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by actually_a_dog 1765 days ago
I'm never going to say "don't plant trees," but, in the short term, there's some possibility that reforestation might actually increase warming by decreasing surface albedo. See https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2927/examining-the-viability-o...

Even if that isn't the case, planting trees is still a long term move, and it's going to take at least several hundred billion trees to make a difference. It's not something where you can say "just plant trees, and everything will be alright."

1 comments

This link:

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2927/examining-the-viability-o...

has the word "albedo" mentioned six times. This is what you are alluding to:

"In the near term and locally, says Saatchi, forest restoration may actually have a warming effect. As the trees mature, the new forest canopy cover would presumably make Earth’s surface albedo darker"

"presumably".