VOA慢速英语--Are Forests an Answer to Carbon Pollution?

 

Burning coal for energy adds planet-warming carbon dioxide, or CO2, to Earth’s atmosphere. As the planet heats up, experts warn that simply cutting greenhouse gas emissions¹ will not be enough to avoid possibly disastrous² levels of global warming.

CO2 must also be removed from the atmosphere, they say.

Existing experimental machines that pull CO2 directly from the air are too costly³ to be widely used.

But a new report from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine says effective carbon-removal technology already exists.

It is not costly, or even complex science. It is forests.

The report explains that planting trees and overseeing forests are cost-effective ways to clean the air. They also work well across large areas.

Forests used to cover large areas of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. In the state of West Virginia, a kind of mining known as strip mining left the land there bare, without trees. Now experts are working to bring back the forests that once covered much of the state.

West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest is home to a rare group of trees. They are called virgin⁴ woods; they have never been touched by humans.

Shane Jones is a biologist with the U.S. Forest Service.

"Living in the East, there's not many places you can go and be untouched by Man."

Jones says the trees there were missed by mistake when the surrounding forest was cut down for wood many years ago.

That mistake turned out to be a good thing; red spruce forests such as those in the Monongahela are great at taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and locking it into the soil.

Jones explains as he runs his hand through the dark black earth beside a tree.

"See all that organic material? It's black because it's incredibly high in carbon."

Over the years, coal mining and cutting forests took over 90 percent of the red spruce forests from the Appalachian Mountains.

Now, as the planet warms, the need for forests to remove coal’s CO2 is increasingly urgent.

Chris Barton works for the University of Kentucky. As he walks along the Appalachian land, he says the needs of warm-weather rainforests get most of the world’s attention.

"But here in the temperate⁵ region of the world, in Appalachia, four hours away from Washington, D.C., we have billions of trees that potentially we could be planting."

So, Barton started a group called Green Forests Work. Its members aim to put trees back on the roughly 400,000 hectares of land that was cleared away by strip mining.

However, Barton explains, the land has problems.

"If you went out and planted trees on these sites, they just didn't grow. The ground was way too compacted. Water didn't infiltrate⁶. Roots can't penetrate⁷. Oxygen can't circulate in those environments."

The solution? Using heavy equipment, workers tear up the ground. The process lets the trees they plant put down roots.

Barton says not everyone believes the solution is a good idea.

"We've had a lot of people kinda look at us twice. But the really interesting thing about it is, after we do it, there's no question that that was the right thing to do."

And it has worked. Forests are coming back to the grounds.

Scientists say that, in West Virginia alone, restoring red spruce forests to the area could send what is equal to 56 million barrels of oil into the ground. But it will take time. A long time.

Around the world, experts say, nature offers powerful tools to fight climate change. But patience is needed, Jones says.

"It's really awesome⁸ to see a tree planted eight years ago that's now waist high. But at the end of the day, at the end of my day, we're barely getting started. Because our main goal with the restoration work that we do here is to basically take actions to then let nature take over."

Nature works, but slowly, in its own time.

I’m Anne Ball.

Words in This Story

greenhouse gas emissions – n. gases that come out of cars and factories, etc. that trap heat in the atmosphere and great a warming of the planet

global – adj. of, relating to or involving the entire world

temperate – adj. moderate climate that lacks extremes

compacted – adj. having a dense⁹ structure or parts closely packed together

infiltrate – v. to pass through

penetrate – v. to gain entrance to, or pass into

awesome – adj. causing feeling of fear and wonderful, extremely good

1 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

2 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

5 temperate   

adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的

参考例句：

• Asia extends across the frigid,temperate and tropical zones.亚洲地跨寒、温、热三带。
• Great Britain has a temperate climate.英国气候温和。

6 infiltrate   

vt./vi.渗入，透过；浸润

参考例句：

• The teacher tried to infiltrate her ideas into the children's minds.老师设法把她的思想渗透到孩子们的心中。
• It can infiltrate as much as 100 kilometers into enemy territory at night.可以在夜间深入敌领土100千米。

7 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。

8 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

9 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。