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China and India Lead the Way in Greening (nasa.gov)

hackingbear writes: The world is literally a greener place than it was twenty years ago, and data from NASA satellites has revealed a counterintuitive source for much of this new foliage. A new study shows that China and India -- the world's most populous countries -- are leading the increase in greening on land. The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries. Ranga Myneni of Boston University and colleagues first detected the greening phenomenon in satellite data from the mid-1990s, but they did not know whether human activity was a chief cause. The research team found that global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent since the early 2000s, an area equivalent to all of the Amazon rainforests. At least 25 percent of that gain came in China. "China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9 percent of the planet's land area covered in vegetation," said lead author Chi Chen of Boston University. "That is a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation." China's outsized contribution to the global greening trend comes in large part from its programs to conserve and expand forests (about 42 percent of the greening contribution). These programs were developed in an effort to reduce the effects of soil erosion, air pollution, and climate change.

115 comments

  1. Meh, big deal... by pablo_max · · Score: 5, Funny

    USA leads in climate change denial. Take that, nature!

    1. Re:Meh, big deal... by ron_ivi · · Score: 4, Funny
      "Greening" by creating forests where previously there were none counts as a form of climate change too.

      While green forests are cool, are there concerns for the previous non-forest ecosystems that were there?

    2. Re:Meh, big deal... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      USA leads in climate change denial.

      Maybe instead of building a wall along the border with Mexico, we should be planting trees along it?

      I mean, not normal trees, but Normandy-like hedgerows that were impassable by the US troops in WWII. They needed to mount tusk-like diggers on Sherman tanks to get through.

      It would keep folks from sneaking across the border illegally, and be Green, as well.

      . . . unless the border crashers get their hands on some Sherman tanks.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    3. Re: Meh, big deal... by dougdonovan · · Score: 0

      india owns the low paying call centers in the US and yes, they look great.

    4. Re: Meh, big deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, what they're doing is restoring forests that were clear cut, rather than transplanting new ones.

    5. Re: Meh, big deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you know the doctor greened your mum's vajayjay with Simple Green cleaning solution after she gave birth to you?

    6. Re:Meh, big deal... by jwhyche · · Score: 1

      USA leads in climate change denial.

      No we don't We actually do most of the science that is proving it is a issue. If it wasn't for NASA research in Antarctica and from space we wouldn't never have known about the Ozone issue with CFC till it was to late. It is only small, but loud, minority that denies the issue.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    7. Re:Meh, big deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A small, loud minority who enjoy structural benefits granting legislative power well beyond their numbers. (Plus the wealth of the even-more-minority who directly benefit from inflicting the damage)

    8. Re: Meh, big deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      India is replanting in clear cut areas.
      China is planting into their desert in hopes of pushing back the desert.

    9. Re:Meh, big deal... by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      Nobody denies that the climate is changing. Only the foolishness that is being proposed as solutions.

      Oh - and little things such as the non-falsifiable claims.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
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    10. Re:Meh, big deal... by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      If you look at states like NH there are far more trees now then when it was farm land in the early 20th C.

      There are far more trees in NA today then there were in 1900.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    11. Re:Meh, big deal... by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Actually, if the climate supports it, that would be a good idea. Problems include growing a hedgerow being labour intensive as you have to partially cut the stems and weave them together, but you could hire illegals and taking a while to grow.
      Besides the traditional Hawthorne, you could plant a Barberry or Pyracantha hedge. I knew someone with a Barberry one, it was impassible without a chainsaw and even with, those 2 inch needle sharp thorns were horrible, go right through most shoes.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    12. Re:Meh, big deal... by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      Trees get addicted to drugs and end up in Narcotics Anonymous? Well I guess you do learn something every day.

    13. Re:Meh, big deal... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      /Sarcasm This is "congress" we're talking about -- the "opposite" of progress. =P

    14. Re:Meh, big deal... by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Probably not too challenging when the native forests were clear cut by invading colonists in the few centuries before that.

    15. Re:Meh, big deal... by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Won't someone think of the sand!

    16. Re:Meh, big deal... by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      Invading colonists?

      Like the invading Han Chinese? Or the invading Persians?

      the history of humanity, up to early modern times (roughly 1500 CE), was one of conflict between semi-nomadic people and civilized peoples (those living in cities with agriculture) .

