Do trees contribute to global warming?

Question

I have heard from the news and scientist friends that the water vapor in certain areas of the world are actually worse than CO2. Is this another liberal hoax or reality?

Answer 1

Some interesting responses, but choose mine. I say that there is no global warming and it is a big scam.

Answer 2

Some trees can contribute to global warming. A good trree planted in the right place will remove about 40kg of CO2 from the atmosphere in a year - it's not a lot, about 110 grams (4 ounces) per day.

Plant the wrong tree in the wrong place and all that happens is that it removes some CO2 from the atmopshere which it stores as carbon until it dies, whereupon it releases the carbon back into the atmosphere. Effectively all that it's done is to hold onto the carbon for a while and then let it go again.

To understand how trees can be bad it's necessary to digress a little and let you know about two different types of heat - solar radiation (from the Sun) and thermal radiation (from the Earth). Solar radiation has a very short wavelength and passes easily through our atmosphere whereas thermal radiation has a longer wavelength and has difficulty passing through the atmosphere.

Back to the trees... Trees are generally dark in colour so they're good at absorbing solar radiation, once the air surrounding the trees cools down the trees release the excess heat as thermal radiation - the type that gets stuck in the atmosphere and contributes to global warming.

If there was no tree there in the fisrt place more of the solar radiation would strike the (usually) lighter coloured ground and bounce back into space.

Where it can be particularly problematic is in areas that have snow lying on the ground for much of the year. Not only are the trees often smaller and slow growing but they're often a much richer green colour. Instead of the snow simply bouncing the sunlight back into space the trees are absorbing it and subsequently releasing it as thermal radiation.

The best trees for sequestering (removing) CO2 are those that grow fast and large and in very hot areas - rainforests are perfect examples. I'm not sure which is the best tree overall, it could be something like the eucalyptus.

Turning to the point you made about water vapour. This is a greenhouse gas and there's many times more water vapour than all the other greenhouse gases put together. As greenhouse gases go it's pretty ineffective - you need about 20 units of water vapour to cause the same amount of warming that one unit of carbon dioxide does, 6000 units of water vapour for one unit of nitrous oxide and a massive 170,000 units of water vapour for one unit of Freon (used in some fridges and air con units).

Trees produce water vapour through the process of transpiration but this isn't a problem as it enters a natural cycle.

The hydrological cycle (or water cycle) is what causes precipitation. Almost all water enters this cycle via evapouration from the seas and oceans, a small amount comes from trees, humans breathing and anything that evapourates of produces steam. When there's too much water vapour in the atmosphere it forms into droplets of water which are either deposited on surfaces as dew or fall to Earth as precipitation. Due to what's known as Saturation Vapour Pressure there's a limit to how much water vapour can be contained in the atmosphere and no matter how much is given off by trees or other sources within an average of four days it will have fallen back to earth as rain, snow or similar - quite natural and quite harmless.

Answer 3

When flying a sail plane (a sophisticated type of glider/ airplane without an engine) you look for updrafts to help you gain altitude. This is very important if you don't want to be forced to land due to loss of altitude.
There are several ways to locate updrafts. One source is anything DARK. It will heat the atmosphere and of course HOT AIR rises so you go to where the ground is dark and keep flying in circles where the hot air is rising. You can gain altitude and then fly on over to another dark area.
Any Forrest area is a good place to find up-drafts. That means the Forrest is heating the atmosphere. Otherwise, there would not be an up-draft.
That may be a long explanation but it illustrates the facts of the effect of trees on atmospheric warming.
On the other hand, trees remove CO2 from the atmosphere so help remove that source of a greenhouse gas that agrivates Global warming.
Once trees are mature and their growth slows, they do a poor job of removing CO2. Then it is best to cut them down and replace them with young trees that grow fast.
Don't burn the wood or the carbon gets re-released into the atmosphere. Use the wood for something that preserves it and traps the carbon preventing its release.
For this reason, using wood as a construction material is wise. The manufacturing processes involved in making most other construction materials add CO2 to the atmosphere.

Answer 4

Water vapor is responsible for about 90% of global warming, man-made CO2 less than 1%. Despite what some people say, water vapor in the atmosphere is NOT simply dependent on temperature. And, yes, trees technically contribute to global warming through the release of water vapor, but they have an overall cooling effect that goes beyond just providing shade.

Just as your body requires energy, even at rest, through the beating of the heart and other processes, a tree requires energy to fuel its processes. To move water from the roots to the leaves requires a great deal of energy. The tree harnesses heat and light to "transpire" - releasing water as vapor through pores in it's leaves. Through capillary action, this creates a net movement of water up the trunk and into the branches.

