Sharing My Understanding of the Science Behind this Forest Research Project, and Its Global Importance

With a few rainy fall days of great “citizen science” and a lot of discussions under our bright orange vests (rather than belts), our team completed our fellowship as part of the HSBC/Earthwatch Climate Partnership. There is a great deal to do, now that we have been empowered by our experience. That being said, however, I feel that the last week has allowed me time to really process and simplify the science behind this project in a “big picture” kind of way, and I’d like to share my perspective on it to help others visualize its importance on a global scale. My caveat: I am not a scientist, but only hope to somewhat accurately describe this piece of the much bigger climate change puzzle.

Our team of ten local citizens was one of many more to come who are participating in a long-term forest research project headed by Dr. Geoffrey Parker that began with a question: “How does forest management influence stem (woody plants) and carbon dynamics in forests of different developmental stages?” That’s a standard scientific research question for you, so let me put it in another way: “Why are forests important to the service of our planet, when it comes to the delicate balance of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in our atmosphere that effect our long-term climate?”

Dr. Parker told us that in most of the eastern United States, the “original” forests have been cut down at least once, if not twice over the last couple hundred years. You can imagine that just in the Chesapeake Bay region alone there are thousands of acres of fractured and mature (120+ years old) forests next to newer, intermediate age plots, next to more recently logged plots, etc. In terms of what this project is studying, that means we are taking a look at a variety of species of trees over several plots of forested land that fall within these different categories of age and management.

As part of our fieldwork, our team was helping to set the baseline data for the long term project by taking measurements of each tree’s diameter (at 1.3m from the trunk), canopy class (relative height compared to the rest of the canopy around the tree) and damage class (missing major branches, standing dead, etc.). Added to this, it’s also important to separate the leaf litter (bags of leaves, twigs and whatever else was collected within a subplot) by its species type and weigh it to most accurately measure each plot’s biomass – with lots of math equations processed by the scientists, of course!

What is biomass? It is “the mass of living biological organisms in a give area or ecosystem at a given time.” (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass_(ecology)) Why is measuring the “biomass” of these hectare (approx. 2.5 acre) plots of trees important? Because you need to know how much biomass there is in a study plot in order to more accurately assess how productive the forest is in processing carbon – plus the potential consequences of losing that forest. And here’s where carbon dioxide (CO2) comes into play.

First of all, carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of several greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) like CO2 are not inherently bad. They float around in our atmosphere and are a natural part of helping our planet maintain a healthy temperature. Even water vapor is a GHG. But when you add too many additional greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, it’s like piling a bunch of blankets on the earth.

As a result, global temperatures rise, and with each incremental rise in temperature, our likelihood of adding even more GHGs into the atmosphere also rises through the consequences of a changing climate. For example, an increase in global temperatures will increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere. The result is an increase or amplification of the output (temperature), a mechanism called positive feedback. And I don’t mean it’ll make you feel good about yourself.

Second, it’s important to understand the service-oriented role that forests around the world play in processing CO2. Why do they matter, and why all the “hoopla” about deforestation? Well, forests are naturally carbon sinks; they help take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – more than they emit – and this is called autotrophic respiration. In comparison, when organic matter (such as leaf litter and fallen trees) decomposes, this is demonstrative of heterotrophic respiration; carbon is released back into the atmosphere, or taken back up into the ground through the roots of healthy trees around the decomposing matter.

But when you start throwing in variables like burning or logging a forest to make way for agriculture, or you take into account increasing global temperatures caused by the release of an inordinate amount of GHG emissions, you are hastening the pace at which organic materials break down (through fire and/or heat). This causes the release of an exponentially larger amount of carbon than the forests can possibly process (See more on GHGs at http://www.ghgonline.org/co2resp.htm).

Imagine for a moment standing under the canopy of your favorite forest, whether it’s in the eastern United States, the Amazon, somewhere in the Sierra Nevadas, Costa Rica, Russia or China. Visualize the diversity of life that it holds – the birds, flowers, insects, mammals – and try to imagine seeing the trees and plants “breathing” in the carbon dioxide and storing it in their leaves and massive trunks, then “breathing” it out again by dropping their leaves and branches and letting the fungi and other microorganisms take over their part of the process (decomposition), then returning that carbon to the air or ground again for the trees to take up over the next season, under their canopy of leaves. The forest and all its players are just doing their jobs, and willingly.

Now imagine that same forest being cut to the ground or burned within the span of a few hours or days – as compared to how much time it took to grow and how many iterations of the carbon cycle it’s been through. As a result, the forest (or what’s left of it) no longer acts effectively as a carbon sink. It may be an open wasteland of tree stumps, organic debris and stirred up soil, exposed to the wind and sun. That once forested land has now become a carbon source, a source of carbon that once was a container or sink for carbon, now released liberally into the atmosphere. That whole amazing carbon cycle has been broken and opened up to release all that stored carbon into the atmosphere as CO2.

And “Voila!” As with each readers’ imagination, so too are many thousands of acres of forest now being burned or destroyed at alarming rates in ways that release tons of carbon, contributing to the positive feedback mechanism – at an exponential rate – of increasing GHGs and thus increasing our global temperature through human actions (for more information on sinks and sources, http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/issues/climatechange/carbon.asp).