      Our history books may focus on the conflict between settled peoples but the primary change was whenever agricultural peoples came across lands held by semi-nomadic people. The agricultural (civilized) peoples considered this to be unsettled, unclaimed land.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    17. Re:Meh, big deal... by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Like the invading Han Chinese? Or the invading Persians?

      Like how many of those were running around New Hampshire? You know, the state you were talking about.

      Our history books may focus on the conflict between settled peoples but the primary change was whenever agricultural peoples came across lands held by semi-nomadic people. The agricultural (civilized) peoples considered this to be unsettled, unclaimed land.

      A very Europcentric view of history. Most of the planet was just fine until Europeans invented the greatest crime against humanity, colonialism. Western Europeans, specifically.

    18. Re:Meh, big deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless the reason there weren't forests there was that they were previously cut down to create farmland or pastures. There used to be a hell of a lot more forest area globally than there is now. Reforestation is a way to undo the excesses of prior generations.

  2. Leading in Greening AND Browning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    The largest net air polluters are planting things. How quaint.

    1. Re:Leading in Greening AND Browning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL.
      Actually, both of them are the 2 largest leaders in growing their CO2 and other pollution.

    2. Re:Leading in Greening AND Browning by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      They are also the in the top 3 for installing renewables like solar and wind - they are a like large container ship, its takes a long time to turn and stop.

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
  3. China's dependent on the US for their food supply by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    I can't imagine that sits well with them.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  4. The US is way behind .. by satsuke · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's like everywhere else has recognized that the cost of deploying renewables are now cheaper than their equivalent fossil fuels counterparts.

    It makes more economic sense to be green than it does to be dirty...

    The article is about literal greening of areas of course, but the underlying reason is similar.

    1. Re:The US is way behind .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's like everywhere else has recognized that the cost of deploying renewables are now cheaper than their equivalent fossil fuels counterparts.

      I can't afford a Tesla.

      Or any other electric car.

    2. Re:The US is way behind .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      China and India's greenhouse gas emissions continue to go sky high meanwhile the US has been stable for a decade. Stop believing fake news.

    3. Re:The US is way behind .. by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      That is NOT true.
      Until this year, America's emissions has gone down EACH YEAR. However, it did go up 3% this year. Yeah, China went up 4-7% (more likely 7-9, but whose counting).
      The good news is that ours went up due to the economy, combined with our push for nat gas power plants unstead of nukes. We NEED to quit that and instead, push for SMRs like NuScale.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    4. Re:The US is way behind .. by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      As I pointed out to somebody else below, America, like most of the west, has gone down every year for the last 10, until this year.
      China has grown every year ( or flattened for a couple of years ), for the last 30+ years.
      And you think that planting a few trees is helping? Hmmm.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    5. Re: The US is way behind .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. America outsourced manufacturing.
      2. China took those jobs, cut regulations.
      3. America is polluting less.
      4. China is polluting more.

      That's not how this works, we are all in this together. So just because America cut it by 4% means jack shit when China's numbers grew by 3-7%.

      We didn't cut pollution or anything special, we just outsourced it like we do everything else.

    6. Re:The US is way behind .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A used Leaf is a shitty car, but will cost you maybe $7k.
      Even a new Tesla 3 is like $40k after tax breaks.
      You're on Slashdot, shouldn't you have a better job?

    7. Re:The US is way behind .. by dryeo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sure, we reached peak per capita CO2 production with nowhere to go but down while China and especially India are still relatively low per capita.
      The real problem is how much CO2 we produce compared to the Vatican if we're going to compare countries without considering size or population.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    8. Re: The US is way behind .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You sound just like the Chinese government, undercutting us with slave wages and then trying to blame us for your reckless pollution.

    9. Re:The US is way behind .. by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      So people with jobs other than hipster programmer cant be here? Sorry, I thought this site was for nerds.

    10. Re:The US is way behind .. by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      As I pointed out to somebody else below, America, like most of the west, has gone down every year for the last 10, until this year. China has grown every year ( or flattened for a couple of years ), for the last 30+ years.

      And as needed to be pointed out in return: China + India have about seven times the population of the United States. That means that they get to pollute seven times as much. As someone else pointed out, we don't say the Vatican is free to pollute just as much as the United States, because reasons. And much of the pollution generated in China is used to produce consumer products for entitled westerners.

      We NEED to quit that and instead, push for SMRs like NuScale.

      Yeah, no. Putting risk aside, nuclear power will never touch the cost effectiveness of wind and solar with a 20 light year pole. And the baseload BS that people love to trot out on wind and solar applies moreso to nuclear, as plants shut down for planned (or worse unplanned) maintenance all the time. Which means you need to build spare generators to pick up the slack when one of your plants goes down for days, weeks, months or sometimes even years at a time.

