by #CalWinslow in #Jacobin:

"There are many reasons to save the Tongass. The forest cools the earth, deters wildfires, cleanses the water and air, and provides shelter for hundreds of creatures, including scores of threatened species — above all, salmon.

"Then there is the sheer size of the Tongass, home to the vast numbers of old-growth trees that remain. The big, old-growth trees are highly effective at trapping climate-warming greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and storing them — the larger the tree, the more sequestered the harmful gases are. The largest trees in the Tongass, cedar and western hemlock, are extremely effective at sequestering carbon dioxide; no single forest in the US can compare."

https://jacobin.com/2023/07/north-america-tongass-national-rainforest-climate-change-carbon

#NorthAmerica #Tongass #forest #rainforest #trees #carbon #GreenhouseGases #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #ClimateChange #climate #environment