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