web | https://www.alternet.org/2015/09/earth-has-lost-half-its-trees-dawn-civilization/ |
doc-title | Earth Has Lost Half of Its Trees Since Dawn of Civilization |
author | Tim Radford |
publication | Climate News Network |
date | 2015-09-04 |
quote | Trees create and hold soil, forests become “sponges” that conserve and recycle water, and trees and forests between them sustain most terrestrial life ... They also play a vital role in the management of the atmosphere, as absorbers of carbon dioxide. ... “Trees are among the most prominent and critical organisms on Earth ...” says Thomas Crowther, an ecologist at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies ... But ... the fact remains that the tree cover has fallen by 46% since the end of the last Ice Age. As human populations have grown, more and more forests have been cleared, and humans now fell or burn 15 billion trees a year. |
source | Climate News Network article |
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