For much of human history, the best way to make money from a tree has been to cut it down and sell it. However, these days it may make more sense (and more money) to leave a tree standing. Why? Well companies are trying to offset carbon emissions which could benefit tree owners in ways it hadn’t previously.
It’s good news for trees. The going rate for intact forests has become competitive with what mills pay for logs in areas such as Alaska and Appalachia. This is spurring landowners to make century-long deals with fossil-fuel companies. This helps the latter comply with regulatory demands to reduce their carbon emissions.
Since fossil fuel companies are responsible for about 90 percent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, they are interested in preserving trees now more so than ever before. According to Richard Heede of the Climate Accountability Service, “We show that executives have personal ownership of tens of thousands of shares, which creates an unacknowledged personal desire to extract, explore and sell fossil fuels.” Experts call for these corporations, and by extension, those specific executives, to engage in actions that show more corporate responsibility for the environment and less reliance on consumer behavior.
The unfortunate thing is that it is not clear whether these corporations actually care about the environment. They may be doing it or positive PR. In general, fossil fuel companies are no friend to the environment. The products they provide directly result from geological processes that act on the remains of organic matter (aka fossils) over millions of years old. Examples of fossil fuel companies include coal, oil and natural gas. Each of these products contains a lot of carbon. Through the process of combustion, these fuels release carbon into the atmosphere.
Not exactly environmentally friendly, right? In fact, it has the opposite effect. Fossil fuels are responsible for quite a bit of the environmental damage that is currently plaguing Planet Earth. How? Well, the CO2 that these products emit into the atmosphere is the main driver of climate change. These emissions cause the “greenhouse effect”. This increases the temperature of our planet. Greenhouse gases actually prevent heat from escaping Earth and going into space where it would keep our planet’s temp regulated.
Humans have increased the atmospheric concentration by 47 percent since the Industrial Revolution through the combustion of fossil fuels. Trees, as a result, naturally offset carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They absorb the gas during photosynthesis and use sunlight to convert it into sugar to grow. All plants store carbon in their biomass, aka their leaves, branches, and trunk. Trees and other plants also sequester carbon in the surrounding soil. It remains in the wood of a tree until is burned or decomposes naturally.
The following fossil companies are invested in tree planting and conservation:
- Shell,
- British Petroleum (BP),
- And Eni (Italian oil and gas company).
As time goes on, it’s reasonable to expect other companies to follow suit. Unfortunately, these measures are not enough to combat climate change. They do not stop the production of producing and burning fossil fuels. Ceasing the use of oil, gas and coal is the best solution to the climate change problem. However, that’s probably not going to happen any time soon if at all which does not bode well for the planet.
We hope that this article isn’t too depressing. There are measures we can talk to improve the environment such as consuming fewer fossil fuels as a society. We want to provide you with the most accurate information we can so that you can make an action plan if you decide to. While we don’t take a formal stance on these matters, we want to educate you. Thank you for reading our blog.
