Planet Forward Original Webisodes
Ancient Redwoods’ Message About Climate Change
Would you climb a 300 foot tree to measure climate change? This week our WEBISODE focuses on some pretty daring work done by a research team from Humboldt State University led by Steve Sillet.
The folks at KQED/Quest uploaded a video showing how Steve and his team climb Redwood giants to measure (literally measure, like, with really long measuring tape) the impact of climate change on Earth’s tallest forest.
These measurements give Sillet and his team a sense of how trees have historically responded to climate change, and what the future looks like for these treasures.
RELATED – FROM OUR FRIENDS AT THE NSF: a quick read on new research that shows how climate change impacts plant species
MORE ON TREES: PF member Union of Concerned Scientists shows how planting trees are helping urban environments:
One team of three elementary school students came up with an idea to build solar trees, winning them 2nd place at the ExploraVision 2011 awards.
IN THE NEWS: What can other forests tell us about climate change? Researchers at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest say the ring patterns allow the past to help us navigate the future of climate change.
So what do you think nature is telling us about our changing planet?
Is EDUCATION the answer?
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On July 15th, 2011 at 7:14 pm Susan Robinson Said:
There used to be all kinds of ancient old growth trees…even sugar pine, fir and ponderosa in addition to sequoia in the Sierra. Now even the ones hundreds of years old are still being clearcut and destroyed forever in the Sierra. One logging company alone is currently well on their way to clearcutting over 1.2 million acres. After the clearcuts they will replant mainly ponderosa pines, use tons of herbicides to prevent native plants from re-growing and turn our real forests into tree plantations. The Sacramento Bee recently exposed the clearcutting in Battle Creek watershed where concurrently we taxpayers are funding a massive salmon restoration project…. if not for bad logging practices this stream would not need this project! If you go to http://www.sierraforest.org to look at the interactive map you will see we have not learned anything at all from the mighty redwoods and their loss. What we have learned that powerful billionaires like Red Emmerson of SPI have no regard for responsible forestry practices – nor do our California legislators that they provide campaign contributions to. Perhaps we still have time to learn before it is too late. Just Google clearcutting in California and pick one of the many groups that is trying to stop this destructive form of logging. Can’t California do better than to replace John Muir’s forests with tree plantations that will never get older than about 80 years? Past generations did not act fast enough to save the giants what will this generation do about the remaining real forests in CA?