The truth about Big Toilet Paper
By Arielle Samuelson 03/17/23
Are the fat cats at Charmin waging a secret campaign to prevent the widespread adoption of bidets?
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LAND & DEFORESTATION
LAND & DEFORESTATION
Land and oceans currently absorb 50% of the CO2 created by human activity. Trees and forests are a powerful force for climate mitigation. As more forests are cleared for agriculture — mainly to grow soy, raise cattle, and produce palm oil — greenhouse gas emissions increase as a byproduct of nitrogen fertilizer and methane from cattle and sheep. Additionally, deforestation eliminates trees which are “breathing in” CO2 and “breathing out” moisture. Cattle ranching and soy bean farming in the Amazon, for example, account for 80% of deforestation there, and the raging fires during President Bolsonaro’s first year in office in 2019 are creating a climate, and a humanitarian, crisis. As deforestation has taken its toll, the Amazon has moved from carbon sink to a source of CO2, emitting more than it is able to absorb.
In the U.S., millions of acres of land have been opened to drilling and mining due to rollbacks by the Trump administration. A 2018 federal report found that about a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US come from fossil fuel extraction on federal land. A timeline of Trump’s anti-public lands crusade is documented at Outside.
In June 2020, data from the University of Maryland suggests that we lost a football field of primary forest every six seconds in 2019, making our loss 2.8% higher than the year before.
In September 2020, a new danger was reported. As trees grow faster in warmer conditions, taking up and storing more carbon dioxide as they grow, they also die faster. This grew out of a report published in the journal Science in May 2020 that human felling of trees had cut forest area by 12% since 1900.
And, then there is permafrost…how climate change will affect it and how it will affect climate change...
CURRENT NEWS
KEY RESOURCES
American Forests
03/09/23
American Forests has been at the forefront of every positive change that has happened in the nation’s forests and has always stood up for healthy forests.
Reduction in Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)
11/01/21
Many stakeholders are concerned with the status of global forests and the effects of deforestation and forest degradation, for several reasons. Forests store the greatest amount of terrestrial carbon on Earth and play a significant…
U.S. Forest Carbon Data
08/25/21
The flux—or flow—of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is the dominant contributor to the observed warming trend in global temperatures.1Trees, however, store (sequester)CO2from the atmosphere, accruingsignificant stores of carbon over…
Exemplary Forestry
05/19/21
Exemplary Forestry is a forest management approach created by New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) that prioritizes forests’ long-term health and outlines the highest standards of sustainability currently available to the region’s forest owners.
A platform for the trillion tree community
02/18/20
1t.org exists to connect, empower and mobilize a global reforestation community of millions, unleashing their potential to act at an unprecedented scale and speed, to ensure the conservation and restoration of one trillion trees within…
We plant trees for a better world. Help us children to save our future
02/18/20
It all started with a school presentation and today Plant-for-the-Planet is a global movement with an ambitious goal: to fight the climate crisis by planting trees around the world.
#TEAMTREES
02/18/20
We did it! But that doesn’t mean we’re done. Come back anytime you feel like planting a tree!
Ecosia – the search engine that plants trees
02/18/20
Ecosia is like any other search engine, with one major difference: we use our profits to plant trees.
Combined climate and carbon-cycle effects of large-scale deforestation
02/18/20
The prevention of deforestation and promotion of afforestation have often been cited as strategies to slow global warming. Deforestation releases CO2 to the atmosphere, which exerts a warming influence on Earth's climate. However, biophysical effects…
How Deforestation Affects Climate Change
02/12/20
The world loses more than 7,000 square meters of tree cover per second, according to the most recent year for which we have complete data.
Your Yard Is a Stealthy Fossil Fuel Guzzler — Give It a Climate Makeover
03/22/19
Want a climate-friendly home? Your yard is a good place to start. This is the first in a five-part series of guides on how to manage your outdoor turf to reduce your carbon footprint, all…
Eden Reforestation Project
11/18/19
Eden Reforestation projects reduces extreme poverty and restores healthy forests by employing local villagers to plant millions of trees every year.
Amazon Watch
09/09/19
Amazon Watch was founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability…
Global Forest Watch
09/09/19
Forest Monitoring Designed for Action: Global Forest Watch offers the latest data, technology and tools that empower people everywhere to better protect forests.
Deforestation and Forest Degradation
09/09/19
WWF has been working to protect forests for more than 50 years and outlines here causes, impacts, what WWF is doing, and how you can help.
