It’s not an individual task

Climate change is a bigger and more complicated threat to the human race than nuclear annihilation. In his book, “21 lessons from the 21st century” Yuval Noah Harari, a historian and a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem writes nuclear annihilation will negatively impact the planet and everything on it [10]. On the other hand, climate change has different outcomes for different countries and to some extent independent individuals. Therefore, climate change can only be solved with the solidarity of all human beings. He explains this necessity through an example of a small Pacific island.

As seen in Figure 1, Tuvalu is a country in the Pacific Ocean with an area of 26 km². The primary carbon emissions produced on the island nation are from the energy sector. Compared to the major carbon emitter countries, Tuvalu is small. Yet, every year the ocean reclaims a part of the already small country’s land area. Recognizing this unfair arrangement, the Tuvalu government has advocated for larger carbon emitter countries to impose stronger regulations and policies on reducing and stopping the effects of climate change. In his COP 26 summit statement, Tuvalu Prime Minister Kausea Natano implored the major emitter countries to “… commit to stronger climate action and to formulate mid-century long-term low emissions development strategies.” The big countries have the technology and capability to reduce and stop climate change [16].

The prime minister also called for the support of all the countries to work together in solidarity, he believes only then the globe can stop climate change entirely. Mr. Natano went on to say climate change is the greatest challenge we face today. For the younger generations to come, the current generation must act [16]. The Tuvaluan Prime Minister and Mr. Harari are correct. Every country has its unique environmental, social, or economic problems created by climate change. The smaller countries that lack the necessary resources to combat climate change can not contribute much to the battle.  It is up to the bigger countries to act with their more advanced and capable manpower and technologies. However, the smaller countries can not sit idle hoping the big countries will heroically swoop in and save the whole planet. Every country and every individual can save the planet. Simple actions like planting a tree in your backyard can help combat climate change immensely. We can all become the heroes of our planet and home.

First-hand experience is key

Whenever people talk about saving the planet and reducing the effects of climate change one of the most common topics they talk about is planting trees. People point out that planting trees are important because they take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and give us back oxygen. This is common knowledge in the modern world. Knowing one fact does not translate to utilizing that information to take action against climate change.

Over time, the notion of planting trees to save the planet has become so mundane to the general public that they ignore the call to action. Douglas W. Tallamy, a University of Delaware professor, wrote in his book “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard” people do not get motivated to plant trees because certain factors that hold them back from making that leap forward. Mr. Tallamy further elaborates by stating that in the US, climate change and sustainability have become entangled with politics. The concept of climate change and sustainability “…have been labeled “liberal issues” and therefore are not allowed to be considered by conservatives without threatening all conservative ideologies”. This label of “liberal issues” has allowed many people with beliefs on the other end of the political spectrum to not believe in climate change.  We need to stop viewing climate change as a political device and instead see it as a necessary call to action that we need to fulfill to save our planet. The entomology and wildlife ecology professor suggests a do-it-yourself learning approach to changing people’s opinions. He wrote: “It is our nature to resist ideas that are forced on us, regardless of their value or wisdom, especially when they come as mandates from government institutions. But if we discover the truth in these messages ourselves, tribal loyalties no longer cloud our vision and we can become enthusiastic proponents instead of bulldog obstructionists.” [22].

The author supports his suggestion with a story that happened to his friend. His friend is very big on protecting the environment and after finding out about the declining monarch butterfly population she joined Monarch Watch. This is an organization that creates and reproduces Monarch butterfly habitats. Her father was unecstatic about her planting milkweeds, a plant as shown in Figure 2 that helps monarch butterflies to reproduce. She persuaded her father to plant one milkweed in his yard. Soon after, she received a call from her father saying he saw a monarch butterfly and wanted more of the milkweed plants. Soon enough, the father was fully committed to nature’s ecosystem of bugs and plants. The father turned his backyard into an “oasis” [22]. 

