Comments on Carbon from Christine Hepburn, PhD: Remarks to Madison Council Meeting of 1/10/2022

“Christine Hepburn, Hardwick. First a big shout out to Astri. I have fond memories of the very first time she ran for Council back in prehistoric times. She has been doing amazing work ever since and I’m glad that she’ll still be involved. Mayor, thank YOU for your wonderful and wise comments at the Jan. 3rd Re-org. meeting.

And thank you to all of you for making Madison a municipal leader in so many ways. The Climate Change Strategic Planning Initiative described by Councilwoman Ehrlich is just the latest impressive thing that Madison is doing. (And I do mean impressive; I’m spending the winter in Florida where, well I won’t go further, you probably know what I mean).

Your efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions from different sources are extremely important if we are going to avoid horrible effects of climate change. And it is NOT easy, so thank you for leading the way.

There is something else that you and other towns can do that also WILL help and that is easy. And that is: Don’t cut down trees! (or allow the cutting), especially large trees. As you know, trees remove the dominant greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, from the air. They take it out of the air and store it for decades or even centuries. Trees in the United States remove 11% of our total emissions (and northeastern forests may be able to become even more effective). Not surprisingly, a lot has been written about alleviating climate change by planting trees on a mass scale. But that’s not really relevant here.

It follows, though, that one thing that all areas should do now is KEEP the TREES YOU HAVE. Keep all of the trees you can and especially trees in INTACT FORESTS.

Peer-reviewed research is clear: as trees age and grow larger they store more and more carbon. Moreover, intact forests take up the most carbon; they may store up to half of their carbon as soil carbon. One study found that intact forests held 40% more carbon than did tree plantations which have younger trees and are less diverse. Think about this. You can plant loads of new trees but if trees in intact forests are removed, their uptake of Carbon dioxide cannot be replaced by those new trees. Not in our lifetimes, not in our children’s lifetimes, and possibly not ever.

Drew Forest - you knew I’d get here - is an intact forest with some of the oldest trees in the region. If Drew University asks for rezoning in order to destroy and develop rather than to sell the forest for preservation, this carbon-removal service ALONE is reason enough to just say NO.

I’m raising a toast to a New Year with funds for Drew and the preservation of the forest.”