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Gets my vote. I love woodland and can't bear the empty, desolate green spaces that cover most of the UK, and which many British people consider to be 'nature'.

Gets my vote. I love woodland and can't bear the empty, desolate green spaces that cover most of the UK, and which many British people consider to be 'nature'. And here's an idea: process the wood into a form that can be used for land reclamation without decomposing, cover said land with topsoil, grow trees on said land. Voila: a buffer against worsening coastal erosion due to sea level rise, that also locks in carbon in terms of the trees used to build the footing, and moreover provides extra land for growing trees and locking in even more carbon.

arethuza 7y ago
Trees for Life - trying to get the Scottish Highlands back to something approaching their "natural" state: https://treesforlife.org.uk/ https://treesforlife.org.uk/
ainiriand 7y ago
I was in shock to discover how empty and barren Ireland is. According to Wikipedia it is one of the most heavily deforested countries in Europe...
- growlist 7y ago
  If you think that's bad: Ireland are still digging and burning peat to produce energy - Peat! in 2020! Horrifying
  - arethuza 7y ago
    My parents used to burn peat in Scotland when I was growing up - probably why I'm particularly fond of some products flavoured by peat smoke...
  - ainiriand 7y ago
    That's true, you can see the peat farms in Connemara, just by the roadside.
- fend 7y ago
  Large scale deforestation of Ireland began in the bronze age but present day rural attitudes towards trees, the dynamics of EU farming welfare and a population of 3.7 miilion hill maggots (aka sheep) ensure that woodlands have almost no chance of re-establishing themselves in our time. Its quite sad because much of the land is so wet and compacted now, yet when Ireland had higher tree coverage, as much as 80% of the extensive precipitation that the Atlantic throws at us never even penetrated the soil. Much of the elements that make life harsh today were at one time regulated by forest ecologies to people's benifit. A possible solution would be a long term compensation of farmers in exchange for their grazing rights on the 1,050,000 acres of commonage. With the sheep off the uplands,20 years could be sufficient for natural woodland revival. Given that sheep farming is essentially a subsidised activity the financials could be feasible... But you try saying that in a pub in the west of Ireland and making it out the door with both your arms still attached to your torso.

arethuza 7y ago

Trees for Life - trying to get the Scottish Highlands back to something approaching their "natural" state: https://treesforlife.org.uk/ https://treesforlife.org.uk/

ainiriand 7y ago

I was in shock to discover how empty and barren Ireland is. According to Wikipedia it is one of the most heavily deforested countries in Europe...

growlist 7y ago
If you think that's bad: Ireland are still digging and burning peat to produce energy - Peat! in 2020! Horrifying
- arethuza 7y ago
  My parents used to burn peat in Scotland when I was growing up - probably why I'm particularly fond of some products flavoured by peat smoke...
- ainiriand 7y ago
  That's true, you can see the peat farms in Connemara, just by the roadside.
fend 7y ago
Large scale deforestation of Ireland began in the bronze age but present day rural attitudes towards trees, the dynamics of EU farming welfare and a population of 3.7 miilion hill maggots (aka sheep) ensure that woodlands have almost no chance of re-establishing themselves in our time. Its quite sad because much of the land is so wet and compacted now, yet when Ireland had higher tree coverage, as much as 80% of the extensive precipitation that the Atlantic throws at us never even penetrated the soil. Much of the elements that make life harsh today were at one time regulated by forest ecologies to people's benifit. A possible solution would be a long term compensation of farmers in exchange for their grazing rights on the 1,050,000 acres of commonage. With the sheep off the uplands,20 years could be sufficient for natural woodland revival. Given that sheep farming is essentially a subsidised activity the financials could be feasible... But you try saying that in a pub in the west of Ireland and making it out the door with both your arms still attached to your torso.