Why do people think planting a tree will solve "Global Warming"?

Question

It's a very simplistic answer to a problem that may not even exist. Does anyone realise where our oxygen really comes from?

Answer 1

Ten hours into this and not a one of them has got it, yet. Obviously, you must have studied or paid attention and realize that the majority of our oxygen DOES come from photosynthesis - although NOT from trees or any other land plants. It comes from phytoplankton in the world's oceans.

Not only is the ocean our source of oxygen, it is also the largest carbon sink on the planet, easily dwarfing land sinks and all known fossil fuel reserves.

Answer 2

5_for_fighting and I are finding some common ground. Minus the "you're all guilty of living" rant his answer is pretty good.

It depends on what tree you plant where.

Tropical rainforests do sequester (capture) significant amounts of CO2.

I agree that planting a tree in a temperate climate is much less useful (although it can do some good if you harvest the wood and use it for construction, thereby actually removing CO2 from the atmosphere).

And planting a tree anywhere far from the equator may be counterproductive if a dark tree covers white snow some of the year.

It's not as simple as some people think.

Answer 3

The trees do indeed produce oxygen and minimise the carbon dioxide. During the night, however, it changes, with trees and other plants giving out carbon dioxide.
Planting a tree, and giving out more oxygen, we can reduce the risk of Global Warming, though we cannot cure or solve it.

Answer 4

because when the green parts (containing chlorophyll) photosynthesise they use C+H2O+nrg (light) to make food. however they also use glucose+O to make CO2 (carbon dioxide)+H2O+nrg (atp) which is respiration so they consume & produce carbon, but consume and store it so people think they are carbon negative, which they are short term.
what most people don't consider is when a plant dies the carbon it has stored is released back into the atmosphere by either deforestation or natural ageing (bacterial decomposition) so on the long term trees are carbon neutral, meaning they have no longterm effect on carbon in the atmosphere.

another reason people may think trees combat GW is they attract rain, which obviously counteracts the drying out of areas, but thats a whole different story seeing as your question is about oxygen

either way trees have many benefits so plant them whenever you can

Answer 5

First, depending on where you plant the tree, you could actually be CONTRIBUTING to global warming, at least according to researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2656...

Second, for those of you with the same opinion as Neil S., what gives you the right to determine what someone does with their own land? Farming in nutrient poor soil is better than starvation and no farming at all. Where do you live? Were any trees bulldozed to open up land for your house or apartment? Perhaps we should tear down all of the houses in the world that are on land where trees grow and then plant new trees. On top of that, do you use any paper products? Shame on you for "bulldozing" trees for your own personal use.

I'm sure you would probably blame big business for their sins in providing the products you use and demand. It's all Halliburton's fault.

Answer 6

More oxygen is produced in the rainforests, of places like South America, which are bulldozed at an alarming rate to allow for sub-standard farming in nutrient poor soils. Go figure. Plant as many trees as you possibly can. It won't replace the ones that are destroyed globally every hour of every day [ad infinitum?], but it's worth the effort to try. Good health!

Answer 7

Global warming - a phenomena that is very much talked about today in media and friends and where not. But I bet, such changes are not easily observable on such a small scale as of our lives or a few centuries. Climates are changing and places are warming up, ice is melting but, who know if this is not NATURAL. I agree to some extent that humans might be expediting it, but its very difficult to predict it.

Natural phenomena take geological ages to mark their prints and totally change the settings. There are some researches going on which are pointing out that AMAZON jungles are emitting more carbon in environment than they usually do. They are undergoing a cycle which takes millions of years to repeat.

So, in my opinion, we need to be very careful of being subjective. And the above research may negate the approach of planting trees in future to solve global warming crisis (per se) when it is well acclaimed.

Answer 8

First of all Global Warming is a very serious problem! I don't know where you come from but in my country you can see the weather is changing. Now, as we all know, trees at night absorb CO2 from the air and after some chemical reactions they release O2. Imagine what would happen if everyone on earth planted a tree: about 5.000.000.000 new trees helping in that process...

Answer 9

According to some test they've done in the rain forrest, trees thrive on co2. They put huge generators on a patch of forrest, which consumed diesel and released co2, and the trees on that patch were doing much better than the trees that were not exposed. Also test done on ice samples from the pole revealed that thousands of years ago was another huge emmision of co2 released into the atmosphere. So ... what's all the fuss about? we might have nothing to do with the cycles that this planet goes through. i think

Answer 10

Almost all of the oxygen in the air(and ocean) came from photosynthsesis of plant life now and in the past. The O2 originated from H2O and CO2 molecules.

6 CO2(gas) + 12 H2O(liquid) + photons → C6H12O6(aqueous) + 6 O2(gas) + 6 H2O(liquid)