Are Trees the Silver Bullets to Solve Climate Change?
By: Carbon Radio
Tags: Nature, Climate Change, Environment, Future, Sustainability

“The word “restore” is defined as the act of returning something back to its original state, but it’s also the act of returning it back to its original owners. The restoration of nature is for the local biodiversity and the communities that depend on it. And as that network grows, the collective action benefits everyone. And these benefits go far beyond the threat of climate change. Even if climate change stopped right now, the protection and rebuilding of earth’s biodiversity would still be a top priority because it underpins all life on earth. It can help us with all other global threats, including extreme weather events, droughts, food shortages and global pandemics.” — Thomas Crowther

Thomas Crowther is the Lead Scientific Advisor for the UN Billion Tree Campaign. He is a prolific researcher and ecologist leading a number of initiatives related to biodiversity, forestry, and soil research. His recent TED Talk highlights his work beautifully and lays the groundwork for local and global conversations about restoring nature’s biodiversity.

“The problem is clear. We know we need to reduce our emissions and draw the existing carbon out of the atmosphere, stop the damage and start the repair. And this is where forests can help. Like all plants, trees capture carbon from the atmosphere, and they use it for growth. And some of that carbon enters the soil, where it can stay for hundreds or even thousands of years. If we could stop the losses of forests around the world, we could directly help to cut our annual emissions. And if we could start to tip the balance in the other direction, we might even help the repair process.” — Thomas Crowther

The research Crowther has spearheaded is leading to a networked approach to understanding and restoring forests across the globe. The value of this goes far beyond reducing the impact of our global emissions though. Yes, defending and restoring our forests will of course result in significantly more carbon being captured by the world’s trees. Perhaps more importantly, the restoration of our global forests will also address the planet’s declining biodiversity.

In his recent TED Talk, Thomas Crowther addresses a communication error he has made and suggests that we focus on the value of restoring nature’s biodiversity. There is some psychology associated with this reasoning. If environmentalists communicate to the world that restoring our forests and planting trees can capture a significant amount of our annual emissions, then the general public will have less incentive and less conviction to reduce their carbon footprint on a regular basis. The challenge of communicating effectively isn’t new to environmentalists. This communication strategy is about communicating the primary value of a global action in a simple way that continues to encourage the world population to continue to take action on climate change. The global action of protecting and restoring forests is vital to addressing climate change, but that doesn’t mean we should communicate that to the general public. The communication of climate change solutions needs to be prioritized.

“But in the excitement of it all, and with the chance to make that positive impact I’d always dreamed of, I made some naive and stupid mistakes in communication that threatened the entire message. The simplicity of our message was its strength, but it came at the expense of nuance that is so important. And as the headlines began to emerge, I desperately just wanted to pull them back in. Because to some, it seemed like we were proposing restoration as the single solution to climate change. And this is the opposite of what this movement needs. When viewed through this lens, restoration just seems like an easy way out, a chance for us to “offset our emissions” by planting a few trees and ignore the very real and urgent challenges of cutting emissions and protecting the ecosystems that we currently have. Restoration is not a silver bullet. There is no silver bullet. It is just one of a huge portfolio of solutions that we so desperately need. And this view of trees as an easy way out is such a tempting perspective, but it is a real threat to the climate change movement and to the ecosystems that still remain.” — Thomas Crowther

As we approach financing massive global efforts to addressing climate change, it is important for us to consider the communication strategies and communication effectiveness associated with each effort. So much of addressing climate change is about changing behaviors, and we as environmentalists and sustainability professionals have the ability to enable and emphasize certain behaviors by changing the way we prioritize our communication. In the case of restoring our forests, we should not emphasize reducing the impact of our global emissions. We should instead emphasize the value of restoring the planet’s biodiversity.