Suggested Topics for Misconceptions and Confusions
Assumption or Confusion about
climate
More Adequate Conception
Weather anomalies can be used to
prove or disprove climate change.
Weather describes the atmospheric conditions at a specific place at a
specific point in time. Weather is related to, but is not the same thing,
as climate. Climate is the average weather conditions in a particular
location or region at a particular time of the year. Climate is typically
measured in long increments of time, at the very least 30 years.
Therefore, evidence of climate change is best assessed through longterm alterations to temperature, precipitation, and other climate
factors—not through single weather events, such as a heat wave or a
blizzard.
Carbon dioxide makes up a small
percent of the total gases in our
atmosphere. We are not adding
enough carbon dioxide to change the
climate system.
There are several atmospheric gases, and many do not trap heat.
Greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, occur naturally in small
amounts, but they are very efficient at absorbing heat energy. This
allows a small change in carbon dioxide to have large impacts on the
climate system.
The carbon dioxide that humans add to
the atmosphere through fossil fuel
combustion increases the total amount
of carbon on Earth, which is throwing
the carbon cycle out of balance.
Carbon naturally cycles through biological, physical, and geological
systems over time. The amount of carbon on Earth is stable. Human
activities are transferring carbon that is stored in plants of fossil fuels
to the atmosphere, at a faster rate than would naturally occur.
If climate changes, forests can just
move to the right spot
While migration is a reasonable possibility for some species, others will
be constrained by interstates, cities, farms, and changes in the
landscape which prevent forests from growing to maturity. There are
no guarantees that all of the organisms that make a functional forest
(fungi, insects, etc.) will migrate together. More likely is that trees on
the edge of their range will be stressed, and trees that do well in the
new climate will thrive within the areas where they are currently
growing.
(Table Rows 1-3 adapted from CIRES, 2012)
Assumption or Confusion about the
Climate Future
More Adequate Conception
We can completely reverse or solve climate
change with the right solutions.
The solutions we implement today can lessen, but not completely
stop, climate change and its impacts.
If we can implement climate change
mitigation strategies, we don’t need to
worry about adapting to projected changes.
OR
If we focus on how to adapt to project
Solutions should consider both mitigation and adaptation
strategies so that we can reduce climate change impacts as much
as possible and prepare for projected changes that cannot be
avoided.
climate changes, we don’t need to change
our behaviors using mitigation strategies.
Assumption or Confusion
about Forest
Management
More Adequate Conception
Nature knows best. Leaving
forests alone is the best way
for them to grow.
There are many advantages to wild, natural forests. People’s enjoyment of and
interaction with these forests may affect them, however, whether we intend to
or not. Some people believe we have an obligation to counterbalance the effects
we create by careful management. In addition, If landowners wish to maximize
certain components of their forest, such as recreational trails or timber, the
forest can better meet those objectives with management. Dead trees next to
parking lots could be removed for safety. Seedlings with superior genes can be
planted. In the face of climate change, natural evolution may not be able to
accommodate the potential changes.
Foresters know best. Trained
professionals can determine
how to make any property
profitable.
Professional foresters and researchers have many solutions to increasing the
growth of trees and making forests more profitable and improving the forest for
other objectives, too. In some areas, such as where soil nutrients are depleted,
management may help, but still not overcome severe problems. As climate
varies, however, changes such as insect pests, exotic diseases, hurricanes,
drought, and flood will make it challenging for the best foresters to predict the
best management plan. Helping the forest resist problems and flourish despite
the changes may be the best solution.
Forests are here for
everyone.
The forested landscape provides many ecosystem services that everyone benefits
from, such as improved air quality, groundwater recharge, and biodiversity. Many
forests in the Southeast are privately owned, however, and those landowners
determine how to manage their forest. They may want a patch of wild nature for
their family or steady income from harvesting timber. The United States does not
have a legal mechanism for managing private property unless the landowners
have entered their property in a land trust or conservation easement.
