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Trees & Forests & You
Ten Carbon Questions
We know trees store carbon.
We know there are a lot of trucks on
Vancouver Island, but there are even
more trees.
Question of the night? On a well-
forested Vancouver Island, how many
of us could continue to live as we do
now
and still have the entire Island
considered carbon neutral?
Question ONE
HOW MANY PEOPLE?
LESS THAN 500,000
500,000 to 1,000,000
UP TO 2,000,000
UP TO 3,000,000
EXACTLY ______ Remember your
answer.
Question
Two
How many acres do YOU need to
offset your own GHG
emissions?
How much carbon dioxide
does ONE mature
tree absorb in a year?
40 Lbs of CO2 absorbed per tree
We can argue, but we have
chosen 40 lbs as a fairly
common response.
That does not sound like much,
but 27% of CO2 is carbon and
40% of a tree is carbon.
So it adds up quickly. A 32” fir
log 22 feet long can weigh
4,000 lbs.
Question
Three
How many of such trees can
you grow in one acre?
Douglas Fir.
How many trees per acre?
For mature Douglas Fir:
We use 200 trees per acre.
Remember, a single big tree can
sequester the same amount of
new carbon in a year as might
be contained in an entire mid-
sized tree.
Question
Four
Getting personal now. How many
tonnes of CO2 are YOU
responsible for?
How many tonnes?
We use 24 tonnes. Direct &
Indirect.
This is: total Canadian GHG
emissions DIVIDED BY
Canadian population. Lots of
GHG is
Indirect.
Question Five. The gist.
How many acres do YOU need to
sequester
YOUR
Carbon
Dioxide?
How many acres?
You need 24 tonnes
sequestered/.
1 acre sequesters (40 * 200) or
8,000 lbs which (divided by
2,200) is 3.64 tonnes.
24/3.64.
YOU need 6.6 acres of Douglas
Fir.
Question Six.
What would that cost you?
What would that cost you?
Near Victoria: AT LEAST
$500,000.
South half of island. $24,000 to
$30,000.
North half of island. Quite a bit
less. $15,000 after it has been
clear cut?
Question Seven. Square
Miles.
How Big is Vancouver Island?
Green!
How Big?
12,407 Square Miles. (*640) is 7,940,000 acres. 8,000,000 to remember.
Population now 751,776. Say, 750 thousand people with 8,000,000 acres. Looks OK. Over 10 acres each.
But, how green is our Island?
Question Eight.
How many acres of mature Fir?
Forestable acres?
8,000,000 acres. Let's say 50% is now
somewhat forested: not bogs,
clearcuts, roads, towns, peaks,
lakes, rivers, farm etc. So 4,000,000
acres growing the trees we need.
We are 750,000.
Question Nine. And One.
How many acres do WE need to
sequester
OUR Carbon Dioxide?
Population:
750,000.
600,0004,000,000 acres is our target level.
Population now is 750,000. Each
person needs 6.6 acres .
We are short
950,000 acres. So
600,000
could stay. [606,061]
Question Ten.
How many people need to leave
if we want to make the Island
carbon neutral and yet still
keep living
the way we
do now?
150,000
Unless we change, we need almost
5,000,000 forested acres for the
existing population. We are short
almost a million fir-growing
acres.
600,000 could
stay.
150,000 would
need to leave.145,715
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