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The cost of global warming and the benefits we've reaped from its cause (cheap power) are both a significant fraction of world GDP. Planting 160 trees per perso
by jessriedel 8y ago
The cost of global warming and the benefits we've reaped from its cause (cheap power) are both a significant fraction of world GDP. Planting 160 trees per person would be cheap, and even easily do-able by an individual in a few weekends (though it's obviously way more efficient to hire specialists to do it en mass).
The total suitable land area needed (more than the area of the USA, by my estimate) is much more likely to be the limiting factor than the per-person difficulty.
- 14 8y agoI dislike the US prison system but perhaps we could use prisoners to do it. They could plant hundreds If not thousands within a sentence and one day return to visit the forest they planted.
- lyxsus1 8y agoI like how we instinctively turn to slavery when there's a grand project that becomes vital.
- Aeolun 8y agoAll the grand projects of the past few centuries were based on it. Why change a winning strategy?
- lyxsus1 8y agoWell, we have better means for automation now. But I'm just fascinated how quickly that solution pops up in such discussions as soon as it's convenient.
- lamarpye 8y agoI like how we instinctively characterize prisoners as slaves. Seems like it trivializes actual slavery, but I have been out of school for awhile, so the conventional wisdom is probably different now.
- lyxsus1 8y agoIf you don't see labour camps as a form of modern slavery, then I'm genuinely asking you to provide the definition you've learned back at school.
- jessriedel 8y agoTraditionally, prison labor is considered distinct from slavery for the same reason that prison is considered distinct from kidnapping and forced confinement: that it reflects just punishment for which someone is duly convicted. Whether that actually applies to most people in prison today is certainly up for debate, but to tell you'd mostly need to look at the judicial system (or society at large), not at the work camp.
- Invictus0 8y agoInmates already volunteer to do forestry work including firefighting. This has been going on for decades and isn't all that controversial. Expanding to planting trees shouldn't be too difficult. https://www.npr.org/2018/11/18/669088658/serving-time-and-fighting-california-wildfires-for-2-a-day https://www.npr.org/2018/11/18/669088658/serving-time-and-fi...