To the Editor:
Re “Forests Won’t Save Us From Climate Change,” by David Wallace-Wells (Opinion, Sept. 9):
This article is an example of misleading messaging that distorts complex issues into something overly simplistic and provocative. Forests are critical in the fight against climate change!
Despite major investments in carbon capture technologies, vast tracts of trees remain the only effective, scalable way to capture and store massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Blaming forests for the carbon released from wildfires is like blaming homeowners for the 2007 real estate crisis.
Trees “breathe in” carbon dioxide and provide us oxygen in return, all while storing carbon in their tissues. Enemies? Hardly. We cannot survive without them. Now they are among the frontline victims of climate change, and it’s up to us to take care of them.
Excellent examples lie to the north, where Indigenous governments and organizations across the Boreal Forest of Canada are advancing the world’s most significant conservation proposals for their traditional territories.
