Trees May Stop Absorbing Greenhouse Gases
Plenty of people are fine with blaming strange environmental events and changes on global warming — which, to be fair, is probably accurate. There are plenty of unknowns surrounding the phenomenon, and the same goes for anything that might happen in the future. That still won’t stop scientists from trying to predict what comes next, even if it is dire news.
Studies run by an international team have taken a close look at trees over the past several decades. Based on their data — gained from trees all over the world, no less — they found that leaves closer to the present sprouted earlier less often. The projections lead to some believing that at some point, trees will stop sprouting their leaves altogether, or at least refuse to let them come out on normal time frames. It’s a measure to protect the plants, but it won’t help the situation at all.
Trees are beneficial because they suck greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide chief among them — out of the air, and convert them into oxygen. If they suddenly decided to give that up, then it would only help contribute to global warming — and create a vicious cycle where plants try to protect themselves from a poor climate. In the worst-case scenario, the planet may end up losing a precious lifeline.