MORE NEWS
A murder in the Amazon reveals what the fight over the rainforest is all about
By Andrew Downie 12/03/22
In the south of the Amazon, just where two dirt roads cross, is a small bar, set back a bit from the highway. There’s no name over the door because it’s part of a house,…
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COP27: Key outcomes for food, forests, land and nature at the UN climate talks in Egypt
By Aruna Chandrasekhar and Others 11/24/22
The COP27 summit in the Egyptian coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh made history by including food, rivers, nature-based solutions, tipping points and the right to a healthy environment in an overarching COP “cover decision” for…
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How The Forest Dies
By Terrence McCoy 11/18/22
In her 60 years of life in the Amazon, Antonia Franco dos Santos has never had much money. Food was sometimes scarce. But never in the forest, with its heavy rains and endless rivers, had…
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As Glasgow forest pledge turns to action, most signatories drop out
By Joe Lo 11/07/22
As a pledge from last year’s UN climate summit to save forests firms up into an active partnership, most signatories have dropped out. At Cop26 in Glasgow, UK, 145 nations representing over 90% of the…
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Brazil, Indonesia and DRC in talks to form ‘Opec of rainforests’
By Patrick Greenfield 11/05/22
The big three tropical rainforest nations – Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – are in talks to form a strategic alliance to coordinate on their conservation, nicknamed an “Opec for rainforests”,…
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There’s a Big Problem With Countries’ Plans to Plant More Trees
By Molly Taft 11/03/22
Countries will need close to 3 billion acres (1.2 billion hectares) of land to fulfill their current climate pledges, thanks to their focus on techniques like planting new trees over tougher but less land-intensive methods…
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Can a Nation Replace Its Oil Wealth With Trees?
By Dionee Searcey and Others 11/03/22
Evening and the rainforest. A riverbank packed with elephants. Treetops so dense they obscure all but a chimpanzee’s hairy arm. And, as the sun sets, a twinkle on the horizon: an offshore oil platform.
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Study Shows Protected Forests Are Cooler
By Bob Berwyn 11/02/22
In rapidly warming northern forests, restricting human activities can slow the rate of warming by as much as 20 percent, but managing lands in between protected areas is also important.
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Climate change: can money stop deforestation?
11/02/22
Rampant deforestation has driven economic growth, but accelerates climate change. How do you put a price on trees, to make them worth more alive than dead?
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Countries Want to Plant Trees to Offset Their Carbon Emissions, but There Isn’t Enough Land on Earth to Grow Them
By Katie Surma 11/01/22
Countries’ climate pledges rely on “unrealistic” and “extensive” amounts of land for carbon removal projects like tree planting schemes, a new report from the University of Melbourne said. A landmass larger than the entire United…
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We all love trees, but they’re not the climate solution we need
By William Chapman 09/25/22
Science magazine in the summer of 2019 printed a report suggesting that foresting 0.9 billion hectares (3.47 million square miles) of currently non-forested land would absorb carbon dioxide and combat global warming. The authors had…
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Are there better places to put large solar farms than these forests?
By Gabriel Popkin 09/21/22
In Charlotte County, population 11,448, forests and farms slope gently toward pretty little streams. The Roanoke River, whose floodplain includes one of the most ecologically valuable and intact forests in the Mid-Atlantic, forms the county’s…
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Are There Better Places to Put Large Solar Farms Than These Forests?
By Gabriel Popkin 09/21/22
CHARLOTTE COURT HOUSE, Va. — In Charlotte County, population 11,448, forests and farms slope gently toward pretty little streams. The Roanoke River, whose floodplain includes one of the most ecologically valuable and intact forests in…
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Europe Is Sacrificing Its Ancient Forests for Energy
By Sarah Hurtes and Others 09/07/22
burning wood was never supposed to be the cornerstone of the European Union’s green energy strategy. When the bloc began subsidizing wood burning over a decade ago, it was seen as a quick boost for…
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Lose grazing animals, gain wildfires
By Meg Chatham 09/02/22
For millions of years, grazers have roamed nearly every ecosystem on the planet. However, during the late Quarternary period (50,000 to 6,000 years ago), we rapidly lost many of the planet’s largest and most iconic…
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A FAILURE OF ENFORCEMENT
By Terrence McCoy 08/30/22
Daniel Valle sped down Highway 317, closing in on the first targets of the day. He was in a hurry. Deforestation alerts had tripled in recent weeks. Police were warning that armed criminal groups had…
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Towns May Grow Millions More Trees with $1.5B for Urban Forestry
By Alex Brown 08/25/22
Last year, legislators in Washington state passed a law to bolster the urban forestry work of the Department of Natural Resources. The agency’s urban and community forestry program, which had just two staffers in 2020,…
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It costs nothing to leave our trees as they are
By Carole King 08/25/22
My career as a songwriter began in Manhattan, not far from where I was born. When I moved to Los Angeles in 1968, I became part of the singer-songwriter community that coalesced around Laurel Canyon.…
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Why mature and old forests are so important for climate mitigation and adaptation
By Beverly E. Law and Others 08/23/22
The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates that we must substantially reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels and simultaneously increase removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by land and ocean reservoirs.
