A Saanich resident (Dave Godfrey) asked me the following question: Candidates all talk about sustainability, but Saanich has 30 to 40 thousand family units–each one of which is responsible for 30 to 40 tons of CO2 a year. How much of Vancouver Island’s forested acres does it take each year to absorb 1,000,000 tons of CO2? That is, what does sustainable mean to you? Here is my answer (and I confess I had to do research. I did not know this before his question). Research shows that one acre of new trees can can remove 2.5 tonnes of carbon annually (young trees can absorb 13lbs of CO2 per year each and a mature tree can remove up to 48lbs of CO2 per year each). Extrapolating that, one acre of mature trees can remove up to nearly 10 tonnes of CO2 per year. (For the purpose of this question, since I cannot confirm the amount of new versus older trees per acre in Saanich, so I am going to estimate a reduction the amount of CO2 removal per acre to 8 tonnes of CO2 per year to recognize not all trees are mature trees.) Therefore we can then take the 1,000,000 tonnes generated in Saanich and divide it the amount of tonnes per acre that trees can remove (8) and suggest that we need we need to maintain 125,000 acres of trees in Saanich. Given that Saanich is only 103.44km2 (approximately 25,451 acres) we clearly are in a deficit position when it comes to our ability to have our natural world deal with our CO2 emissions. This is why it is imperative we take steps to reduce our CO2 emissions both locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. Saanich must do more to reduce its CO2 emissions and if elected I will work to make it happen by supporting initiatives that will see a reduction in CO2 by encouraging Carbon Neutral initiatives and buildings. Thank you for this question Dave. I hope Ive done my math correct above and I acknowledge choosing 8 tonnes per acre is a personal choice for the question. I presumed 80% of trees in Saanich are mature, but that is only an estimate on my part. A very good question.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 17:22:31 +0000
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