THE WASHINGTON POST - Completely reforesting Earth might help cool the planet more than expected but still not enough to offset the warming that has occurred since industrial times, a recent analysis finds.
The scientists modeled what might happen if humans reached the planet’s reforestation potential, adding about 4.6 million square miles of trees and bringing Earth’s forests back to preindustrial levels.
The good news is that trees’ natural emissions could help with cooling, the researchers write in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
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“Reforestation is not a silver bullet,” Bob Allen, a professor of climatology at the University of California at Riverside and the paper’s lead author, said in a news release. “It’s a powerful strategy, but it has to be paired with serious emissions reductions.”