Trees losing leaves due to climate change

 Every year trees around the world go through a process called senescence which slowly deteriorates the trees. The leaves of the trees begin to change from vibrant green to autumn colors and eventually fall off. This process also suspends the trees growth and extracts nutrients from the foliage indicating that winter is approaching. Once senescence begins, the leaves no longer absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis leaving carbon sequestration vulnerable to man-made innovations. 

According to researchers, as seasons begin to get longer due to global warming, European trees are now dealing with engine leaves loading their leaves two weeks ahead of their normal schedule. It is predicted that this change in climate will extend some seasons two to three weeks which could be devasting to farmers. To better understand the effects climate change has had on the environment and a timeline of degradation, researchers have studied six different European deciduous tree species; European horse chestnut, silver birch, European beech, European latch, English oak and rowan over the course of six decades. The study concluded that elevated carbon dioxide, temperatures and light levels have contributed to these trees losing their leaves earlier than normal and disrupting nature's natural feedback loop.  

Previous to these studies, It was believed that there were only two contributing factors to loss of foliage, fall temperatures and day length. The third perpetrator (carbon dioxide), is self-containing its productivity into these massive mechanisms known as trees and as a result these trees photosynthesis absorb sooner, forcing them to lose their leaves earlier. This is similar to a person consuming too much food during a short period, the body cannot retain such a huge amount and eventually gets expelled. As seasons continue to get longer and consumption continues to grow, just like a human, a tree can only take so much. 

Tress are not like machines, they are living and breathing organisms that share the world with us and need to be cherished. As third world countries slowly begin to develop and America's needs continue to grow, we need to cognitive of our actions and find connections amongst the earth. We must look for ways to reduce CO2 to help prevent climate change that don't alter the natural state of the tree cycle. Trees in general are extremely valuable and a growing asset that are worth three times its initial investment. 53 tons of carbon dioxide can be removed with just one hundred trees. About 430 pounds of air pollution can stay embedded in the earth per year due to sequestration. As we carelessly release CO2 into the air and continue to deforest our lands, we are choosing to acknowledge the present economy with a foreseeable end state instead of investing in a future that can be tangible and profitable for both the consumer and the environment. Business as usual is not always good business. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/27/europe/fall-leaves-intl-scli-climate-scn/index.html