Like the skeptical father who became a backyard gardener, everyone can change their view of climate change. They can change their perspective with some help.  A push from the right person is needed to get the ball rolling toward a greener future. Go to your local plant nursery and talk to the gardener to find a good plant for your backyard garden.

If you are unsure of what to plant, try planting one tree. The same book, “Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard”, provides a method to make your backyard into a national park. Planting a tree can make your environment more lively and attract others to do the same. The author suggests, If everyone in the US plans trees in their backyards the collective effort will create a new national park. “Even moderate success could collectively restore some semblance of ecosystem function to more than twenty million acres of what is now ecological wasteland.”. Twenty million acres of land is bigger than the areas of multiple national parks combined. This new national park will also be everywhere at once and benefit all living beings from a blossoming flower to a great blue whale. Like a mobile forest spread across the entire country [22].

Give to receive

What benefits will the people receive? Why are rainforests called the “Lungs of the world”? Are forests important? The most common benefit of a tree and plants, in general, is their ability to suck in carbon dioxide or CO₂. This chemical compound is released by burning fuel, gases, wood, and other flammable substances. It is one of the most prominent compounds that cause climate change. Normally, the excess heat or energy coming from the sun can easily escape the atmosphere. The CO₂ particle traps heat coming from the sun and redistributes the heat into the Earth again. [7]. This process steadily increases the Earth’s temperature and affects the planet’s climate as seen in Figure 3.

CO₂ can be absorbed into carbon sinks like the soil, ocean, and plants [6]. Plants use a process called photosynthesis to turn sunlight into food using carbon dioxide and water [17]. A byproduct of photosynthesis is oxygen. The element that we breathe to survive. The excess amounts of carbon dioxide the human race is putting out can be stored in trees. As such the more trees we have the more CO₂ they will store and release oxygen. Rainforests make up 7% of the planet’s surface and release 20% of the planet’s oxygen supply [27].

A more personal benefit would be trees can help improve your mental health and decrease anxiety. Walking in parks can calm and relax your mind and body. Away from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle environment. The tree’s effects are immediate. “You may have felt the benefits from a short walk or hike in your neighborhood. We’re drawn to green spaces, and for good reason.” [23].

Like humans, much diverse wildlife is drawn to trees too. In a single tree, an ecosystem of many different bugs, insects, and birds can exist. The ecosystem starts with the bugs and insects eating the leaves of the tree, and birds will eat the insects. In forests, you can find many different types of animals that make trees their home. Big or small diverse varieties of trees are home to different species of animals. From the birds who occupy the branches to the ground walkers that live near or under the trees. For example, the popular children’s book character Winnie the Pooh is a bear who lives inside a tree. Trees can have the necessities for an animal to thrive like being a food source or cooling the animal on a sunny day [23].

In urban areas, urbanization is causing cities to heat up more often, forcing people to look for places to cool off. The heat-absorbing nature of city staples like pavements and roads is heating up urban areas. As a result, these areas stay warm until late into the night. However, greener areas are cooler than their asphalt-heavy counterparts [23]. The large canopies of trees and plants can shade cities and humans alike from the blistering hot sun.

Underneath the ground, as shown in Figure 5, a system of roots works to maintain the tree and its surrounding environment. Tree roots bind the soil and filter water. When we are asked to draw a tree, we draw a canopy and a trunk. However, underneath the ground unbeknownst to all of us, a network of complex roots works to collect water and bind the soil. Because trees need water for photosynthesis, trees collect water and filter it “…by removing pollutants and sediments from rainfall and then slowly releasing the water back into waterways and underground aquifers.” [23]. On top of this, the nearby soil is bound by the roots helping the soil stay in place. Moreover, the constant water and organic matter from the trees can enrich the soil. Allowing it to grow vibrant grass and host different types of plants and animals [23].

Plants have many different benefits affecting a wide variety of subjects. From the appearance of your yard to improving your mental health. From affecting only the yard owner to providing a whole ecosystem to flourish and prosper. Trees’ impacts can be seen in places without a single tree – the desert regions of the world.

