Black Death resulted in global cooling

[Ugg]

BBC article
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4755328.stm)

Europe's "Little Ice Age" may have been triggered by the 14th Century Black Death plague, according to a new study.

Pollen and leaf data support the idea that millions of trees sprang up on abandoned farmland, soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

This would have had the effect of cooling the climate, a team from Utrecht University, Netherlands, says.

The Little Ice Age was a period of some 300 years when Europe experienced a dip in average temperatures.




There are of course doubters as the article points out but the evidence seems to be pretty solid. For any doubters out there check out what's happening to the forests in Canada. It's pretty dire.

[Danksi]

BBC article
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4755328.stm)




There are of course doubters as the article points out but the evidence seems to be pretty solid. For any doubters out there check out what's happening to the forests in Canada. It's pretty dire.

Do you mean the de-forestation or the spread of pine-Beetle in Canada?

[Ugg]

Do you mean the de-forestation or the spread of pine-Beetle in Canada?

The pine beetle specifically. However, poor forest management practices in Canada are radically changing the environment as well. I know the softwood tariff is illegal but it just galls me that the softwood industry in Canada has virtually no envirnonmental concerns at all.

[XNine]

Funny how trees and other plants can cause this type of environmental change, isn't it? In a world so large such small things can make all of the difference.

I'm kind of shcoked that more governments/companies haven't put into effect laws of "take a tree, plant a tree." I know a lot of logging companies do this to ensure that we still ahve trees.

Interesting article, thank you for posting it.

[Josh]

Funny how trees and other plants can cause this type of environmental change, isn't it? In a world so large such small things can make all of the difference.

I'm kind of shcoked that more governments/companies haven't put into effect laws of "take a tree, plant a tree." I know a lot of logging companies do this to ensure that we still ahve trees.

Interesting article, thank you for posting it.

I've thought about this too.

It seems like it would be more beneffecial to everyone involved (and cheaper) for companies to "farm" trees used for paper, wood, and things.

The wood wouldnt have to be pulled out of some remote forest, but could be planted near the factory.

Or utilizing weeds and grasses for paper and wood products, and farming the materials needed.

Deforestation is horrible :mad:

[Desertrat]

"It seems like it would be more beneffecial to everyone involved (and cheaper) for companies to "farm" trees used for paper, wood, and things."

That is certainly the process in the southeastern US, from east Texas to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It includes parts of the midwest, as well. I was browsing the Web last night for timber prices, out of curiosity. Missouri has an extensive amount of state info about forestry. This is pretty much all privately-owned land.

I haven't looked into the situation about the federal forests of the western states.

For an idea of changes in forestry, check out http://joe.com That's the St. Joe Paper Company; they've decided there's more profit in selling ranchettes than in growing/harvesting pulpwood.

'Rat

[Ugg]

That is certainly the process in the southeastern US, from east Texas to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It includes parts of the midwest, as well. I was browsing the Web last night for timber prices, out of curiosity. Missouri has an extensive amount of state info about forestry. This is pretty much all privately-owned land.

I haven't looked into the situation about the federal forests of the western states.

For an idea of changes in forestry, check out http://joe.com That's the St. Joe Paper Company; they've decided there's more profit in selling ranchettes than in growing/harvesting pulpwood.

'Rat

There's more public forestry land in the west than private. Farmed timberlands are pretty common as well. The issue of course is that it takes 30-80 years to grow a crop of trees, that's a huge investment and the process of replanting has to be continual to ensure a steady crop. There are a lot of issues to deal with as well, the checkerboard effect of all the railroad grant land, clearcutting, water quality, etc.

The idea of farming trees is great but the reality is that it's not supplying us with the pulp and lumber that we "need". Aerial photographs of large swaths of British Columbia show nothing but stumps and now dead trees from the pine bark beetle. When it comes to pulp for paper there are a number of alternatives like hemp. Recycling used lumber is another way of creating paper. Finland does pretty well even though they're so far north so intensive land management can create a profitable and sustainable industry in areas where there's a will to do so. Unfortunately, Canada isn't one of those.