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Climate change may push North America’s forests to a “tipping point”
08/15/22
When we think about forests and climate change, our minds often see an image of rainforests burning in the Amazon or tropical jungles being scorched in Indonesia for palm oil. But new research reveals that…
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TREES ARE OVERRATED
By Julia Rosen 07/26/22
Once upon a time, not a blade of grass could be found on this planet we call home. There were no verdant meadows, no golden prairies, no sunbaked savannas, and certainly no lawns. Only in…
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Net-Zero Targets Aren’t Attainable Without Ending Deforestation
By Alastair Marsh 06/29/22
The global economy won’t reach net-zero carbon emissions without putting an end to deforestation. That’s the conclusion of the United Nations-backed Race to Zero campaign, which pushes companies and investors to reduce emissions. The report,…
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A timber sale in Oregon tests Biden’s pledge to protect older trees
By Anna Phillips 06/15/22
Not far from the town of McKenzie Bridge, Ore., on the western slope of the Cascades, stand towering groves of trees that have survived more than a century of wind, fire, insects and disease. To…
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The world’s largest trees are struggling to survive climate change
By Diana Leonard 06/14/22
They are the largest trees in the world, living monuments with massive trunks and towering canopies that can thrive for 3,000 years. But ancient sequoia trees, which have been decimated by severe wildfires around California’s…
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Palm oil industry seeks delay to deforestation law
By Zach Boren 05/24/22
The trade association representing EU chocolate associations and leading brands such as Mars, Cadbury, Ferrero and Nestle signed a statement against a key measure in the regulations
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Global Anti-Deforestation Efforts Aren’t Enough to Tackle Forest Loss
By Olivia Rosane 05/16/22
In 2010, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) met in Cancun and agreed to a plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by protecting forests: wealthier countries would pay poorer nations not to…
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How the future trees of New Mexico were almost destroyed by wildfires
By Elizabeth Miller 05/12/22
Saving tree seedlings critical to restoring forests in the Southwest from the fires ripping through northern New Mexico took four trucks and three trailers — and two trips into a wildfire evacuation zone...
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Trees aren’t a climate change cure-all – 2 new studies on the life and death of trees in a warming world show why
By William R.L. Anderegg 05/12/22
The future of forests is on a knife’s edge, with a tug of war between two very important forces: the benefits trees get from increasing levels of carbon dioxide and the stresses they face from…
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Brazil is gaslighting its way to a climate misinformation catastrophe
By Robert Muggah and Mac Margolis 05/09/22
Brazilians know all about fake news. Digital hucksters have attacked the integrity of Brazil’s electronic voting system, baselessly accused adversaries of “teaching” homosexuality in the classroom and promoted faith-based covid-19 treatments, all with a nod…
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Brazil’s Amazon deforestation hits April record, nearly double previous peak
By Jake Spring 05/07/22
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon surged to record levels for the month of April, nearly doubling the area of forest removed in that month last year -- the previous April record -- preliminary government data showed…
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How Many Trees Cut Down Each Year or in 2022? The Deforestation Crisis Explained
By Georgette Kilgore 05/06/22
If you’ve ever wondered how many trees are cut down every year, the shockingly short answer is that more than 15 billion trees are lost annually to deforestation. While that number is staggering, it can…
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You Asked 1,000 Questions about Peatlands, and Our Bog Experts Answered (Some of) Them
05/06/22
We asked for questions about the amazing carbon-storage capabilities of peatlands, and how these ecosystems keep the planet breathing. Readers sent us more than a thousand. Here are some answers.