Genetically modified
organisms are evil.
Farmers have been selecting the best plants and domestic animals for breeding
for thousands of years. Forest and horticultural geneticists also use traditional
plant breeding methods to select traits, fertilize cones with selected pollen, and
save the seedlings with the best form, fastest growth, and resistance to insects
and disease. All of the crops that provide food for millions of people and many of
the trees planted in urban areas have been grown from selected varieties and
seeds. A plant with genes inserted from another species is known as a genetically
modified organism (GMO) and is very strictly regulated and tested before release
to the general public. Examples of GMO plants include Round-up® ready
soybeans and Bt-insect resistant corn that makes up almost all of the commercial
production for those crops in the USA. GMO methodology has not yet been
applied to commercially available native pines. It can be applied very quickly and
may be the only practical way to introduce resistance to introduced diseases for
which the host has no natural tolerance.
Assumption or Confusion about Carbon
More Adequate Conception
Plants either do not respire, or if they do, they only
respire in the dark (Haslam and Treagust, 1987).
Plants constantly break down sugar molecules—
even to provide the energy needed for
photosynthesis.
Oxygen is needed for animals, whereas carbon dioxide is
needed by plants (Anderson et al., 1990).
Oxygen in the form of water is critical to plant life.
Gases are not matter or they don’t have mass (Benson et
al., 1993).
Anything that has matter has mass. Frozen,
compressed carbon dioxide is dry ice and has mass.
A gas has mass, too, just a lot less.
Food that is broken down in respiration leaves an
animal’s body entirely by urine and feces (Wilson et al.,
2006)
The carbon may also leave an animal through sweat
and exhalation.
Respiration produces energy, rather than converts energy
(Gayford, 1986).
Respiration converts energy from one form to
another.
Energy is used up during biological processes (Wilson et
al., 2006).
Energy cycles. “Used” energy becomes waste heat.
Gases such as carbon dioxide lack sufficient mass to lead
to the development of dry biomass in plants. Plants get
mass from the soil (Driver et al., 1994)
By removing carbon from carbon dioxide and gluing
carbon atoms together, plants create biomass from
a gas and water.
(Table adapted from Hartley, Wilke, Schramm, D’Avanzo, & Anderson, 2011)
Assumption or
Confusion about Life
Cycle Assessment
More Adequate Conception
Recycled is another word
for renewable resources.
Recycled means that the product was returned to a pre-production state and used
to make new products. Glass is melted down and paper is re-pulped. Renewable
means the original ingredients of the product are from capable of reproducing or
reforming, such as deer, trees, and soil. Resources that are not renewable are in
limited supply, such as minerals. Plastic bottles made from petroleum are recyclable
but not from a renewable resource.
Life cycle assessment is
easy to do on any product.
The more ingredients a product has, the more difficult it is to determine the impact
of every ingredient. Everyday products, like a cell phone, are comprised of dozens of
different materials and parts, which can each have a separate path of production.
Some production processes are proprietary information and not available to curious
consumers. While everything has some level of environmental impact, it is often
difficult to know what it is.
The way a product is
produced represents the
largest impacts of a
product’s life cycle.
The materials and energy needed to make a product may represent larger impacts
than other stages of the life cycle, but this is not always the case. For example, with
cotton clothing, the amount of energy consumed to wash the article with hot water
and to dry the article can be more than the energy used during production.
Life cycle assessment can
tell us which product is
better.
Determining ‘better’ is often difficult because there is not a direct comparison
between impacts (even if they are all quantifiable). Which is worse, water pollution
or climate change? Using a nonrenewable feedstock for a product that lasts 50
years, or using a disposable and renewable material? Such questions are the
essence of interesting debate and often decided with values, not science.
All products are made the
same way.
People can tell the difference between different brands of ice cream because they
have different ingredients and may be made in a different manner. The same may
be true for various brands of anything. This makes life cycle analysis difficult, since
brands may be produced differently.