So, by studying the forested plots of land around the North American Regional Climate Center, we can hope to gain greater insight as to how forests of different ages and subject to different types of management really process, release or effectively control the dynamic life cycle of carbon. With four other forested sites to study in the United Kingdom, China, India and Brazil, the Earthwatch/ HSBC Climate Partnership is helping to collect global forest data that will play an important role, I’m sure, in determining how we can effectively and sustainably manage our forests for the future. Forests, after all, play an important ecosystem service for our planet by helping to regulate the greenhouse gases and ultimately the global temperature that affects the health of the earth and its people.

Yeay, we've chosen a President! Now, let's get to work on critical issues!

Day two of this week has come to a close after some great time outdoors (and in the rain!), contributing to an important long-term forest research project. We are a very tired, but very happy HSBC Climate Partnership team, especially now that we've enjoyed watching the incredibly inspiring, emotional and visionary speech just given by our President-elect, Barack Obama. He himself stated that we have a "planet in peril," and that it will be up to us, following his new leadership, to envision and meet the challenges we'll face in the next one hundred years, alongside our friends in the world.


Those of us participating in this fellowship not only believe in the strength of our individual passion and efforts to reduce the impact of climate change and protect the environment, but more importantly we believe in what we can accomplish as a team, community, nation and world. With that in mind, I've offered to list a few of the ideas that have already been tossed around as potential projects or campaigns that we can develop which might shape the future of our respective communities as we meet the challenges of climate change and its effects on our world.

Community Project Ideas

· Identify Climate Champions, local and national leaders who can call/inspire people to action-oriented solutions to the climate change problem.

· People think technology is the magic bullet – it’ll solve everything. What project can we create to identify/support new technologies, but make sure that other options and behavior is also on the table?

· There are at least three types of people: those who are ignorant about the issues, those who are on board and agree that climate change is a problem and have a desire to make a change, but need direction/help in how to make a change, and those who are full-force climate champions/leaders who can get people moving and lead/inspire all the others.

· As the Climate Team, we should address ourselves first and reduce our own footprint, dig down deep and really spend the time to walk the talk as part of going out into the rest of the company.

· Create a national campaign to place little images/numbers on energy-consuming products that will compare one hour of usage with the amount of gas/coal/non-renewable resources it literally consumes in that amount of time. Connect people back to the environment and our natural resources, especially how/where we get them. Connect peoples’ behavior back to the natural resources being used to produce the energy being consumed.

· According to the World Resources Institute, Electricity and Heat-related activities take up 24.8% of the global greenhouse gases globally, and specifically, residential electricity/heat usage makes up 9.9% of the GHG emissions (see other points on reduction of electricity/energy usage).

· Create a local/national/federal level incentive and educational program to build recycling into our daily activities. Connect with corporate partners/champions and manufacturers. Get kids involved and influence them.

· Create a policy or tax break for methane harvesting by small businesses and/or cities so that their dumps can be put to better use. Encourage and support better technologies for harvesting methane to help self-sustain a business/county/city.

· Create more formal, federally supported life-cycle assessments of major appliances and energy-consuming products. Create cradle-to-cradle relationships with major corporations as part of a national strategy to recycle and/or repurpose old appliances.

· Use the GHG World Emissions map to create an online interactive tool that will adjust the changes in habit and energy and land usage to show the output in CO2 in comparison.

· Reduce the impact of urban heat islands. Work with local cities and their builders and existing smart/urban growth groups to push for green roofs, LEED buildings, more bike lanes, walkable communities, etc. to reduce the heat island effect, as well as our output of CO2 emissions and over consumption of goods.

· Each one of us needs to identify three organizations to which we’ll present a modified PowerPoint presentation about climate change science, cultural perceptions and our experiences in the field to create awareness about climate change and its solutions, based on the CD we’ll be given at the end of the week.

· Brainstorm the idea of creating a Geotourism MapGuide specific to the region, with a special section/emphasis on reducing our impact on the environment and consumption of non-renewable resources.

· Legislative activism to reduce CO2 emissions nationally in a more comprehensive way (through technological ingenuity – a grant encouraging technological advancement?), if not just locally.

· Promote staycations, less consumption, acting locally, thinking globally.

· Help establish some sore of a carbon tax based on your household’s carbon footprint.

· How do we get kids involved in reducing CO2 output? The public first needs to understand where those CO2 and other GHG emissions come from.

· Changing transportation behavior: biking, carpooling, other types of driving, public transportation, flexible work options, etc.

· Push for use of automatic shutoff of buildings’ energy output and unnecessary energy vampires. Promote new surge protectors with a visual wattage count built in that will help people visualize the energy that they use on a regular basis – push to make that a part of their in-home systems, e.g. a requirement of all newly built homes?

· Push national home builders’ organizations to focus on creating sustainable homes with efficient (and less) appliances.

· Push for solar power in our communities – tax breaks, education and awareness, self-installation, building solar power into new condominium and other developments, plus building investment in solar into existing condo boards for future installation. Must work with energy companies to ensure they are friendly to such efforts.

· Create a few specific social marketing tools to implement in conjunction with any of the above projects as a way of inspiring members of the public to become Climate Change Stakeholders in their own right.

Tomorrow truly is another day!

Danielle Williams