[hinkley]

Another aspect of getting in front of it is that forests make their own weather. An ecosystem has a microclimate, and when you remove it the microclimate shifts much faster than the climate does. The empty field they are eyeballing for a forest is going to be a much harder prospect for the native trees than an intact forest will be.

This is especially true of temperate forests, and temperate forests are, according to current understanding, the ones that sequester by far the most carbon. It’s partly to do with the soil being fungally dominant. Fungal soils also create their own weather, but they can’t do so if it gets too hot and dry or too tropical. The longer we wait to do something the less land there is to start a temperate forest.