Trees Fight Climate Change

Tree planting ‘has mind-blowing potential’ to tackle climate crisis.

Damian Carrington, The Guardian

What Technology Could Reduce Heat Deaths? Trees.

At a time when climate change is making heat waves more frequent and more severe, trees are stationary superheroes: They can lower urban temperatures 10 lifesaving degrees, scientists say.

Einhorn, The New York Times, July 2021

 

“At a time when climate change is making heat waves more frequent and more severe, trees are stationary superheroes. Research shows that heat already kills more people in the United States than hurricanes, tornadoes and other weather-events, perhaps contributing to 12,000 deaths per year. Extreme heat this week in the Pacific Northwest and Canada has killed hundreds.

“Trees can lower air temperature in city neighborhoods 10 lifesaving degrees, scientists have found. They also reduce electricity demand for air conditioning, not only sparing money and emissions, but helping avoid potentially catastrophic power failures during heat waves.” (from The New York Times, read the entire article here)

 

From the Arbor Day Foundation: Through the natural process of photosynthesis, trees absorb CO2 and other pollutant particulates, then store the carbon and emit pure oxygen – and greener communities are cooler communities.

Friends of Trees content about trees’ superhero abilities to fight climate change, and related projects and programs.

Dr. Vivek Shandas and FOT’s former Deputy Director Whitney Dorer take a tree walk after the summer 2021 heat dome event and talk about trees and climate change:

 

Trees Absorb Carbon

Trees are without a doubt the best carbon capture technology in the world.

“When they perform photosynthesis, they pull carbon dioxide out of the air, bind it up in sugar, and release oxygen. Trees use sugar to build wood, branches, and roots. Wood is an incredible carbon sink because it is made entirely of carbon, it lasts for years as a standing tree, and takes years to break down after the tree dies. While trees mainly store carbon, they do release some carbon, such as when their leaves decompose, or their roots burn sugar to capture nutrients and water.

“Let’s look at a real example, a white oak can live for 200 years; all that time it is pulling carbon out of the air and storing it. After several anthracnose outbreaks the tree dies, but it takes decades for the tree to rot. While it is slowly breaking down, the rotten tree is still keeping carbon out of the atmosphere.”

From How Forests Store Carbon, Norman and Krye, PennState Extension, 2020. Read the entire article here.

 

Trees Keep Us Cool

Trees can lower air temperature in city neighborhoods 10 lifesaving degrees, scientists have found.

“At a time when climate change is making heat waves more frequent and more severe, trees are stationary superheroes. Research shows that heat already kills more people in the United States than hurricanes, tornadoes and other weather-events, perhaps contributing to 12,000 deaths per year. Extreme heat this week in the Pacific Northwest and Canada has killed hundreds.

“Trees can lower air temperature in city neighborhoods 10 lifesaving degrees, scientists have found. They also reduce electricity demand for air conditioning, not only sparing money and emissions, but helping avoid potentially catastrophic power failures during heat waves.”

From What Technology Could Reduce Heat Deaths? Trees. Einhorn, The New York Times, 2021. Read the entire article here.

 

Dr. Vivek Shandas demonstrates the temperature difference when trees are present, joined by FOT’s Whitney Dorer:

Trees Give Us Oxygen

The Power of One Tree – The Very Air We Breathe

“A tree has the ability to provide an essential of life for all living things on our planet – oxygen, and the power to remove harmful gases like carbon dioxide making the air we breathe healthier.

“Here is how it works: To keep it simple a tree is comprised of its leaves, stems, trunk and its roots. When you look at a tree, note that about five percent of the tree is comprised of its leaves, 15 percent its stems, 60 percent goes into its truck and 20 percent is devoted to its roots.

“Here is the super hero part. Through a process called photosynthesis, leaves pull in carbon dioxide and water and use the energy of the sun to convert this into chemical compounds such as sugars that feed the tree. But as a by-product of that chemical reaction oxygen is produced and released by the tree. It is proposed that one large tree can provide a day’s supply of oxygen for up to four people.”

Excerpted from The Power of One Tree – The Very Air We Breathe, Stancil, U.S. Forest Service, 2015

Heat Week 2022

Addressing heat concerns in our community

In June 2021, the Pacific Northwest was embroiled in a heat dome effect, reaching high temperature records from Oregon to British Columbia. We had a cool and wet spring, but another June heat wave this week served as a reminder that we need to be prepared for more frequent and intense weather events.

This year, Heat Week was created to help the community learn how to prepare their households for warmer summers and take action together to cool our neighborhoods. Friends of Trees is proud to be a part of this work, because trees provide a powerful cooling effect to communities.

Heat Week is a series of events organized to commemorate the historic Heat Dome of June 2021, remember those who died due to disparities across our community, and bring together practitioners, professionals and community leaders to share information and resources across a range of heat and climate related topics. Heat Week kicked off on Sunday with an event at Leach Botanical Garden, where leaders and experts commemorated those who died during the extreme weather last year and made calls to address climate change.

“Communities at this higher latitude are arguably the most underprepared for these kinds of events,” Portland State University Professor Vivek Shandas said. “We saw that really bear down on us last year.”

Heat Week includes five days of events for professionals and community members across the Metro region. These include a mix of in-person and virtual events, most of which are open to the public. By sharing resources, data, and quality information with our growing network of heat adaptation professionals, Heat Week is creating needed discussion around climate realities—discussions meant to serve the larger public.

Heat Week was initiated by CAPA Strategies, a climate adaptation and planning analytics company that is motivated by community collaboration and resilience. Partners include Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, Families for Climate, Multnomah County Health Department, Washington County Health Department, Clackamas County Disaster Management and Public Health, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Verde, Familias en Acción, 350 PDX, Community Energy Project, and Friends of Trees.

Take a look at Heat Week events here!