Global Deforestation Demoed In Google Earth

eldavojohn writes "On Google's official blog, they claim a 'new technology prototype that enables online, global-scale observation and measurement of changes in the earth's forests.' Ars has more details on what Google unveiled at Copenhagen. If you have Google Earth installed, you can find a demonstration here. Many organizations and government agencies are on board with this initiative to put deforestation before the eyes of the public. If only satellite data of North America existed before the logging industry swept in!" It's interesting to contemplate the implications for intelligence gathering of Google's automated tools to compare satellite photos.

Comments

North American Reforestation.

[tjstork]

The original poster wishes he could see North America before the logging industry swept in. Around 30-50 years ago, his intuition would have been rewarded. But, for the last decades, much of the United States has actually been reforested, rather than deforested. The reasons for this are complex and mixed, but some factors include the original mills going out of business in the Northeastern USA, adoption of better forestry practices, a reversion of farmland to homesites - which invariably means planting even more trees, and so on.

Indeed, Americans have been catching something of a break as they have planted so many trees that North America would be a net carbon sink, if they didn't also drive so many cars. This picture changes as all the new trees mature and their carbon uptake decreases. But, the important lesson here is that while Americans might be bad about CO2 emissions, they have, in their own way, also showed how areas can be reforested, that were once barren.

Re:North American Reforestation.

[IndustrialComplex]

Trees don't remove CO2 from the atmosphere in any permanant way.

If you go from 0 trees, to 1 tree that you replant every time the old one dies then you have removed 1 trees worth of carbon from the air as long as you keep a tree growing.

If you go from 0 trees to 1 tree that you harvest every time it is fully grown and use the wood in building a house or some other permanent structure and keep replanting that tree every 10-15 years then you are removing 1 tree's worth of carbon from the atmosphere every 10-15 years.

It is only if you plant a tree and let it die and decompose and plant no additional trees that your example holds.

Pre-Logging Industry Maps

[jbeaupre]

"If only satellite data of North America existed before the logging industry swept in!"

Not from a satellites, but there are some maps. For example: http://www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/qen/nercNORTHAMERICA.html

Note the complete lack of forests over most of NA about 15,000 years ago.

or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Interior_Seaway

Not much forest under the ocean bits.

Re:Trees

[AlphaBit]

Exactly, the logging industry (as related to paper production) uses farmed trees. This means that the paper/logging industry has led to an increase in the number of trees growing in North America, while at the same time no longer contributing to deforestation. I believe almost all of our paper comes from these farmed trees.

Of course, increased forest cover could be just as bad as decreased forest cover. It's more about balance than maximization.

Re:Trees

[Anonymous Coward]

that _might_ be true, but those 8 trees were a heck of a lot larger than the forests we now have. Way back in the day, the entire state of Pennsylvania was clearcut for timber. The pine trees didn't regrow and the forests in PA are now predominately composed of hardwood trees that flourished naturally.

Demoed?

[ground.zero.612]

Demolished or demonstrated? Maybe some Googelian combination of the two?

fwarren: I believe fighting natural forest fires has proven to be policy error. For a citation please see the burning of Custer State Park. There are no more Smokey the Bear commercials because forest fires are actually necessary to prevent catastrophic fires. From what I remember reading, the 40+ years of Smokey the Bear campaigning, and fire fighting left MILLIONS of tons of fuel in the form of old dead timber.

I guess I'm just trying to point out that while some of Oregon's other forestry programs might be a benefit, fighting forest fires for decades can and has lead to a catastrophe.

Re:Trees

[piltdownman84]

[Citation needed]

Not the op, but the number I have is: Natural Density in California is 60 trees per acre, but it currently is at 273 per acre. From "Green House Gas Emissions From Four California Wildfires: Opportunities To Prevent and Reverse Environmental and Climate Impacts" (PDF)

Re:Trees

[drinkypoo]

Where, who, how many, how large the area, at what times. Otherwise this is just mythical FUD about "noble Indians"

Actually, the term is "noble savages", and you are an incompetent troll.

I live in Lake County, California, where the Pomo people lived in peace for 10,000 years or more. They built basket-like houses to ride out the winter, and then burned them down in the summer, producing yearly burns that kept down the undergrowth without harming old growth, with which the county was covered until the US Government paid the influx of whites money to cut them down and plant Black Walnuts. You can live on Oak acorns, but you can't live on black walnuts, which forced anyone they didn't outright kill to live the lifestyle of the white man, and buy his food. These people were almost entirely independent of agriculture; there was more than plentiful food available for the taking, and the land was thick with game. The coast is just a day's walk away, and it was once rich with shellfish.

In fact, I live in Kelseyville, named after a man who enslaved a large number of Pomo people, forcing them to labor and raping a number of women. I often tell people it's a bit like living in "hitlerville" but most of the dumb rednecks around here don't see my point. Kelsey's wife apparently grew so tired of his behavior that she poured water in the men's gunpowder, opening them up for an old-fashioned indian massacre which they wholly deserved. Then the US' 1st Cavalry came up here and went genocidal on an entirely different band of Pomo, killing everyone on the island now known as Bo-No-Po-Ti, or "Bloody Island". Well, except for one little girl, hiding in the reeds. I have her account here someplace, but I cannot locate it ATM to quote it (it's on paper, and under some other stuff I guess. But I'll dig it out later if someone makes a request... someone less cowardly than you.