Global Warming and Growing Trees

A number of articles have appeared lately that make the case against planting trees in northern latitudes because they increase rather than decrease general warming trends. There is some debate about this thesis.

Here is my thinking on this subject. The main means of reducing global warming is for everyone to use less energy, waste less energy, reduce the use of fossil fuels, consume less, travel less, drive less, fly less, use energy more efficiently, find alternative sources of energy, etc.. People who enjoy gardening tend to stay home more. They might stay at home and sit or play in the shade of their trees more, thus using less gasoline to wander around shopping or seeking travel adventures. In the summer, they might use less electricity or other energy sources on cooling because the shade from the trees makes their homes cooler. They might enjoy sitting in the shade of the beautiful trees in their yards and talking with family members or reading, and thus use less energy on other activities. They might benefit from doing some Qigong while standing in the shade of their trees.

We are busy during the winter months planting bare root trees and shrubs. Maybe this is an act which "causes" another iceberg to melt, like a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon "causes" a tsunami in Thailand .... our endless intersecting streams of "causes and effects", bad karma running wild. I prefer to think that planting and growing trees might encourage the kind of Green thoughts that "causes" others to drive less, to stop flying in airplanes, or to turn off their air conditioners.

Planting a million trees would cause far far less heating of the earth than the thoughts of revenge in the minds of Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush ... and their poor decision making skills and destructive actions.

"What kind of times are they, when
A talk about trees is almost a crime
Because it implies silence about so many horrors?"
- Bertolt Brecht, To Those Born Later


Becoming a gardener, a tree tender, and following the Green Way might inspire you to live simply, use sun energy more, walk more, and learn more about environmental conservation. In the few years I have left on this earth, I intend to plant a few more trees and sit or do Qigong in the shade of those trees I planted nine years ago.

Planting Bare Root Trees in Red Bluff, California


I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees,
for the trees have no tongues.
- Dr. Suess