MessageToEagle.com – Ancient Sequoias are giant very old trees that were once believed to be vulnerable to drought and fire.
Scientists are attempting to clone and replant them all over the world to absorb greenhouse gases.
The initiative to clone the trees has been taken by the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, a group of largely volunteer arborists and tree climbers who collect genetic samples from trees, clone them, and then plant them around the world as “a global warming solution.”
“It’s really a race against time. , If we start right now, we can go after climate change and reverse it before it’s too late ,” David Milarch co-founder of the project said.
Many think that planting more trees is a good way to absorb carbon and combat climate change across the world and similar project are undertaken in many countries. Some scientists have suggested that artificial trees could absorb carbon dioxide 1,000 times more effective than a regular tree, but of course this is not the same.
In the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, 800,000 volunteers helped plant 50 million trees, hoping to shatter a world record and help their country deal with climate change.
Norway’s parliament has set a national target to be carbon neutral by 2030, meaning the nation’s net carbon footprint would be reduced to zero over the next 14 years.
The parliament made a sweeping move against deforestation, committing the government to only contract within deforestation-free supply chains. There were also reports at the start of June that gas and diesel cars would no longer be sold in Norway by 2025. This is a move that would increase the prevalence of electric vehicles, which already make up nearly a quarter of the nation’s new car sales.
However, collecting samples from ancient sequoia trees to then clone them in a lab and replant them throughout the world is a long project that requires great attention to detail.
The ancient the sequoia is native only to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The Archangel Ancient Tree Archive group says that the genetics of these trees, which grow to be some 300 feet tall and 3,000 years old, may make them particularly suited to withstand and push back against climate change.
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On a recent trip to California’s Sierra Nevada region, a volunteer group of about a dozen expert tree climbers scaled the area’s massive sequoias and redwoods to collect samples from new growths. The samples were then transported back to the Archangel lab in Copemish, Mich., where they were snipped into roughly 2,000 shoots and 1,000 pieces of greenery and placed into jars with mixtures of peat and gel, and gel and growth hormones, respectively.
The samples were then placed in a lab with carefully maintained conditions to stimulate growth, but certainly not all will make it. The team hopes to return west later this year with up to 1,000 sequoia and redwood saplings to plant in Oregon.
“It’s a biological miracle,” said tree climber Jim Clark, who collected samples on the recent trip and transported them from California back to Michigan. “This piece of tissue … can be rooted, and we have a miniature 3,000-year-old tree.”
Researchers continue to uncover how these trees function and utilize water, the jury remains out on whether the massive sequoias and their relatives will prove adept at combating climate change – either for themselves or with an impact on the bigger picture.
However, some experts feel that the work being done to spread these trees is progress in and of itself.
“It may be a drop in the bucket, but at least somebody’s doing something,” horticulture consultant Bill Werner, who has worked with the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive said.
MessageToEagle.com