NOVA Parks News
Reducing the Cause of Global Warming at a Local Level
By Paul Gilbert, NOVA Parks Executive Director
April 22 is the 52nd anniversary of Earth Day. While the focus on the earth is the same, the issues from over 50 years ago and today are different. When the first Earth Day happened, it had been less than a year since the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland had caught fire because of all the chemicals. When rivers are on fire, you know you have a problem.
1970 saw the creation of the EPA, and in the decades since then, our water, air, and land have all become cleaner. But today, rising temperatures and extreme weather from too much carbon in our atmosphere create a dire challenge. Carbon is the burning river issue of today, and its solution is more challenging.
In Northern Virginia, NOVA Parks (Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority) has been working to address this issue on a regional scale. One of the most powerful weapons we have to fight the cause of global climate change is forests and trees. When you look at a tree, the stuff it is made of is largely carbon absorbed from the air. Trees are actually growing a little faster today because of the higher levels of carbon in the atmosphere. At NOVA Parks, over 80% of our 12,200 acres are in forests. That amount of forest absorbs close to 10,000 metric tons of carbon from the air every year. That is enough to offset the carbon footprint of over 3,000 people.
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