      It would be cheaper, take less time, and involve none of the risk to just build extra wind and solar capacity into the grid and back it up with the sort of pumped storage that's used to back up nuclear power, or a Tesla Powerpack like they built in Australia, one that will pay for itself in a couple more years.

    11. Re:The US is way behind .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      get a job, hippie

    12. Re:The US is way behind .. by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Actually, that is not true.
      CHina is already above per capita that they need to be. Hell, they were above EU's average clear back in early 2010's, and continue to grow theirs. Yet, EU who is less than China, continues to work to drop theirs. Why? Because emissions are emissions. The ONLY time that CHina flat lined was when their economy had crashed and they were lying about it (2014-6). But, they have NOT dropped emissions.
      Now, for 2-3 years in a row, it is not only growing, but ACCELERATING. It is known that they will be at least 4.7%, and quite possibly over 7% growth this year. But, the problem is not due to their economy, but the growth in their COal plants. They are adding more coal plants from 2017-2020, than AMerica has.

      As to India, thankfully, they ARE low. BUT, they need to remain low and can only do that by adding AE, nukes, geo-thermal, etc and not fossil fuel. But, last year, they went up up some 9%. Considering how low their total emission are, 9% is not huge. Still, India is working hard to move to AE and Nukes. For that, I applaud them.
      But the only way that China is going to drop theirs is if we all say, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. They do not have to drop emissions fast. They just have to head in the right direction. For 30 years, they have gone in the wrong direction.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    13. Re:The US is way behind .. by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      No. China and India do NOT get to pollute 7 times more than America. Neither have the economy that America has (china is approaching), which it is GDP that is the real producer of CO2. Hpowever, the REAL problem is that ALL nations need to drop our CO2, or at worst, not grow it. India needs to stop their CO2 growth, but thankfully, they are fairly low (though they are 3rd highest emitter).

      And no, we need on-demand systems. Nuke is not only viable, but probably the only real choice. This BS about heavily subsidizing AE (just wind and solar) so that it is cheaper than nukes and then declaring nukes too expensive is INSANE. Worse, adding batteries/storage to it, only increases the costs. What is needed for America is to replace OLD nuclear power plants with new nuclear power plants. We also need to add more wind/solar, but we can not add too much. Just look at what is happening to Germany. They are one of the MOST expensive electricity in Europe (as well as one of the major emitters in Europe) while France is one of the cheapest (and cleanest).

      Here. Good write-up on this.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    14. Re:The US is way behind .. by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Perhaps you have some more recent figures as the most up to date I find quickly are from 2014 which show the USA emitting over twice the carbon on a per capita basis as China, 16.5 tonnes per year vs 7.5 tonnes per person per year with India at 1.7.
      The data I'm looking at doesn't lump the EU together, but has Poland at the same level as China, Germany and even Finland higher and the UK, Italy and the less developed parts of the EU lower.
      The idea of someone bitching about someone else emitting half or close to 10% seems biased at least, especially considering that both China and India seem to be promoting nukes and renewables more then America which has elected a leader to push coal and has mostly just happened to replaced coal with gas for economic reasons rather then for environmental reasons.
      https://data.worldbank.org/ind...

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    15. Re:The US is way behind .. by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      No. China and India do NOT get to pollute 7 times more than America.

      Of course they do, when they have 7 times the population.

      Neither have the economy that America has (china is approaching)

      The only thing that matters is per-capita pollution - everything else is rationalization for western arrogance and entitlement. Moreso when most of the CO2 that has been pumped into the atmosphere over the past 150 years has come from western countries. And again, much of that pollution in China you're complaining about now is powering factories to make products for American shelves.

      Nuke is not only viable, but probably the only real choice. This BS about heavily subsidizing AE (just wind and solar) so that it is cheaper than nukes and then declaring nukes too expensive is INSANE.

      Nuclear power is never going to be cheaper. You can make all your wishful nuclear fanboy dreams come true on new vaporware, I mean new designs, and they will still be far more costly than wind and solar. Nuclear is always going to be more complex, you're always going to have issues with containment. You're aways going to have issues with security and disposal.

      Nuclear power is completely and utterly unjustifiable.

    16. Re:The US is way behind .. by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      My grandmother had a saying..."If your so smart, why ain't you rich?"

