CO2 Helps Trees Grow Faster

  • This photo, taken in August 1947, shows a load of white pine logs being hauled in Idaho. (Photo courtesy of the US Forest Service)

Climate change means faster growing
trees. Kyle Norris looks at ongoing
research that’s looking at how that
plays out:

Transcript

Climate change means faster growing
trees. Kyle Norris looks at ongoing
research that’s looking at how that
plays out:

Maybe you remember this from grade-school science: trees take in carbon
dioxide—that’s a gas emitted from burning fossil fuels. Then trees convert that
CO2 into oxygen. So with more carbon dioxide, trees are really taking off.

Wendy Jones is a research associate. She’s with Michigan Technological
University and she’s been studying young trees for the past eleven years.

Not only does carbon dioxide make trees grow faster, but warmer temperatures
help prolong the growing season. Jones says that could be good for the timber
industry.

“We could cut the trees sooner because they’re growing faster.”

For example, fast-growing aspen trees are used in everything from paper to
matchsticks. Jones says climate change could mean aspens could be harvested in
25 years instead of 35 years.

For The Environment Report, I’m Kyle Norris.

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