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New Reports Show Forests Need Far More Funding to Help the Climate, and Even Then, They Can’t Do It All
By Georgina Gustin 05/04/22
As government leaders and forestry experts gathered in South Korea this week to discuss the state of the world’s forests, new research suggests that ambitious international efforts to curb deforestation are making insufficient progress and…
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Devouring the rainforest
By Terrence McCoy and Júlia Ledur 04/29/22
Cattle ranching, responsible for the great majority of deforestation in the Amazon, is pushing the forest to the edge of what scientists warn could be a vast and irreversible dieback that claims much of the…
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How deforestation is pushing the Amazon toward a tipping point
By Terence McCoy 04/29/22
Every day, deforestation brings the Amazon closer to what scientists warn will be its death, when the loss of tree cover finally pushes it past the point of no return and the world loses its…
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Massive wildfires helped fuel global forest losses in 2021
By John Muyskens, Naema Ahmed and Others 04/28/22
Unprecedented wildfires raged across Russia in 2021, burning vast swaths of forest, sending smoke as far as the North Pole and unleashing astounding amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere...
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Global forest loss kept rising in 2021
By Saul Elbein 04/28/22
Wildfires and global commodities industries wiped out 11 million hectares of forest cover in 2021 — approximately the area of the state of Tennessee or the nation of Denmark, according to a study published on…
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UN land report: Five key takeaways for climate change, food systems and nature loss
By Daisy Dunne and Others 04/27/22
It says that human activities have already altered 70% of the Earth’s land surface, degrading up to 40% of it. Four of the nine “planetary boundaries” – limits on how humans can safely use Earth’s…
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Investing in Trees With the Canopy Project
By Gemma Alexander 04/15/22
Tree planting is often dismissed as a “nice to have” but ultimately insignificant part of environmentalism. Like littering, many people think of it as the kind of minor environmental issue that doesn’t deserve the same…
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DNR Launches First-in-the-Nation Carbon Project, Protecting Forests and Creating Over a Million Carbon Offset Credits
04/06/22
Project will preserve 10,000 acres of Western Washington’s most ecologically valuable forests; generate millions of dollars in revenue for schools and counties throughout the state...
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The world’s forests do more than just store carbon, new research finds
By Nina Lakhani 03/24/22
The world’s forests play a far greater and more complex role in tackling climate crisis than previously thought, due to their physical effects on global and local temperatures, according to new research...
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U.S. cities will lose over 1.4 million street trees to insects by 2050
By Erin Blakemore 03/20/22
An international group of researchers warns that by 2050, 1.4 million street trees will die because of the infestations, wiping out beloved species such as the ash.
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Environmentalists call on Biden to fight climate change by protecting old-growth trees
By Ben Adler 02/17/22
A coalition of more than 70 environmental groups launched a joint campaign on Tuesday calling on President Biden to protect old-growth trees on federal lands from logging as a means of fighting climate change. Trees…
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IKEA buys land damaged by hurricane in Florida to plant forests
By Reuters/terray Sylvester 01/26/22
Ingka Group, the owner of most IKEA furniture stores worldwide, has bought more land in the United States as part of a long-term commitment to responsible forest management, it said on Thursday.
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Most Agribusinesses and Banks Involved With ‘Forest Risk’ Commodities Are Falling Down on Deforestation
By Georgina Gustin 01/13/22
Many of the world’s biggest banks, financial institutions and companies are not doing enough to stop deforestation, and in many cases are continuing to bankroll forest destruction, undermining efforts to stop a major driver of…
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Enlisting nature in the climate battle
By Thomas Dinwoodie and Peter Woods Ellis 01/13/22
There is wide consensus that to address the climate challenge we must reduce CO2 emissions fast and furiously to zero. Yet, achieving zero emissions even by tomorrow would still leave us with the very significant…
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To store greenhouse gases, Maine looks to protect more than 2 Rhode Islands’ worth of forest by 2030
By Susan Sharon 12/24/21
Around the world, the push is on for large-scale conservation. Scientists say at least 30% of lands, fresh water and oceans need protection by 2030 to slow global warming and prevent species extinctions.
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This Is What It Will Take to End Deforestation by 2030
By Jocelyn Timperley 12/02/21
THE WORLD HAS lost a third of its forest since the last ice age, and an estimated 15 percent of global greenhouse gases still come from deforestation and forest degradation.
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Brazil: Amazon sees worst deforestation levels in 15 years
By Katy Watson 11/19/21
Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest has hit its highest level in over 15 years, official data shows. A report by Brazil's space research agency (Inpe) found that deforestation increased by 22% in a year. Brazil…
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