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    17. Re:The US is way behind .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      America is entitled to pollute more because we did it first and are rich.
      Too bad slow countries, you should have polluted faster like us.
      --
      WindBourne

    18. Re: The US is way behind .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't even cut it idiot. You increased last year.

      Per person America produces twice the CO2 as China. Even though China produces a billion dollars a day of your stuff.

      China could literally burn twice the coal and still be way lower per person than America is.

  5. high by zlives · · Score: 3

    high co2 content good for trees...

    1. Re:high by zlives · · Score: 1

      /duck

    2. Re:high by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...but not so good for those of us who are not trees!

    3. Re:high by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And not harmful to us either at levels we currently have had won't likely reach levels that will be harmful.

      We sit at about 400 ppm:

      • 350 to 1000 ppm is a good quality concentration
      • 1000 to 2000 ppm, the air quality is low.
      • From 2000 to 5000 ppm, CO2 concentration starts to cause problems (headaches, insomnia, nausea). It is a dirty air.
      • From 5000 ppm, the presence of other gases in air is altered, arising a toxic atmosphere or poor in oxygen with fatal effects as the concentration increases.
    4. Re:high by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Yes it makes them grow fast, tall and spindly and fall over. Oh wait, maybe that's not good.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    5. Re:high by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      high co2 content good for trees...

      Only briefly.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. Headline inversion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are not leading, they are behind.

    We wont see additional greening in western countries because we already did it.

    This is a case of seeing China and India so far behind that they thought they were in first.

    1. Re:Headline inversion by Kreplock · · Score: 0

      Exactly

    2. Re:Headline inversion by WindBourne · · Score: 0

      Not really.
      I doubt that you have seen maps of America, let alone Europe. At one time, both areas were mostly forest. Even since I was born in 1959, the deforestation of America has been shocking.
      Even now, pine beetles have destroyed our forests all through the west. BUT, rather than allow timber to be cut, and then re-start new plantings, the Dems have fought that. Horrible ideas.
      We speak about the CO2 here, while at the same time, ignoring the vast quantities of forest that are dying. We need to re-plant these.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re:Headline inversion by WindBourne · · Score: 1
      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    4. Re:Headline inversion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      America was not "mostly forested", it was only about 46% forested before 1630

      Forest Facts Metric

      It is estimated that—at the beginning of European settlement—in 1630 the area of forest land that would become the United States was 423 million hectares or about 46 percent of the total land area. By 1907, the area of forest land had declined to an estimated 307 million hectares or 34 percent of the total land area. Forest area has been relatively stable since 1907. In 1997, 302 million hectares— or 33 percent of the total land area of the United States— was in forest land. Today’s forest land area amounts to about 70 percent of the area that was forested in 1630. Since 1630, about 120 million hectares of forest land have been converted to other uses—mainly agricultural. More than 75 percent of the net conversion to other uses occurred in the 19th century.

    5. Re: Headline inversion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blame the dems. The repubtards favorite boogieman.

    6. Re: Headline inversion by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      I am not GOP. I am GDI.

      With that said, it is the Dems that are preventing the cutting of these trees. They say, it is not natural.
      BIG mistake.

      Trump is about to allow foresting through national forest, and Apparently, so is California. Apparently, this last fire that swept through dead pine and spruce killing ppl and destroying hollywood star's homes, has finally convinced dems to allow it. Sad.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    7. Re:Headline inversion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Man, take your old ass on and die already. You're fucking it up for everybody. We have too many people on this planet. Those who have lived should pass so the ones who haven't can.

    8. Re: Headline inversion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GDI = God Damn Idiot.

    9. Re:Headline inversion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >_ America was not "mostly forested", it was only about 46% forested before 1630

      Think a little -- if not for anything else, just to please us.

      Why the 46%? Because the desert hasn't got any forests.

      And you cannot deforest the desert -- but you can destroy 100% of those 46%.

    10. Re: Headline inversion by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Trump is about to allow foresting through national forest, and Apparently, so is California. Apparently, this last fire that swept through dead pine and spruce killing ppl and destroying hollywood star's homes, has finally convinced dems to allow it. Sad.

