7 years ago
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This disease has killed a million trees in California, and scientists say it’s basically unstoppable
Healthy forests are especially important at a time of climate change — they’re an incredible tool to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Dead forests, on the other hand, can light the spark for wildfires, which are already showing a long-predicted uptick in activity. In California’s coastal forests, health is anything but good. Since 1995, a fungal pathogen...
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We went through something similar here in BC with the pine beetle. It was brutal, but it looks like the forests are recovering.
It's a common myth that trees scrub CO2 from the air. Trees do absorb CO2 but they also produce CO2 at night and absorb oxygen, just like we do. (How do people think trees survive night time??) Trees are actually carbon neutral for the most part, so wouldn't have a huge effect on global CO2 emissions.