Without Fear or Favor

The conventional wisdom on the benefits of planting trees [bold added]:

Deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide. The assumption is that planting trees and avoiding further deforestation provides a convenient carbon capture and storage facility on the land.....But the conventional wisdom is wrong.

The reason?

The dark color of trees means that they absorb more of the sun’s energy and raise the planet’s surface temperature....planting trees in the tropics would lead to cooling, but in colder regions, it would cause warming.

In the complex carbon-trading schema that are being devised there have been calls to include reforestation as a method by which carbon credits can be earned. Now movement toward that proposal should slow, if not stop. 

The science was not settled after all, and kudos to climate and other researchers who pursue the truth without fear or favor. (Hat tip: Dinocrat)

In this Honolulu neighborhood the giant monkey pod tree
cools both house and planet.