Overall, it's good news that U.S. President Donald Trump has declared he's in favor of planting trees — it's perhaps the one thing he has in common with people who care about the long-term future of the planet. Trees not only provide a habitat for wildlife, they can mitigate global warming, to an extent.
Promises to plant trees came up at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and in Trump's State of the Union address — perhaps the greenest promise he's made since the start of his presidency. Other Republicans are embracing trees as well — including Congressman Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, who has proposed his own tree bill. If Trump and other Republicans now want to accept the mainstream scientific view of global warming, that's good news and we should welcome it.
But before we all go into a group tree-hug with Trump, there are, as it turns out, a couple of caveats about trees. The first is that some people may be mistaking tree planting as a substitute for cutting emissions. Trees can definitely absorb carbon dioxide, but alone they won't be enough to stop global warming.