Member-only story
Cut Down Trees to Save the Environment
Why wood is a crucial component in fighting climate change.
This may sound entirely wrong and counterproductive but a big part of stopping global warming will involve actually cutting down forest.
“You are crazy!” I can hear you say, “Don’t you know forrest’s store CO₂? We need more forrest, not less!”
Both statements are true, but misses some important facts:
If I cut down a tree and turn it into a wooden house, then that house will store in its walls exactly the same amount of CO₂ as the tree stored in its trunk. Thus you have not lost any CO₂ storage capacity.
But why turn it into a house, you may ask. Isn’t it better to keep the tree in the forrest? No, because when you cut down a tree in the forrest you leave room for another tree to grow up.
A forrest only consumes CO₂ while its trees grow. An old forrest emits as much CO₂ as it consumes. It is a dead end. Its potential for getting rid of excess CO₂ is exhausted.
