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Re: Global Warming and Cane

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2022-01-01 22:36

I can only take baby steps towards understanding something as complicated as the carbon "footprint" of reeds. At the "Ecowatch, the conversation," site an article, "Planting Non-Native Trees Accelerates Carbon Release," suggests that ANY non-native plant, even beloved tree species, can adversely affect carbon sequestration in the area where it is planted. Another article (by bamboo specialist Fred Hornady) asserts that Arundo donax, outside of its native region, may however be an especially noxious weed because its leaves contain potent alkaloids and tryptamine that kill would-be insect predators and enable the cane to "choke out" the native plants more effectively than most non-native trees would do. Arundo donax is also disturbingly flammable, so it is most unwelcome on the west coast currently ravaged by wild fires.

Another problem with Arundo donax fields is that they can be examples of monoculture, and plant monoculture if not handled with great knowledge and intelligence can be very destructive to the ecology of a region. When something goes wrong in a monoculture, it tends to go very wrong. Consider the Potato Famine of the 19th century. The diversity of plants in polyculture more easily creates an ideal carbon balance as well as resistance to plant disease. I don't know to what extent the Var cane fields are pure monocultures or incorporate some mix of other native plants. In California, the Arundo donax has tended to eradicate the willow and cottonwood plants that native wildlife like to munch on, and wildlife populations have suffered as a consequence.

One final baby step: Legere reeds are made from polypropylene (derived from propylene, a biproduct of natural gas). What is the carbon footprint of making polypropylene and fashioning it into reeds and then discarding these reeds back into landfills? Can anyone do an accurate quantification of the ecological cost of the life cycle of polypropylene reeds vs that of Arundo donax reeds? How much carbon in (sequestration) and how much carbon out (carbon release), and over what time spans?

Post Edited (2022-01-02 00:33)

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Global Warming and Cane new

SecondTry

2021-12-31 07:46