to global warming and its constant reports of crises, you will have learned of the risks of man made global deforestation. The world's forests, which are the principal mechanism for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are disappearing at a rapid rate due mostly to the actions of man, or so we are told. Here's how National Geographic puts it:
Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but swaths half the size of England are lost each year.
That view is shared often and loudly in the global warming alarmist community. Just a month ago, Yale Environment 360 published an article warning that continuing deforestation would lead to droughts around the world.
Now, however, a group of scientists has done something that the others have not. They actually measured the extent of deforestation on a global scale. Their report, published in August by Nature reviewed the data collected from satellites in the last 35 years. This is scientific data that can be looked at without there being any opinion injected into the information, and it can be done on a global scale. What they found is that over the last 35 years, the tree cover across the globe has increased (that's right INCREASED) by 7.1%. That's an addition of 2.24 million square kilometers. To put that in context, that's an area over three times larger than the state of Texas. It's huge. They found that there are differences by area, but that is not surprising. On the whole, however, the march towards reforestation rather than deforestation on a global scale has been continuing for most of that time.
Think what this means. Instead of there being fewer trees taking carbon dioxide out of the air; there are more. Instead of there being fewer trees putting moisture into the air, there are more. There are more trees using sunlight to power photosynthesis rather than having it heat the earth. Indeed, this is a mechanism that should lessen any global warming, not increase it.
I wouldn't wait to find this reported in the media. It is yet another blow to the global warming hysteria. The media won't have any of that!
Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but swaths half the size of England are lost each year.
That view is shared often and loudly in the global warming alarmist community. Just a month ago, Yale Environment 360 published an article warning that continuing deforestation would lead to droughts around the world.
Now, however, a group of scientists has done something that the others have not. They actually measured the extent of deforestation on a global scale. Their report, published in August by Nature reviewed the data collected from satellites in the last 35 years. This is scientific data that can be looked at without there being any opinion injected into the information, and it can be done on a global scale. What they found is that over the last 35 years, the tree cover across the globe has increased (that's right INCREASED) by 7.1%. That's an addition of 2.24 million square kilometers. To put that in context, that's an area over three times larger than the state of Texas. It's huge. They found that there are differences by area, but that is not surprising. On the whole, however, the march towards reforestation rather than deforestation on a global scale has been continuing for most of that time.
Think what this means. Instead of there being fewer trees taking carbon dioxide out of the air; there are more. Instead of there being fewer trees putting moisture into the air, there are more. There are more trees using sunlight to power photosynthesis rather than having it heat the earth. Indeed, this is a mechanism that should lessen any global warming, not increase it.
I wouldn't wait to find this reported in the media. It is yet another blow to the global warming hysteria. The media won't have any of that!
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