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From Greta Thunberg to Donald Trump and airlines to oil companies, everyone is suddenly going crazy for trees.
The UK government has pledged to plant millions a year while other countries have schemes running into billions.
But are these grand ambitions achievable? How much carbon dioxide do trees really pull in from the atmosphere? And what happens to a forest, planted amid a fanfare, over the following decades?
Climate change: Will planting millions of trees really save the planet? by David Shukman, BBC News, Mar 14, 2020
One positive takeaway from the world’s response to the coronavirus epidemic is that it’s entirely possible to successfully combat two other existential and intertwined global crises: climate change and air pollution. But “possible” doesn’t mean “probable.”
The European Space Agency (ESA) has produced a remarkable new video using data gathered from their Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, which specifically tracks atmospheric air pollution. The images reveal a sharp and sudden decrease in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over Italy from January to mid-February, which scientists believe is tied to the reduction in human activity in the nation due to the coronavirus outbreak. Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte ordered a lockdown across northern Italy on March 8 to try to contain the disease caused by the virus, COVID-19.
High concentrations of NO2, a highly reactive gas that forms from vehicle emissions and power plants, can harm the respiratory systems of humans and animals, aggravating respiratory diseases like asthma and increasing the risk of respiratory infection. NO2 can also reduce plant growth and even cause acid rain.
The Coronavirus Pandemic Proves That We Can Overcome the Climate Crisis—If We Want To, Opinion by Martina Moneke, Truthdig, Mar 14, 2020
Hat tip to the Stop Climate Science Denial Facebook page.
CLAIM: "Sea level rise has been slow and a constant, pre-dating industrialization"
VERDICT: 
SOURCE: New study shows sea level rise has been slow and a constant, pre-dating industrialization by Thomas Lifson, American Thinker, Mar 7, 2020
KEY TAKEAWAY: Sea levels have risen at increased pace since industrialization, with the fastest rates of sea level rise occurring in the late 20th century. At local geographic regions, sea levels can rise faster or slower than the global average, and in the past, these local variations might have been large in magnitude. However, at the global scale, sea levels are rising at an accelerated rate due to human-induced global warming.
Sea levels rose faster in the past century than in previous time periods, Edited by Nikki Forrester, Climate Feedback, Mar 12, 2020
Posted by John Hartz on Sunday, 15 March, 2020
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