The following is Section 205, of the Cap and Trade bill recently passed by the House, and which is currently under review by the Senate.
I haven’t read the whole bill (it’s 1,458 pages long), but this stands-out as something that be be worth pursuing.
If you want to educate yourself about Cap and Trade, and study the bill passed by the House: a pdf version of the file can be downloaded at: HR2454_House.pdf
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HR 2454
Title: American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009
(page 393)
SEC. 205. TREE PLANTING PROGRAMS.
2 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
3 (1) the utility sector is the largest single source
4 of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States
5 today, producing approximately one-third of the
6 country’s emissions;
7 (2) heating and cooling homes accounts for
8 nearly 60 percent of residential electricity usage in
9 the United States;
10 (3) shade trees planted in strategic locations
11 can reduce residential cooling costs by as much as
12 30 percent;
13 (4) shade trees have significant clean-air bene
14 fits associated with them;
15 (5) every 100 healthy large trees removes about
16 300 pounds of air pollution (including particulate
17 matter and ozone) and about 15 tons of carbon diox
18 ide from the air each year;
19 (6) tree cover on private property and on newly
20 developed land has declined since the 1970s, even
21 while emissions from transportation and industry
22 have been rising; and
23 (7) in over a dozen test cities across the United
24 States, increasing urban tree cover has generated
25 between two and five dollars in savings for every dol
26 lar invested in such tree planting.
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My Analysis
Okay, so I did some math….
If 100 trees removes 300 pounds of pollutants from the air, then one tree removes 3 pounds of pollutants.
If 100 trees removes 15 tons, or 30,000 pounds, of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, then one tree removes 300 pounds of CO2 from the air.
So, it seems to me that we could eliminate all the other sections of the Cap and Trade bill if we simply expand Section 205, the Tree Planting Program.
Assuming the nice round population figure of 300,000,000 (300 million), if we planted 1 tree per person, we could eliminate 900,000,000 (900 million) pounds of air pollutants, and 90,000,000,000 (90 billion) pounds of CO2.
And if we planted 100 trees per person, the pollutants removed is 90,000,000,000 (90 billion) pounds, and the CO2 removed is 9,000,000,000,000 (9 trillion) pounds.
Just think, if we planted 10,000 trees per person, or 3 trillion trees, we’d reduce pollutants by 9 trillion pounds, and CO2 by 900,000,000,000 (900 trillion) pounds.
And so forth, and so on…. you get the idea.
I live in California, and I am telling you, there is plenty of open space to plant our share of trees. In fact, in the spirit of Cap and Trade, we could trade our pollution credits to States who don’t have as much space, such as Rhode Island, or Vermont. In fact, we could trade pollution credits for water to grow and maintain our new Green forests.
What an easy solution. How hard is it to plant a tree ? You take a seed, bury it, and, poof, you have a tree growing there in no time. Heck, we spray-on ground covers, and lawns, so why couldn’t we do the same thing with trees. Load an airplane with a few tons of seed, and mulch, and millions of trees could be planted in just a few flights.
And we wouldn’t even have to pay for the flights; we could just add couple wing tanks to our commercial airplanes, and the whole country could be covered with new trees in a matter of weeks.
And the seeds are free. I have an orange tree in my backyard, and I’ll bet I can turn that single tree into hundreds, if not thousands, of trees in just a couple years. I will gladly share them with those in need, and I will even send them to the Federal government for distribution to the needy.
I just went to a local park, and it’s covered with Pepper trees that are loaded with tens of thousands of seeds. They are there for the taking.
And, of course, trees are not the only plants that can clean the pollution from the air, and remove the CO2. I think just about any plant will do the trick. How about grass ? How about hedges ?
I have several golf courses with my personal sphere of pollution, and dozens of parks, and several cemeteries, and practically every house in my neighborhood has a lawn. In fact, when I look out my window, I see nine trees on my small property, and at least a dozen or so other plants, and bushes, and vines, and that is repeated hundreds of times throughout my neighborhood. They certainly all must count for something when it comes to helping the environment.
And the beauty of simply planting trees in order to reduce our air pollutants, and CO2, is that it pays for itself, and we may even make money on the deal.
According to Section 205 (7), there is a savings of from $ 2.00 to $ 5.00, per tree planted. (I don’t know exactly what the ’savings’ is; perhaps it is energy savings.) If we planted 10,000 trees per individual, we would save from 6 trillion to 15 trillion dollars.
There is a downside, though. According to a report on ScienceDaily.com, the total worldwide emissions of CO2 is 10 billion tons; 10 billions tons translates to 20 trillion pounds.
The United States is responsible for about 25% of those emissions, or 4 trillion pounds. If we plant 10,000 trees per individual American, we will remove 900 trillion pounds of CO2, or 896 trillion pounds more than we emitted. In fact, we alone will solve the CO2 emissions for the whole world.
In an ironic twist of fate, if we plant too many trees, we will remove so much CO2 from the atmosphere that the trees will not be able to survive, and we will need to generate more CO2, or we will run out of oxygen, and breathable air.
But that is a problem that is easily resolved by simply planting less trees; that would cut our total savings, but, we would will still make a nice profit.
So, Cap and Trade seems like a no-brainer; we need it. It will not only solve our pollution, and CO2 emissions problems, but it will also solve our financial problems.
So, I am reconsidering my opposition to Cap and Trade, maybe it can work if we can some how discard the 95% that won’t work, and just retain the 5% that will work !
And that is just my opinion.
0026A
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