      Cutting the trees won't work to control fires, except in certain very limited situations. I'm sure it will work for the richie rich people above Los Angeles, but it's not going to work up North, because the area is too large to manage in that fashion. They're only going to take the trees they want, not the trees we'd need them to take. Only yearly fires really work. After the fires on Cobb Mountain, the contractors stole all kinds of trees they weren't supposed to cut...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re: Headline inversion by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Actually, it is easy to get them to take of the dead ones. While there is lumber to be made out of the timber, it can also be burned for electricity and heating. Colorado has several groups doing that now, and oddly, it is shipped to Europe and Mexico.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    12. Re: Headline inversion by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Actually, it is easy to get them to take of the dead ones.

      Actually, it really isn't. California is chock-full of them. In many areas, every third tree standing is a dead pine. In some areas, it's much worse.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    13. Re: Headline inversion by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      that was because your gov have been opposed to allowing full clearing/replanting of that area.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    14. Re: Headline inversion by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Actually, it is easy to get them to take of the dead ones.

      Actually, it really isn't. California is chock-full of them. In many areas, every third tree standing is a dead pine. In some areas, it's much worse.

      that was because your gov have been opposed to allowing full clearing/replanting of that area.

      So just to be clear, we can't have this partial clearing that you say is easy to get because we won't allow full clearing? Make up your mind. Full clearing depletes biomass, greened acres are irrelevant, biomass is what matters. Old growth forest fixes more carbon and slows wind down more than new forest. This is true for nearly every tree species.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    15. Re: Headline inversion by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Old growth matters. Yes. That is best. OTOH, when all you have are pine/spruce and most are dead, then you are better off clearing away the dead trees and RE-PLANTING.
      Lumber ppl will come in and use what they can. BUT, there is plenty of material that they can not, but the bio-mass ppl can. These are the ppl making pellets that go into heat stoves or are used at electrical plants. Your past 2 govs allowed SOME lumber work, but none of the bio-mass clearing. Keep in mind that there would still be plenty of others, esp if not done as wiping out the area, but in normal cross patterns.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    16. Re: Headline inversion by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Nothing sad or bad about controlled burns
      https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail...

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    17. Re: Headline inversion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes quickly burn up all that trapped co2, the Chinese are catching up to you,you are barely twice as bad as them anymore.
      Burn baby burn.

  7. China is reclaiming desert by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    China is reclaiming desert with grid plantings.

    My understanding is that the USA has at least as many forested acres as ever, but a lot less biomass, and a lot of dead trees. Old growth is taller so it slows wind down more, and it's also more massive so it fixes more carbon. (Trees only grow from a thin layer beneath the bark, and the rate of growth is limited by photosynthesis, with larger trees able to do more of it because they have more leaf area with which to receive insolation.)

    Is there a biomass index?

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:China is reclaiming desert by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 1

      Is there a biomass index?

      There's one for the US. Presumably other governments have something similar.

    2. Re:China is reclaiming desert by Krishnoid · · Score: 2

      I thought they'd be against the sietch way of life, but since the government's doing it, it's obvious -- they're trying to corral, herd, and finally control Shai-Hulud. I guess when they think about extending lifespans via socialized medicine, they think *big*.

    3. Re:China is reclaiming desert by mpercy · · Score: 1

      https://education.seattlepi.co...

      "As of 2010, the United States had 304,022,000 hectares (751,255,000 acres) of forested lands, a number that represents one-third of the country. Of this area, 25 percent is old growth forest, 67 percent is secondary forest, and 8 percent is tree farms or plantations."

      "It is estimated that prior to European settlement, the United States. was 46 percent forested. European settlers quickly harvested much of the available timber for housing, industry, the creation of railroads and to clear land for farming. By 1907, the U.S. forest cover was reduced to 33 percent.

      "In the United States, deforestation has been more than offset by reforestation between 1990 and 2010. The nation added 7,687,000 hectares (18,995,000 acres) of forested land during that period. The trend in reforesting areas has been driven by organizations such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Arbor Day Foundation. Reforestation efforts were critical to maintain forest cover starting at the beginning of the 20th century, and they are the reason that there is a net positive trend in forest growth today.

    4. Re:China is reclaiming desert by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Old growth will take 200+ years to begin establishing itself. However, this is often ruined by politicians who see enormous stands of dead pines (planted to provide that initial jump) and think they need to be removed.

      NO! Those are the food, the support, the basic foundation of a new old growth forest! Let them rot and turn into trees which can move water inland from the ocean and reclaim desert. The #1 water transport mechanism over land is...Trees.

      No trees, no water, no humans.

  8. China is building as many coal plants... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...as the United States currently has in total.

    For greening, take a look at the natural reforestation that has occurred in New England over the last century.

    Want to help the environment? Capitalism works. Socialism doesn't.

