Environmental Issues and Opportunities

Bill McKibben feels that the fossil fuel industry relies upon the degradation of the planet for profit. By burning up the remaining fossil fuel reserves still in the soil, these corporations will significantly disrupt the global carbon cycle and create run away global warming with temperatures well above the doomed 2 degrees Celsius. He advocates for enormous reductions in carbon emissions though feels that government will never take action to ensure that this pollutant undergoes regulation. On the other side of the spectrum, author David MacKay argues that the ideology of “every little helps” in terms of green consumerism and individual choices only result in marginal changes. He feels that a more appropriate mantra for that ideology follows as: if everyone does a little, we’ll only achieve a little. Therefore, two authors declare that both the individual and national/international scales prove to be futile in tackling carbon emissions and climate change. If civilization depends upon the extraction and burning of fossil fuels, other options for carbon control must come into effect. What strategy might individual and or national and or international bodies choose to do in order to mitigate climate change and sequester carbon? I believe the single most powerful act to improve the state of the atmosphere and global climate lies in planting trees. Forests have the capacity of storing gigatons of carbon. Carbon dioxide molecules, the very same forms of matter that now jeopardize the health of the planet, literally become plant material via the process of photosynthesis. Rapid reforestation will allow for ecosystem functions to return. Forests regulate local hydrologic cycles, nutrient cycles, microclimates all occur as well as construct of topsoil, filter of water and air, provide habitat for wildlife and perform countless other functions. Forests also provide a source of sustainable energy for the future. Coppicing certain trees provides humans with wood for fuel to be burned directly or gasified and it stimulates growth from the root system. Instead of extracting condensed plant material from millions of years ago, we could put systems in place to harvest the biomass within three years. No mountaintop removal required, either. Just a saw suffices for coppiced wood.