Planting trees can grow jobs and fight climate change

According to a new article published by the World Resources Institute (WRI), it is estimated that if done properly, a combination of different forms of tree planting is a very cost-effective approach to mitigating climate change. It can also help towards creating massive employment opportunities all over America.

In essence, mass-scale tree planting across the United States will help revitalize a flagging economy while simultaneously assisting to lower carbon emissions significantly. Talk about a win-win!

This will:

  • assist the US to reach its net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2050.
  • stimulate the US job market after the coronavirus pandemic.

If the government (namely Congress) commits and rolls out suitable legislation, we could make massive progress in reversing climate change. Let’s explore why:

Reforestation and climate change: does money grow on trees?

  • Calculations suggest that planting trees on a massive scale across the US could remove as much as 540 million tons of CO2 from the atmosphere within the next three decades.
  • This makes the average cost of carbon removal through tree restoration less than $10 per ton of CO2 – a very affordable outlook for both the public and private sectors if compared with other options.
  • Trees improve overall soil health as well as remove carbon from the atmosphere, helping to improve food security.
  • In addition, restoring trees across the US also creates new forms of employment in the agricultural and forestry sectors for landscapers, conservationists, growers in nurseries, and on farms, to name a few examples.

Money may not actually grow on trees, however, planting them will save us fiscal dollars over time and stimulate the economy too.

A three-pronged US tree planting plan that hits paydirt

The WRI believes a combination of ‘reforestation, restocking degraded forests and agroforestry’ (a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland) is the best near-term opportunity we have to ensure a sustainable future, clean air and enough food for all. Make every day Arbor Day, and get planting!

To read more on legislation before Congress to help write mass-scale tree planting initiatives such as The Trillion Trees Act, Growing Climate Solutions Act, and REPLANT Act (The Repairing Existing Public Land by Adding Necessary Trees) into federal law, click on this link to the WRIj’s article.

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