    1. Re:China is building as many coal plants... by Crashmarik · · Score: 0

      Oh don't confront these with facts they can't deal

    2. Re:China is building as many coal plants... by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Hold on.
      Look, you are correct to blast China for what they are doing to the air with coal.
      BUT, by the same token, you have to give them credit for improving their forests.
      These really will not help with CO2, but it WILL help absorb a lot of other pollution that CHina creates. For example, their SO2, lead, mercury, etc remains horrendous. This greening, if close to the cities, can help pull that out of the air and ground. And neither CHina's nor India's was natural. This was citizens planting.

      OTOH, New England's was not. Basically, it was stripped of forests and now allowed time to re-grow. IOW, the reforesting actually has been natural, and man simply did not see economic reasons to rape/pillage at that time.

      And BOTH capitalism and socialism work. America, and EVERY western nation has a mixture of both.
      China's a mixture of Capitalism and Communism (in spite of what idiots claim).

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    3. Re: China is building as many coal plants... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alol. Repubtard logic is weak.

    4. Re:China is building as many coal plants... by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      China improves their forests by deforestating other countries.

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/837...

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  9. False by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    1. Re: False by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anybody that measures electrical costs in "days" is a sure fraud.

      Nobody bills power that way, and trying to whinge about it just makes for a red flag.

    2. Re:False by jezwel · · Score: 1
      That's because the coal fired power plants can't take the extreme heat baking Australia at the moment - January was Australia’s hottest month on record, with the country’s mean temperature exceeding 30C for the first time since records began in 1910. This results in coal plants going offline, so gas plants spin up to take on the load - but only *after* spot pricing has gone through the roof.
      The Tesla battery is taking the top out of this market, but it's only one player where more are needed..

      Lastly - the private owners of the coal fired Liddel power station are closing it down as it is cheaper to move to renewables than spend $500-600 million refurbing an almost 50yr old power station, pushing it well past its design specs. The last time this was done the budget was blown by ~100% and the plant was online for only 20% of the time - a complete failure. This closure of coal plants in favour of renewables is happening nationwide - there are NIL new coal plants proposed due to poor financials.

    3. Re:False by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Oh, thanks for that wingnut piece that insulted the intelligence of anyone who read it. GND means massive investment in wind and solar, which will create a huge jobs boom, not just banning coal.

  10. This is why change needn't be doom and gloom by Dasher42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We have absolutely got to do something about climate change. Most of what we've got to do would also make the world a lot better in sundry other ways.

    If we helped the landscape keep multiple stories of vegetation, and worked out ways to scale orchards designed the same way, it would make for great resistance to drought and a stable food supply, and over time, correct for this spike in greenhouse gasses.

    Entire horticultural and early agriculture civilizations have been founded not on controlling the landscape's entire harvest, but on enriching it and reaping the surplus. In this way of life, economy and environment are not at all at odds. In fact, they are interdependent. You can look at terra preta and its history in the Amazon basin for an example of a long-term, large-scale win-win scenario. http://news.cornell.edu/storie...

    If you want to see what is happening in China, watch this video, "The Lessons of the Loess Plateau": https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Even if you don't exactly agree with *how* they got it done, the results for the landscape and the prosperity of the people there speak for themselves. Start asking how your local economic and political systems can start to do right by the soil too.

  11. Hari Seldon, where are you? by Jogar+the+Barbarian · · Score: 4, Funny

    If we're serious about building Trantor, this is exactly the WRONG WAY to go.

    --
    3. Profit!
    2. ???
    1. On Soviet Slashdot, a Beowulf cluster of alien Natalie Portman overlords welcomes YOU!
  12. Green? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "These programs were developed in an effort to reduce the effects of soil erosion, air pollution, and climate change.", of which these two countries are among the top culprits globally!

    And since this is a hot topic recently - https://www.wsj.com/articles/which-countries-create-the-most-ocean-trash-1423767676

  13. Re:China's dependent on the US for their food supp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is dependent a possessive of China in your title?

  14. Green leaders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In astroturf.

  15. It is about the water tables by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Deforestation in India is so bad that the water in the rivers was all drying up. The underground water went from an average of 50 feet down to 1200 feet down. This is happening all over the world. At least Sadhguru in India exposed the long term issues and has planted over 22 million trees to try and stop it. No water means little to no life, certainly no human life. In other countries they act like it does not matter, as long as their pockets are full today there is no tomorrow to their greed.

