Using trees for energy and materials: unpacking sustainability concerns

Prof. Patricia Thornley, Director, Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute, Aston University

A is for apple … T is for Tree

From our earliest years we are introduced to trees: in the classroom; in fairy stories of magic trees
and deep dark woods; in the natural world around us (climbing, swinging, gathering leaves and
conkers). They are deeply ingrained in our landscape, our heritage, our lives.

So when people suggest that we cut down trees or use them differently we rightly get annoyed.
Something inside tells us that it “just isn’t right” …. Or is it? Climate change is a huge global problem
and trees can be a key part of our response to and adaptation for climate change. Smart use of trees
could help us achieve lower global temperatures in the long term, but the problem (and solution)
are dynamic and some of the scientific insights around carbon can be counter-intuitive.

Patricia Thornley has been studying the role of trees and plants in combatting climate change for
longer than she would like to remember and will share the latest scientific knowledge on how trees
interface with climate change and what the carbon consequences really are of cutting trees down.

But there is more to life than carbon and we will also discuss the wider environmental, economic
and social impacts of our sometimes fragile co-existence with the trees that are likely to outlive us
and possibly outpace our efforts to mitigate carbon emissions.