Dear Readers; Dr. Harley at the National Center for Atmospheric Research has said that many hardwood species are huge emitters of hydrocarbons (see below). This supports President Reagan's statement that "Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation,...." Since the volume of hardwoods in Alabama has increased by 85 percent since 1952, I assume the emission of hydrocarbons by hardwoods has also increased by 85%. If a few sweetgum and sycamore trees cause air quality problems in cities in California, how much air pollution would 57 million cubic meters cause in Alabama? Dr. Harley asked for data on acreage of plantations in the world. The last world-wide figure I have was about 130 million ha. If anyone has other data on plantation area to share, please email Dr. Harley directly since he is not on this listserver (harley@acd.ucar.edu). At 03:43 PM 5/23/97 -0600, you wrote: >Dear Dr. South, > I stumbled on an old web page of yours taking issue with estimates of >hardwood plantations in Alabama, in which you mentioned the growing >number of non-coniferous monoculture stands (sycamore, sweetgum, etc) in >Alabama. I'm at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (Boulder, >CO) studying the effects of hydrocarbon emissions >(isoprene/monoterpenes, etc) on atmospheric chemistry (including ozone >formation), and I'm interested in the potential impact of these large >monocultures, which seem to be arising all over. Curiously, many of the >species being planted, including sycamore, sweetgum, poplar in the Lake >States and Washington, eucalyptus elsewhere, are all huge emitters of >these hydrocarbons. California, for example, is discouraing individuals >and municipalities from using sweetgum, sycamore, etc. as street >plantings. Anyhow, the reason I'm contacting you is to ask if you have >any idea where I might find estimates of the amount of acreage under >these monoculture plantations, in Alabama, the south in general, or >country- or world-wide. Any help would be greatly appreciated. >Thanks, > Peter Harley >********** >Dr. Peter Harley >NCAR >1850 Table Mesa Dr. >Boulder, CO 80307-3000 >harley@acd.ucar.edu >Ph. 303-497-1863 >Fax 303-497-1477 > > David South School of Forestry Auburn University, AL 36849-5418 dsouth@forestry.auburn.edu 334-844-1022 334-844-1084 (FAX) As always, views expressed here are my own (and I am not speaking on the behalf of others). I use only 100% post-consumer paper in my home printer. (discarded used office paper printed on one side) http://www.forestry.auburn.edu/coops/sfnmc/sfnmc.html ========================================================================= The world population is expected to double by the year 2100. Therefore the annual demand for wood for energy (etc.) will increase and might double (to more than 7 billion m3/yr). To provide plantation wood for people in the future, support the planting of trees on pastureland. Set a goal of converting 8 million ha of pastureland/yr for the next 55 years. This would increase tree plantations to about 5% of the world's landbase. ========================================================================= Support Zero Population Growth for the United States http://www.igc.apc.org/zpg/index.html
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