  16. bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop lying. The Chinese government is deliberately destroyed competition for solar panel production by dumping on the market. Renewables that are cheaper were already being done, and done without subsidies.

  17. that is good to see by WindBourne · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We have Brazil clear cutting their forest so as to supply Europe with Beef, and CHina with exotic woods.
    Then we have the west which has already done a number on our forest and are not replanting fast enough.
    So, it is good to actually see both China and India showing the rest of the world what needs to happen.
    It will not help that much with the CO2, but it will help absorb pollution, etc.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:that is good to see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The US already plants much more than it cuts down. By at least a factor of 4. It was nowhere near as deforested as these other nations so there is less improvement to be made.

  18. Re:China's dependent on the US for their food supp by mpercy · · Score: 2

    I'll be kind and assume this is a genuine question and not sarcasm.

    It is not a possessive apostrophe-s, it is a contraction of "China is".

    In English you can use contractions to shorten a word by removing one letter or more and substituting an apostrophe in the same spot. For example, chop wi out of "I will", throw in an apostrophe, and you have I’ll. The resulting word is shorter and faster to say, with only one syllable (sound) instead of two. Similarly, she would becomes she’d and he is becomes he's.

  19. But subject to more storm damage by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    The problem is that China has basically destroyed large segments of it's barrier islands and wetlands that absorb storm damage, so expect to read in a few years about how much damage has dramatically increased in China from storms, that otherwise would have not caused major calamities.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  20. Re:China's dependent on the US for their food supp by WindBourne · · Score: 2

    uh, you really should be paying attention to our food. Have you wondered why our Apple Juice, honey, V8 juice now contains high levels of Lead, Mercury, Pesticides (even in ones that are marked organic ), fungicides, herbicides, etc, amongst other pollutants? Yeah. Got news for you. THis is the FASTEST way to figure out where our food is coming from.
    Have you looked at our fish? It is not only mislabeled, but also loaded with all sorts of items that are not found in Alaska. That Salmon and 'Alaskan Cod' is showing up with a lot more mercury, and other pollutants than what the American ships pull in.
    How about Dog/Cat food? Have you wondered why dogs are dying and it is being blamed on the food? It is because far too many ingredients come from CHina. We buy Merick since they promise to NEVER allow ingredients from China into their food.
    DO NOT get me started on the FUCKING CHICKEN that KFC and Chick-fil-a sell. Yeah. These dirt bags are buying it processed in China while lying about it. So does Safeway. And that is just the ones that some of my microbio old classmates told me about.

    Our food chain used to the the gem of the world back in the 40-70s. Come reagan, it started downwards because he gutted the inspectors, and with W and O, it went down even further . Our food chain has become a joke. It is above CHina's, but increasingly, not by much.
    At least over there, they still shoot ppl for putting in poisons into their foods. In America, we call it entrepreneurial.
    Fuck, Blue Buffalo still is adding ingredients from China, while lying through their fucking teeth.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  21. Re:The US is way behind ..Wrong! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The USA is reducing carbon emissions, going down year on year.

    China and India...increasing.

    Renewable energy (also known as unreliable intermittent power) is not base load, is is not cheaper than fossil fuel generated power, which is base load power.
    Where do you get power at night and when the wind is not blowing.

    Don's say batteries, because when you add that cost in, it is way more expensive.

    Germany, leader in adding wind and solar has NOT reduced their carbon emissions because they still need coal plants as back-up. And they have some of the most expensive power in the world, and Europe. So, renewable is NOT cheaper.

  22. This guy's doing his part. And so is India. by smooth+wombat · · Score: 3, Informative

    The man single-handedly planted a 550 hectare forest over a period of 30 years which, oddly enough, brought back animals and even a stream to the barren land.

    He has gone on to plant another 150 hectares of land nearby.

    In 2016, India planted 50 million trees (saplings of various types) as part of its deal with the Paris Climate Accord.

    --
    We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
  23. Re:Global Greening not Warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not global warming that's happening, it's global greening.

    https://www.thegwpf.org/matt-r...

  24. CHINA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    China. As they continue to burn coal for heat in homes.

  25. Doesn't China lead in dumping plastic in ocean? by walterbyrd · · Score: 0

    I think there was an article on slashdot, not long ago, about 97% of ocean plastics coming from Africa and China?

  26. China driving species into extinction by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    Is that "green?"

    Some animals China is driving into extinction:

    - vaquita
    - pangolin
    - elephants
    - rhinoceros

    Several others.

