Earth's trees number 'three trillion'

[Anomalocaris]

There are just over three trillion trees on Earth, according to a new assessment

The figure is eight times as big as the previous best estimate, which counted perhaps 400 billion at most.

It has been produced by Thomas Crowther from Yale University, and colleagues, who combined a mass of ground survey data with satellite pictures.

The team tells the journal Nature that the new total represents upwards of 420 trees for every person on the planet.

The more refined number will now form a baseline for a wide range of research applications - everything from studies that consider animal and plant habitats for biodiversity reasons, to new models of the climate, because it is trees of course that play an important role in removing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

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[Sir Wearer of Hats]

Tree trillion surely....

In less flippant news ruddy hell.

[godnodog]

Anytime someone asks me to guess a umber that either is way too big or surprisingly low, I always say "more than 2?"

[Doug1029]

Is that three trillion seedlings, three trillion five-log pines, or something else? A number by itself doesn't say much.

Doug

[questionmark]

well, sounds like 'one hell offa number'... that is about 1/3 of what used to be there before the metallurgic revolution....

[bubblykiss]

Prefect my tooth pick factories will require 4 trillion trees this year.

So what now? Bamboo?

[ExpandMyMind]

There are just over three trillion trees on Earth, according to a new assessment

Treés bien.

Edited September 3, 2015 by ExpandMyMind

[PrisonerX]

We still nearly halved it. Tell me the decline is leveling out and maybe I'll begin to get excited.

Edited September 3, 2015 by PrisonerX

[Doug1029]

Prefect my tooth pick factories will require 4 trillion trees this year.

So what now? Bamboo?

There's a factory in New Mexico that manufactures chop sticks for the Japanese fast food industry. Use them once and throw them away. Three million board feet of aspen each year.

Doug

We still nearly halved it. Tell me the decline is leveling out and maybe I'll begin to get excited.

In the US the decline has reversed. We are now gaining forest land. As for the rest of the world: I don't know.

Doug

[freetoroam]

Why do they have to go and advertise this? I can see the property developers rubbing their hands at this kind of news and the councils using this as a reason to grant planning permission.

Some things are best kept quiet!

[Mikko-kun]

The title should had been "half trees off in 10k years", that's not small. For every house and road you gotta cut em, also for every domesticated cattle animal used to nourish us people. We're pretty unique species in that, needing so much trees to be cut to live what we consider a "life worth living". Lol it's easy to live in the forest, try it for 100 days with proper instructions in a good area and I guarantee you'll get used to it. Save rent = eat more & better, afford what you want more. Save car expenses = same thing.

So is it one half or one third or one fourth or what before civilization began?

[paperdyer]

There's a factory in New Mexico that manufactures chop sticks for the Japanese fast food industry. Use them once and throw them away. Three million board feet of aspen each year.

Doug

In the US the decline has reversed. We are now gaining forest land. As for the rest of the world: I don't know.

Doug

Paper mills in the US and most of the world plant way more trees than what is cut these days. More and more pulps are produced from southern sources as trees grow faster in warm southern regions. Eucalyptus is being exported from South America to the US to produce paper. The tree grows so fast that it's almost an endless supply. There's still a lot of waste, like the aforementioned disposable chopsticks. There is actually a shortage of quality waste paper to recycle into writing and tissue grades due to less printed materials being used. The cost of waste paper is almost as much as virgin pulp. With the demand for recycled grades increasing and new paper mills being built to produce toilet and facial tissue from waste papers, it's going to get interesting. So the next time you think about throwing some junk mail or other type of printed paper away, consider recycling it instead.

[Doc Socks Junior]

Following almost all of the collected data sources, we define a tree as a plant with woody stems larger than 10 cm diameter at breast height (DBH)

Looks like they're following some sort of standard in the literature as regards tree science. I wouldn't know, not a tree scientist myself. And only plus/minus .096 trillion. Precision.

Edited September 3, 2015 by socrates.junior

[paperdyer]

Why do they have to go and advertise this? I can see the property developers rubbing their hands at this kind of news and the councils using this as a reason to grant planning permission.

Some things are best kept quiet!

Well most of the wood in house these days is "strand board" made from wood pieces and polymers. There isn't much plywood used anymore. The support beams are still virgin wood. In commercial buildings metal 2 X 4 studs are used for inside walls as they are lighter and stronger than wood. The studs aren't solid. That's where the weight advantage comes from. The metal studs can also be recycled more easily when a remodeling of an office area is wanted. You also don't have to worry about rotting either if the roof leaks (A constant problem where I work. No matter how much money is spent on roof repairs the rain always finds a way in). On a happy note to that. The roof leaks help to keep my son-in-law employeed. He works for a major producer of ceiling and florring product.

