There's so much CO2 in the atmosphere that planting trees can no longer save us
Most scientists agree emissions must be reduced
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Humans emit roughly 30 to 40 billion tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. If we keep it up, the Earth will continue to heat up and ultimately our way of life will be devastated.
So what can we do about it?
Most scientists agree that we need a way to capture some of that CO2 to take it out of the atmosphere. One idea is to plant lots of trees. Trees use CO2 in order to grow and they also release oxygen, so it's a win-win.
But recent reports indicate that we simply can't grow enough trees to capture the necessary amount of CO2 to help us meet the goals set by the Paris Agreement.
We would have to cover the entire US with trees just to capture 10% of the CO2 we emit annually.
There's just not enough room on the planet to have the farmland it takes to feed the world plus the space to plant the necessary number of trees.
In other words, many of us would starve if we tried using trees to solve our emissions problem.
Read more:
• May tackles new Brexit Rebellion
• Philip Hammond and Mark Carney are in China to secure £1 billion of trade deals
• Facebook admits that social media can be bad for you
Read the original article on Business Insider UK. © 2017. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments