Editorial: Clean up carbon with more trees

Poems have been written about the loveliness of trees, but less so on how they serve to bolster the fight against climate change. If the planet is becoming generally warmer, as scientists say, the advantage of enlarging the islands’ tree canopy should be obvious.

But beyond that, trees actively sequester the excess of carbon in the atmosphere. That means they take in carbon dioxide as part of their food-producing photosynthesis process and emit oxygen. Less carbon in the atmosphere helps to chip away at this environmental problem, overwhelming as it is: It is plainly a boost to the general health of an ailing planet.

Senate Bill 2077, up for a public hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday in House conference room 325, is a vehicle for channeling some of this project on public and private lands throughout the state. The goal is to launch a program for the planting of “at least 1 million appropriate, non-invasive trees in the state per year.”

The intention is good, but those already engaged in this effort in the islands are worried that the campaign be both well-planned from a technical standpoint — which trees should be planted where — and unfettered by sheer bureaucratic delay. The city, for instance, has its own goal of planting 100,000 trees by 2025.

Unfortunately, bureaucratic delay is known to have crept into the process already.

Camilo Mora, an associate professor in geography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, likely was the inspiration of this bill. His own initiative, The Carbon Neutrality Challenge, led to the planting of 11,000 trees in a day in December, working with the university as well as other organizations.

Although he’s certainly aligned with the general intent of a big tree-planting push, Mora’s got his doubts about the state hitting the 1-million mark each year. His own effort to work with government on increasing the “urban forest” has met with some frustration, including long meetings with little progress, he said.

SB 2077 would seat the tree-planting challenge within the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. The agency is supportive of the goal, but its chairperson, Suzanne Case, testified that the bill should not supplant administrative budget priorities.

One amendment successfully sought by DLNR, the nonprofit Trees for Honolulu’s Future (TFHF) and others is that the plantings should not be uniquely native species but “appropriate, non-invasive trees.” In 2018, TFHF came up with its own strategic plan to boost reforestation efforts through 2022.

“Our point is that not all planting locations are appropriate for native trees,” said its president, Daniel Dinell.

Rightly, the Senate’s Committee on Ways and Means went along with that, asserting that preference “shall be given to native trees where appropriate.”

There is little disagreement that, as Case put it, “trees are our strongest allies for addressing the climate crisis.” She added that to reach the proposed scale of planting, it must involve all land-management agencies in partnerships with private and community groups.

DLNR “anticipates needing additional personnel resources and operational funds.” Whatever funds are set aside for this project should be keyed to adequate technical planning to ensure optimal survival rates for the saplings. Success will require the help of arborists and other experts, and not an unspecified boost in staffing. Plus volunteers, wanting to help mitigate climate change.

Globally, tree-planting is seen as among the cheapest and most potent method for removing carbon from the atmosphere.

“We need to start treating this seriously,” Mora said.

Indeed, Hawaii needs to play its part.