Desertification: A world without trees

Many places without few to no trees and plants like in Figure 6 can lead to desertification. According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, collectively known as drylands, resulting from many factors, including human activities and climatic variations. The range and intensity of desertification have increased in some dryland areas over the past several decades.” [14]. As established in the previous paragraphs trees need water. As such, they draw water from rainwater, aquifers, and any nearby body of water. This water collection affects the nearby plants and allows them to be hydrated as well. However, if a region has no trees the smaller plants can not draw water as efficiently and effectively as trees can. These dehydrated plants die off leaving the bugs and insects to starve to death. This disrupts the food chain of the region. With the lack of roots, bugs, microorganisms, and water to enrich and maintain the ground, the soil begins to degrade. In time, the once lush green landscape will be nothing more than a barren desert.

Earth has major deserts that were established due to the planet’s external forces like the tilt of the Earth. However, climate change caused by human activities is increasing the rate of desertification and growing the land area of the major deserts. Currently, drylands cover roughly 46.2% of the planet’s land area and around 3 billion people live in that region [14].

The IPCC concluded that desertification has decreased agricultural output, profit and income, and, biodiversity in the dry regions. Organizations like the United Nations are trying to help those who live in the affected regions through new scientific innovations and indigenous knowledge. This approach will also reduce and reverse desertification. Scientists are planning to take measures to aid the environment and society [14]. “These measures include crop diversification and adoption of drought-resilient econogically appropriate plants, reduced tillage, adoption of improved irrigation techniques (e.g., drip irrigation) and moisture conservation methods (e.g., rainwater harvesting using indigenous and local practices), and maintaining vegetation and mulch cover.” [14].

These efforts are trying to “regrow” the environment and make it hospitable and sustainable for the people that live in these regions. Other approaches to improving the lands are agroforestry practices and afforestation. According to a US Department of Agriculture source, Agroforestry is as you can see in Figure 8, the practice of integrating trees and other plants into crop and animal farming practices [25]. Crop yield,  carbon intake, and emissions of agroforestry are lower than normal farming methods because of the diversity of the crops and the efficient land use. This creates a sustainable environment where the land is used more efficiently and less harmful to livestock. Afforestation is the process of establishing a forest on land that was once forested [13]. Organizations and governments are using afforestation practices to create green walls and dams to stop dust storms and wind erosions. These intentional forests will also act as carbon sinks which will suck in all the harmful carbon dioxide particles. The researchers are estimating a positive economic return from the projects [14]. Project Drawdown, a project aiming to reduce the effects of climate change, estimates the cost of planting trees on degraded land is US $668.57 per hectare and the annual operating cost will be US $123.37 [4]. “Net profit per hectare is US$593.96 per year, compared with US$37.84 per year for the conventional practice” [4]. If we plant trees 4 meters apart from each other, there will be 625 trees in one hectare.  Dividing the total amount of trees by the total cost per hectare will amount to roughly US $1.28 for one tree.

Planting vs Protecting

Now that we have costs covered, where do we put the dozens of trees? For example, the US, the third largest country by land area, has a total area of 9,147,593 km². Of that total, as shown in Figure 9, only about 242,423 km² is open space in the lower 48 states ([9], converted to km²). In this case, open space is a term for land that is not occupied by any areas like agricultural, natural, or populated areas.

This open space equals around 24,242,300 hectares and, with the previous measurements of planting trees 4 meters apart from each other, you can plant approximately 15 billion trees. If we used US $1.28 for one tree, then the total cost of planting a forest the size of the open space in the continental US is going to be roughly 19.3 billion US dollars. 

In the 2022 fiscal year, the US congress devoted US $10.847 billion to forest conservation and protection [11]. This is 9 billion dollars short of the estimated amount to fill the entire open space area. Some people have questioned whether or not planting trees is even worth it. Andrew Moseman, a writer at MIT Climate Portal, was asked how many trees we need to plant to offset the US total carbon emissions. The writer replied “…An average American’s carbon footprint at around 16 tons of CO₂ annually, one of the highest figures for any country because of the energy-intensive American lifestyle. A single mature tree, meanwhile, may take in about 50 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.1 At this rate, it would take 640 trees per person to account for all American emissions, which adds up to more than 200 billion trees.” [15].

