How many trees are on our planet?
February 20, 2016 9:41 AM Subscribe
The total number of trees is close to about 3.04 trillion - "Crowther's group looked back in time and calculated that the Earth has actually lost nearly half its trees since the start of human civilization. 'We're losing 10 billion trees every year and that's a net number'. So how did the group with the lofty goal of planting a billion trees react to these numbers? Their new goal is to plant a trillion trees." (oh and be sure to Meet Hyperion, the World's Tallest Tree! ;)
Sure hope the water is there when the trees are in place.
posted by Freedomboy at 12:26 PM on February 20, 2016
posted by Freedomboy at 12:26 PM on February 20, 2016
A trillion trees is 27 million a day, for a hundred years.
posted by jjj606 at 1:05 PM on February 20, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by jjj606 at 1:05 PM on February 20, 2016 [6 favorites]
So like 500 per person.
At the "start of human civilization", if we take that to be about 10,000 years ago, there would have been roughly 800,000 trees per person. There's not much data for most of the time between then and now, but it will have gone below 1000 trees per capita only in the past fifty years or so.
posted by sfenders at 1:20 PM on February 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
At the "start of human civilization", if we take that to be about 10,000 years ago, there would have been roughly 800,000 trees per person. There's not much data for most of the time between then and now, but it will have gone below 1000 trees per capita only in the past fifty years or so.
posted by sfenders at 1:20 PM on February 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
In the 1970’s, 15% of America’s redwood forest had been logged, and nowadays only 4% still exist.
Good lord.
Let's also keep in mind that, in a world run as nuts like the Bundy's would run it, those remaining protected stands would be let go to "the people", meaning logging interests.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:35 PM on February 20, 2016 [5 favorites]
Good lord.
Let's also keep in mind that, in a world run as nuts like the Bundy's would run it, those remaining protected stands would be let go to "the people", meaning logging interests.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:35 PM on February 20, 2016 [5 favorites]
Which brings to mind Felix Dennis, "maverick publisher", business writer, poet (and not bad at all), and founder of the Heart of England reforestation project, to which he left the bulk of his half billion pound fortune.
You can make up for a lot of bad behavior by doing this kind of thing.
Anyway, this past weekend my wife and I were driving inland from coastal Connecticut which area is all very woody, often bound by low stone wall, with the occasional break for small town center and farm field and my wife pointed out that given the girth of the trees we were seeing, they can't be more than a hundred years old, maybe not even that.
Which leads us to assume that there was a whole lot more open sky and farm land in the area a hundred years ago than there is now. Not something that had occurred to me
before.
I, for one, welcome our new coniferous overlords.
Yeah, well, that last heavy snowfall piled up on our trees and while we were clearing the driveway, one of said trees dropped a decidedly heavy branch dangerously close to the spouse, so....
posted by BWA at 2:53 PM on February 20, 2016
You can make up for a lot of bad behavior by doing this kind of thing.
Anyway, this past weekend my wife and I were driving inland from coastal Connecticut which area is all very woody, often bound by low stone wall, with the occasional break for small town center and farm field and my wife pointed out that given the girth of the trees we were seeing, they can't be more than a hundred years old, maybe not even that.
Which leads us to assume that there was a whole lot more open sky and farm land in the area a hundred years ago than there is now. Not something that had occurred to me
before.
I, for one, welcome our new coniferous overlords.
Yeah, well, that last heavy snowfall piled up on our trees and while we were clearing the driveway, one of said trees dropped a decidedly heavy branch dangerously close to the spouse, so....
posted by BWA at 2:53 PM on February 20, 2016
A trillion trees is 27 million a day, for a hundred years.
Or roughly two a year for every person for an average lifespan of 75 years. I am nearly halfway through that, but even so I reckon I can plant or fund the planting of four trees a year.
posted by howfar at 3:11 PM on February 20, 2016 [3 favorites]
Or roughly two a year for every person for an average lifespan of 75 years. I am nearly halfway through that, but even so I reckon I can plant or fund the planting of four trees a year.
posted by howfar at 3:11 PM on February 20, 2016 [3 favorites]
Carter saved that giant tree. Yet another great thing he's done for the planet.
posted by persona au gratin at 3:23 PM on February 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by persona au gratin at 3:23 PM on February 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
BWA, here in southwest michigan, I've been told that the entire area was completely deforested and mostly turned into farmland. Now, even "the woods" are tiny compared to what it must have been once.
But! I must remind myself, the deforestation by white settlers was probably just cutting down the 100-300 years of growth that had happened since the native american population had deforested this region, for their own crops. So.
posted by rebent at 5:36 PM on February 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
But! I must remind myself, the deforestation by white settlers was probably just cutting down the 100-300 years of growth that had happened since the native american population had deforested this region, for their own crops. So.
posted by rebent at 5:36 PM on February 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
There's an important point that may have been underplayed in the estimation of numbers of trees currently compared to in the past; there are many, if not most forests now that may actually have numerically more trees, since younger forests have many small trees compared to older forests with fewer large trees. I think the gist that there are fewer trees is relevant, but as much if not more relevant is the fact that so many forests have been degraded by human disturbance and the composition overall is drastically different.
posted by Red Loop at 5:54 PM on February 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Red Loop at 5:54 PM on February 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
Red Loop has a point.
I think that the average size of a tree is the more important measure to determine the health of forest ecosystems. Lots of little trees do not produce as much oxygen as lots of big ones do.
posted by MisplaceDisgrace at 8:18 PM on February 20, 2016
I think that the average size of a tree is the more important measure to determine the health of forest ecosystems. Lots of little trees do not produce as much oxygen as lots of big ones do.
posted by MisplaceDisgrace at 8:18 PM on February 20, 2016
Anyway, this past weekend my wife and I were driving inland from coastal Connecticut which area is all very woody, often bound by low stone wall, with the occasional break for small town center and farm field and my wife pointed out that given the girth of the trees we were seeing, they can't be more than a hundred years old, maybe not even that.
Which leads us to assume that there was a whole lot more open sky and farm land in the area a hundred years ago than there is now. Not something that had occurred to me before.
This acerbic take on New Hampshire (written in 1988, rerun before the primary) notes that a lot of the woods that were on display in the second-to-last episode of Breaking Bad weren't there in the mid-nineteenth century, about the time that a combination of industrialization and better farms in the Midwest started killing off New England agriculture.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:24 PM on February 20, 2016
Which leads us to assume that there was a whole lot more open sky and farm land in the area a hundred years ago than there is now. Not something that had occurred to me before.
This acerbic take on New Hampshire (written in 1988, rerun before the primary) notes that a lot of the woods that were on display in the second-to-last episode of Breaking Bad weren't there in the mid-nineteenth century, about the time that a combination of industrialization and better farms in the Midwest started killing off New England agriculture.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:24 PM on February 20, 2016
Quick, who's got $32?
Rate of tree carbon accumulation increases continuously with tree size
posted by sneebler at 12:51 PM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Rate of tree carbon accumulation increases continuously with tree size
posted by sneebler at 12:51 PM on February 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Planting the trees doesn't seem to be the hard part. Finding the land to plant the trees on where the trees will be able to keep on growing for a long time does.
posted by typecloud at 7:00 AM on February 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by typecloud at 7:00 AM on February 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
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