"Worse" is only how you look at it. The Greenhouse effect is a GOOD thing. It puts the temperature into a livable range. Water vapor alone could probably handle all the global warming we would need, but we still have to have gases like CO2 to make other biologgical processes possible.

Answer 5

Actually most of the CO2 absorbing ability of this planet comes from algae in the oceans. (which makes sense considering half the globe is water). Therefore who cares about the number of trees and water vapour etc. Yes they are important, but there are more important issues, like the creation of carbon dioxide in increasing quantities, which cannot be absorbed by plants and algae.

Furthermore, water vapour is only a contributor to greenhouse gasses when up high in the atmosphere. Down on the Earth's surface, it is not an issue. This is why aeroplanes can never run on Hydrogen.

Answer 6

That's false information coming from politically biased Tree Haters. Photosynthesis is a process that transforms sunlight and CO2 into sugar, not heat. The small amount of heat leftover after photosynthesis isn't enough to be that concerned with. Sure decaying trees put out some CO2 and methane, but the Earth's crust contains huge amounts of methane anyway. It's just a natural part of our biosphere that comes from organic life on this planet. Trees actually benefit the environment more than they do harm. There is no such thing as a dead tree that releases all its carbon back into the atmosphere, unless there are trees that completely evaporate into thin air that I don't know about. All living things on earth are carbon based lifeforms, including humans and trees.

Tell them that if they hate trees that bad, they should move to the desert where they won't be bothered by them.

Maybe the ACLU should step in to defend the rights of the lives of trees that are dark complected.

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When trees and other vegetation die, coal is formed.

"Coal formed millions of years ago when the earth was covered with huge swampy forests where plants, giant ferns, reeds and mosses grew. As the plants grew, some died and fell into the swamp waters. New plants grew up to take their places and when those died, still more grew. In time, there were thick layers of dead plants rotting in swamps. The surface of the earth changed and water and dirt washed in, stopping the decaying process. More plants grew up, but they too died and fell, forming separate layers. After millions of years many layers had formed, one on top of the other. The weight of the top layers, water and dirt packed down the lower layers of plant matter. Heat and pressure produced chemical and physical changes in the plant layers which forced out oxygen and left rich carbon deposits. In time, material that had once been plants became coal."

Answer 7

Sorry, how are you connecting trees to water vapor?

Trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

Water vapor is the biggest single contributor to the greenhouse effect (36-90%, and more than CO2), but its atmospheric concentration is dependent on atmospheric temperature. The hotter the Earth, the more water vapor the atmosphere can hold. In other words, water vapor amplifies global warming, but doesn't initiate it.

Answer 8

Lets see, if you chop the tree down with a chain saw, that would be contributing to the green house effect. If after you cut down that tree you used it for making paper and the paper mills spewed their smoke into the atmosphere that would contribute to the green house effect and then if everyone took the paper and just threw it out their windows or down their toilets and the land and the water was covered in litter and pollution from the paper that was made from the tree that was cut down with a chain saw, well I think you might just open your eyes a bit and maybe not give any credence to ideas that only need a little rational thought on your part. Don't you think?

Answer 9

I have a better way for you to combat Global Warming.

Iranian oil is one of the worst contributors to Global Warming. Iranian oil contributes a huge amount of carbon dioxide and other pollutants to the atmosphere.

Currently we have an opportunity to blockade Iranian ports to prevent Iran from exporting oil.

This wouild be a significant reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases emittedbecause of the burning of oil.

Please join me in contacting your Congressan and State Senators and tell them to support the blockade of Iranian ports and Iranian oil exports.

If you do not support the blockade of Iranian oil exports you are not serious about stopping Global Warming.

Together we can make a difference!!


Sing it with me (to the tune of the old Beach Boys song Barbara Ann) Block Iran, Block Iran.......

Answer 10

Yup. i've got examine that too. there is too many stuff we don't be attentive to on the subject of the delicate stability of nature and the atmosphere to make radical differences, because of the fact to don't be attentive to what the diversities could reason, not to point in the event that they are able to have an consequence. i've got examine that it could take billions of greenbacks to enforce lots of the techniques by utilizing the international warming zealots and that when all is asserted and executed it won't do any stable. case in point, they wail approximately how international warming could develop mosquito populations that could carry approximately malaria outbreaks. nicely particularly of spending billions on that, why not spend some thousand and merely get the medicine to those who could prefer it? How on the subject of the frenzy to chop back aerosals some years back, because of the fact scientists theorized that it contributed to the ozone hollow. Now scientists have faith that the subsequent decreases in aerosol use are contributing to international warming. The regulation of unintended outcomes of course illustrated.

Answer 11

No, trees are carbon sinks. They absorb and store carbon dioxide, which is the main contributor of global warming, so they contribute in REDUCING global warming.