Dear Editor:
This is not the answer, and it certainly isn’t clean. Nuclear Reactors produce nuclear waste.
Solar energy is green as the sun is nature’s fusion and is 93 million miles away.
Pennacchio is silent or ignorant of Proforestation and Carbon Neutral. Trees and the Remaining Forest have never been more important.
Proforestation protects natural forests to foster continuous growth, carbon accumulation, and structural complexity.
We can use our forest by allowing trees to mature to their rightful biological age to sequester carbon and plant more trees where possible. NJ can establish a Strategic Forest Reserve in its Northern Physiographic Provinces.
Using “Proforestation” as a new paradigm is cost-effective and promotes biodiversity. From Northern NJ to Southern Maine is the largest carbon sequestration and photosynthesis zone north of the Smokey Mountains and east of Montana.
Humans emit more carbon dioxide than Nature (land and oceans) removes during a single year.
Carbon neutrality is when humans release no more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than Nature, and Nature removes and stores it.
Carbon neutrality is not a goal to be achieved, but a moment in time around 2050 is followed by a net negative when humans emit less carbon dioxide than Nature is removing.
Forests are important because they remove nearly 30% of our emissions annually – the most of any ecosystem. They also store vast quantities of carbon in the wood of trees and in forest soils.
It has been found that managing forests differently to let more trees reach a large size could store twice as much as they now do.
The current practice of sustainable forestry – if practiced everywhere would keep the amount of carbon in forests forever at the current level. We need to increase the carbon stored in forests by reforestation management- letting more trees grow without harvest. Our reliance on fossil fuels has to lead to this climate crisis.
Man-induced climate change is not that hard to comprehend or understand why and how. Our so-called progress based on fossil fuels, its emissions, deforestation, and loss of planetary biodiversity have caught up with us.
Nuclear is not the answer, and never was anything other than trying to make the nuclear bombs and threats look civilized.
Pennacchio seems never to be in keeping with his times and place. Another official who does not believe in good government as intended but in private interest, subsidized by our tax dollars for little or nothing in return. Trickle Up.
Nick Homyak
