In the fight against climate change, some of our best assets are ones that we’ve had the longest time and cost nothing. They are big, green, grand, and have been here longer than the country itself. They are trees, and they are “our planet’s lungs,” which is how US President Joe Biden put it when signed an executive order to bolster the protection of national old-growth forests.
The world needs its forests to absorb and recycle as much atmospheric CO2 as possible. To that end, preserving the oldest forests in the world, such as those in the American Northwest, is of the utmost importance.
President Biden’s executive order is definitely a step in the right direction. Under this order, the first inventory of old-growth forests on federal lands will be created. It also calls for the growth of reforestation efforts and establishing partnerships to grow forests on private lands.
“Our forests are our planet’s lungs. They literally are recycling and cycling CO2 out of the atmosphere; that’s what they do,” Biden said during a speech in Seattle on the US west coast.
The president also announced a plan to plant 1.2 billion trees across the United States, which he said would “begin the vital work of reforesting in America.”
The US president went on to say that the planting and preserving of trees would not just focus on open countryside. Cities and towns will be key spots for the planting of trees and the further development of urban green spaces.