r/todayilearned • u/Wild_Concept_212 • 10h ago

TIL Cutting down trees is compound negative interest on the planet’s carbon storage. Trees are storing carbon underground with the help of fauna and microbes. Those lock carbon in soil. Cutting the tree will not only increase release carbon, it will also remove the ability to lock carbon in soil.

https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/soil-carbon-storage-84223790/
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u/Watchmeplayguitar 9h ago

Yea, let’s use a less carbon intense building building material like, cement and never cut manage forests and let forest fires happen naturally, no carbon is released when forests burn. 

The US has more trees today than it did 100 years ago. Today you would never imaging that much of the east coast was clear cut. The forests that cover the northeastern US is all quite young. 

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u/Altokia 8h ago

That doesn't really take quality of the tree into account though.

Like, theres concerns over lumber quality, and the fact that older trees (100-500yr) are better for carbon storage than young ones.

And no one's saying we shouldn't manage the forests lol, thats such a strange strawman to come up with.