Plenty of people are fine with blaming strange environmental events
and changes on global warming — which, to be fair, is probably accurate.
There are plenty of unknowns surrounding the phenomenon, and the same
goes for anything that might happen in the future. That still won’t stop
scientists from trying to predict what comes next, even if it is dire
news.
Studies run by an international team have taken a close look
at trees over the past several decades. Based on their data — gained
from trees all over the world, no less — they found that leaves closer
to the present sprouted earlier less often. The projections lead to some
believing that at some point, trees will stop sprouting their leaves
altogether, or at least refuse to let them come out on normal time
frames. It’s a measure to protect the plants, but it won’t help the
situation at all.
Trees are beneficial because they suck
greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide chief among them — out of the air, and
convert them into oxygen. If they suddenly decided to give that up,
then it would only help contribute to global warming — and create a
vicious cycle where plants try to protect themselves from a poor
climate. In the worst-case scenario, the planet may end up losing a
precious lifeline.
