Scattered acacia trees in Africa
Anyone reading my intro top right might be forgiven for thinking this blog existed purely for sniping. Well, there's certainly a lot of misreporting (or at any rate, over-hasty ill-researched reporting) in the media. Somebody has to correct the record. (I'll post at a later date on how effective or otherwise a private blog can be in that regard. For the moment, think just two words: Google returns).Having trained as a scientist, and published in a number of areas, the itch to be doing one's own research never forsakes one. Whilst it cannot be the hands-on lab-based variety, there is still that amazing research resource at one's finger tips - the internet search engine.
So from time to time, I will research topics that seem timely.
The first, as the title indicates, is whether or not there is evidence to back up suggestions that our planet is greening. If so -and I appreciate that I could be accused of prejudging the issue- then for what reasons? Is it due directly to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? Or is it due to secondary changes in climate (temperature, rainfall amount and distribution etc) that are associated with climate change - whether or not due to alleged AGW?
I'll add new information as I find it onto this blog - the primary source - and flag up this post from time to time to remind visitors that this is an ongoing project.
First step: to google "are trees growing faster". Well, one has to start somewhere!
The graphic? It was chosen having read about evidence for Sahara desert greening in the National Geographic News, and reports that trees are encroaching onto hitherto virgin areas above present treelines.
"Literature" search :
1. Trees are growing faster and could buy time to halt global warning Telegraph 5 April 2009
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