Why Planting Trees Isn't The Solution To Climate Change

Sparked by a recent comment on Instagram [1], I want to talk about the effectiveness of planting trees as a method to reduce climate change. Animals and plants are the perfect symbiotic pair, animals need to take in oxygen and they give out carbon dioxide whereas plants need to take in carbon dioxide and they give out oxygen.

So why can't we just plant more trees to solve climate change?

1. We should focus on eliminating the causes of climate change, not offsetting them The main reason why I believe we shouldn't focus on tree planting as a way to reduce climate change is because it mitigates the problem instead of tackling the cause. Humans are already causing more and more emissions every year and we would struggle to plant enough trees to offset our current footprint without considering the fact that emissions are set to continue increasing. The best way to address this problem is to eliminate the causes of emissions, not try to offset them.

2. Preventing further deforestation is more important The second reason why I don't think planting trees should be one of our primary strategies is because seedlings and young trees don't actually take in that much CO2. We need them to grow into much bigger trees before they will really start working for us. Therefore it is much more important that we protect the trees we already have. The best way that you can do this is by reducing your consumption of animal products because animal agriculture is responsible for 91% of Amazonian deforestation. [4] This is partly why veganism is the single biggest way to reduce your impact on the earth. [5]

3. Biodiversity is important Another reason why it is more important to prioritise conserving the trees we already have over planting new trees is to conserve biodiversity (having a diverse range of animal and plant species). Biodiversity is important because it enables better resilience against diseases and catastrophes. Many tree planting projects don't prioritise biodiversity and even those that do could never match the biodiversity that is present in places like the Amazonian rainforest.

4. Planting trees may make people feel like they have done enough Sadly, because of the way marketing works, many tree planting schemes will have us believe that saving the planet is easy, all we have to do is give some money to a scheme so that they can plant some trees on our behalf. As Dr Simon Clarke very eloquently explained, this is dangerous because it may lead people to feel like they have done enough. [6] The reality is that in order to reduce one's person footprint you will have to make much more serious sacrifices such as giving up your car and switching to a plant based diet. (A reminder that you don't need to do these things perfectly, but we do need to make serious attempts in order to create serious results).

So Should We Bother Planting Trees At All?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Planting trees is very important. Human activity, especially animal agriculture, has been responsible for a huge amount of deforestation and therefore it is a great idea for us to plant new trees. I personally have Ecosia [8] set as my default browser as it is an easy and free way for me to help plant trees (the money made from ads is used to plant trees). However, for the reasons above, I think it should be a secondary strategy and not our first priority. It may take hundreds of years for those trees to reach their full potential and at the rate we are causing emissions, we might not have that long left to turn things around before we start seeing irreparable and unforgiveable damage. As one of my Instagram followers (@philomathstudies) very cleverly put it, thinking we can solve the climate change crisis by planting trees is like thinking we can solve the plastic pollution crisis by recycling. (You can read this blog post to learn about the flaws of recycling. [3])

So What Should Be Our Primary Focuses

As I listed in my Instagram post [1], as far as I am aware, the best things that you as an individual can do are:

1. Eat less meat and dairy

2. Reduce your petrol consumption

3. Buy less and shop second hand

4. Ask for large scale and political change

This image is taken from a study about the lifestyle choices that most reduce your carbon footprint. [7]

Further Reading:

[1] The Instagram Post in Question

[2] My Blog Post on the Things You Can Do To Be More Environmentally Friendly

[3] My Blog Post About Recycling

[4] We are the weather - Jonathan Safran Foer

[5] Reducing Food's Impact Through Producers And Consumers - J. Poore and T. Nemecek

[6] Why #TeamTrees Could Do More Harm Than Good - Dr Simon Clarke

[7] The Four Lifestyle Choices That Most Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

[8] The Search Engine That Plants Trees: What’s Ecosia And How Does It Work?

[9] Can We Terraform the Sahara to Stop Climate Change? - Real Engineering

p.s. a reminder that I am always just sharing information to the best of my knowledge and I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions, no matter whether you agree or disagree, in the comments below!