[paperdyer]

The title should had been "half trees off in 10k years", that's not small. For every house and road you gotta cut em, also for every domesticated cattle animal used to nourish us people. We're pretty unique species in that, needing so much trees to be cut to live what we consider a "life worth living". Lol it's easy to live in the forest, try it for 100 days with proper instructions in a good area and I guarantee you'll get used to it. Save rent = eat more & better, afford what you want more. Save car expenses = same thing.

So is it one half or one third or one fourth or what before civilization began?

I take it you're using leaves instead of toilet paper and are able to walk to work, cook over a wood stove or camp fire... you get the picture. and light your abode with candles and oil lamps. Wash in a creek...you get the picture.

[Doug1029]

Paper mills in the US and most of the world plant way more trees than what is cut these days. More and more pulps are produced from southern sources as trees grow faster in warm southern regions. Eucalyptus is being exported from South America to the US to produce paper. The tree grows so fast that it's almost an endless supply. There's still a lot of waste, like the aforementioned disposable chopsticks. There is actually a shortage of quality waste paper to recycle into writing and tissue grades due to less printed materials being used. The cost of waste paper is almost as much as virgin pulp. With the demand for recycled grades increasing and new paper mills being built to produce toilet and facial tissue from waste papers, it's going to get interesting. So the next time you think about throwing some junk mail or other type of printed paper away, consider recycling it instead.

US paper mills obtain a lot of their fiber from sawmill waste, chipped edgings, slabs and so on. This material has already been "used" once and is already recycled when it reaches the paper mill.

Envelopes would be easier to recycle without those little plastic windows.

Doug

[Doug1029]

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Looks like they're following some sort of standard in the literature as regards tree science. I wouldn't know, not a tree scientist myself. And only plus/minus .096 trillion. Precision.

10 cm. About 4 inches. In the US DBH is diameter at 54" above the ground on the high side. Elsewhere, it's 1.5 meters.

There's still a lot of difference between a four-inch tree and a 20-inch tree. The distribution of tree diameters is skewed along a Weibull curve. A more meaningful number would be tons of trees or tons of biomass.

Doug

[paperdyer]

US paper mills obtain a lot of their fiber from sawmill waste, chipped edgings, slabs and so on. This material has already been "used" once and is already recycled when it reaches the paper mill.

Envelopes would be easier to recycle without those little plastic windows.

Doug

No need to worry about that. There is technology in place that removes the plastic from the machine systems. Feel free to recycle te envelopes.

Yes there are pulps made from sawdust. This is a very low grade fiber used in newspapers and similar items. Quality pulp is produced from aged wood chips made from debarked logs. Using the sawdust and scraps doesn't constitute recycling in the eyes of the law. For paper to be considered recycled it must be "post consumer waste" like photo copies and envelopes. Any recycling done with mill produced waste or "broke", doesn't count toward the recycled classification..

[Athena1979]

I often wonder why we don't save more of the good wood from buildings that are demo-ed. I know that people love the reclaimed wood from barns. But there's a lot that goes to waste from an old house that's torn down. I know it takes more time to sort old wood from a building, but a person could sell it to recoup costs for time and labor.

[Doug1029]

I often wonder why we don't save more of the good wood from buildings that are demo-ed. I know that people love the reclaimed wood from barns. But there's a lot that goes to waste from an old house that's torn down. I know it takes more time to sort old wood from a building, but a person could sell it to recoup costs for time and labor.

There's even a Federal program that gives you a tax break for reusing wood from an old building.

Doug

[regeneratia]

I don't think they counted all the volunteer trees coming up in my yard. Nor the hundreds of new ones in my shelterbelt.

[godnodog]

No need to worry about that. There is technology in place that removes the plastic from the machine systems. Feel free to recycle te envelopes.

Awesome, I always hated to cut the plastic in the envelops, now I can sleep at night.

[taniwha]

Sneaky trees, just when you thought they were endangered...now this!

[qxcontinuum]

right ...lets cut more and make **** paper

Edited September 4, 2015 by qxcontinuum

[Harte]

There are still three trillion trees on Earth

Good God! We ain't makin' no progress at all!

Git yer axes, boys!

Harte