  27. Re:China's dependent on the US for their food supp by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Little Seizures pizza is made from Chinese ingredients, too.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  28. Ecomodernists like me rejoice by alysion · · Score: 1

    Per recent review: As seen by NASA, the world is getting greener due to expansion of silviculture and intensive agriculture. China and Indiaâ"the worldâ(TM)s most populous countriesâ"are leading the increase in greening on land. The greening is anthropogenic, due to fossil-fueled industrial agriculture. Global green leaf area has increased by 5 percent since the early 2000s [arid land when irrigated turns green until ground water is exhausted or there is no fuel for pumping], an area equivalent to all of the Amazon rainforests. One-third of Earthâ(TM)s vegetated lands are greening, while only 5 percent are growing browner. Anthropocene enthusiasts and ecomodernists, like me, rejoice. Chinaâ(TM)s outsized contribution to the global greening trend comes from its programs to conserve and expand forests [aka tree farms] to produce future wood products (and incidentally reduce the effects of soil erosion, air pollution, and climate change) as well as intensification of irrigated agriculture in order to feed their large populations [for a time] using multiple cropping practices that have increased food production 35 to 40 percent since 2000 by turning fossil fuel into food to grow the economy. One interpretation of the data: âoeOnce people realize there is a problem, they tend to fix it... Humans are incredibly resilient.Thatâ(TM)s what we see in the satellite data.â Humans are fixing the world! Data needs to be interpreted, however. The interpretation is provided by the journal Nature Sustainability (pay-walled article, Feb. 2019, in pay-to-play journal launched Jan. 2018), and is one interpretation (reviewed on NASA Earth Observatory). Caveat emptor. http://www.sustainable.soltechdesigns.com/index.html#eps3

  29. Re:China's dependent on the US for their food supp by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    really?
    If so, thanx. I will avoid them.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  30. Re:China's dependent on the US for their food supp by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    Please link evidence that shows Chick-fil-a get's chicken from anywhere outside the U.S. I googled, and find nothing to support that.

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
  31. Your 'secret friends' keeping you misinformed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    as always.
    You gullible old fools will believe anything you hear. Pity there are so many others who will now do the same thing with your lies, and repeat them to the next group of gullible fools.

  32. More WindBourne lies and bullshit to hide behind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not GDP that pollutes, what idiot told you that?
    Measuring GDP in US$ is pointless masturbation anyway, it's what the countries do not how much money it costs to do it. PPP China's GDP is already higher. But it's still irrelevant, people consume things, and that's what causes the pollution.
    Americans just consume and pollute much more than other countries. It's a simple fact. Your total pollution may be smaller than some bigger countries, just like your totals may be bigger than some tiny countries. It's just more things for you to hide behind.
    Person for person, America is about the absolute worst, not the worst, but close. China and Europe are much better than you are, India puts you all to shame. But then you have to shit in the streets and have no standard of living comparable to the other mentioned countries.

  33. More lies from WindBourne by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't you ever get sick of all those lies WindBourne?
    China even now is less than half your per capita emissions. America is the one who is clearly getting worse as the numbers show. Despite being way out in front on the scale of most polluting countries, America wants to increase it's lead further, all the while apologists like you continue to blame other countries at half of or a 10th your levels.

    Like others have mentioned (and I asked you numerous times) Why is America higher than the vatican? When will you drop down to Canada's total? If all you seem to care about is totals and not levels per person. (where it matters).

  34. 30 years and they are still better than you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    30 years in the wrong direction, but they are still less than half your per person emissions...
    Either they used to be extremely clean, or you extremely dirty...

    Maybe in another 30 years, the US can be as clean as China.

  35. China is Communist. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not a mixture, it's in their name !!
    --
    WindBourne

  36. Grown for 30 years but 1/2 your per person by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They must be coming of a very low base if they are less than half Americas per person after yearly increases for 30 years...

    As you keep telling us, America is entitled to pollute so much because they have been doing it longer (30 years) and are already used to being high polluters.
    No other country is allowed to develop, only you can be so bad because 'reasons'.

  37. Typical windbourne clueless as ever. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If China is "already above the level they need to be"
    How do you continue to justify America being twice as high as China and with a service based economy that should be much less CO2 reliant?

    You really don't understand at all do you, you just troll here day in day out on any topic that comes up.

  38. Why should China drop? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When they are twice as clean as you?
    How about you drop down to their per person levels before complaining like the entitled whiny bitch you are.