There is a lot of difference between planting 200 billion and 15 billion trees. In the same article, Charles Harvey, an MIT professor of civil environmental engineering, when asked the question replied:

“… A society could get more bang for its buck by focusing on preserving existing forests rather than prioritizing new growth as a way to offset emissions. Planting trees where they aren’t is often a good idea, and that will take up CO₂, … But a much more efficient thing to do, to have a larger effect for the same effort, is to stop cutting down trees. It’s almost silly to think about [planting a huge number of new trees] while we’re just burning and destroying them everywhere, releasing carbon at rates that are much higher than what new growth would take up.”

Professor Harvey fortifies his claim by stating trees do not last forever. They decay and burn. When they burn, the trees release all the carbon dioxide they had stored over the years. Therefore, planting trees will not help us solve our carbon emission issues if we choose to counterproductively deforest the trees that help us combat climate change today [15].

In the continental US, 27% of the country’s land area is covered in forests like the Leuthold Forest in Maine, US. That is 2 million km² worth of land and that’s roughly 125 billion trees with our previous calculations ([9], converted to km²). The major difference between the amount of already existing trees and the trees that need to be planted shows protecting trees is better than planting trees in terms of costs and land efficiency. However, not all countries have the same forest cover as the US.  For example, Tuvalu can not be compared to the US. As such, the global effort must focus on both planting and protecting trees.

Hope for a better future

Action is meaningless without a plan. Therefore, a possible solution can be planting trees in countries that need trees in the name of the countries that do not have the space to plant trees. Some organizations plant trees by the number of donations a person has given. Countries can finance efforts to reforest drylands in the name of different countries that do not have the space to plant trees. This universal cooperation between countries is not unprecedented.

The 1987 Montreal Protocol is an agreement that regulates many environmentally harmful greenhouse gases. This agreement is not only a massive step forward toward a greener and healthier world but also shows the people of the world can cooperate. The Montreal Protocol is the only protocol to date to be universally ratified by all countries. In fact, the top three most ratified threats are all about environmental protection and climate change [24]. This fact shows that the human race cares about protecting the planet more than anything else. When push came to shove the countries of the world stood in unity to unanimously agree on protecting the environment.

Our duty to protect our planet

All of humankind, current, and future share one planet. It is all of our duty to protect and sustain Earth. However, the topic of climate change is diverse. Each country and person have its own beliefs and problems. Everyone can not make the exact same actions and expect climate change to go away.  Expecting a smaller country to plant as many trees as the third-largest country by land area is unfair and impossible. Some do not even have hospitable climates to grow plants, to begin with. For example, the Saharan countries in North Africa have small amounts of arable land. With climate change threatening the ecosystem of the entire Saharan region, people can not stand by. In those regions planting native species of trees is the best hope for survival. Nonetheless, that does not mean that you do not have anything to worry about because your country is full of trees and plants. You are still affected by climate change.

To reiterate Mr. Harari’s idea, Climate change is a challenge that has different outcomes based on where you live. We will beat the challenge if we rise up to the challenge as a collective. Reducing the effects of climate change in the US will not reduce its effects on other countries. We need to strike in unison to stop the growing problem. This global effort starts from the actions you choose to take.

You can fight against deforestation efforts. You can spread the word about climate change to more people. You can do more research and through different channels help those people who are in need. You can even plant a tree or two in your backyard. All the while gaining all the benefits a tree has to offer. These simple actions might help you find your passion for gardening. In the end, climate change is a disaster that can have different outcomes based on where you live. Whether it be severe as the people in the Sahara are facing, or it can be a mild temperature change for some people. Regardless of the outcomes, climate change can become the catalyst for global unity and solidarity. Take up arms against climate change for the future generations of this planet. Planting a tree can be a heroic act.

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