Tags: Paulownia tree, Waste Stream & Effluent Remediation Capabilities, Dairy Effluents, coppicing, nitrogen fixing plants, commercial timber, environmental benefits paulownia, biomass of paulownia, odor reducing, transpiration, disinfectant function of paulownia The following research was compiled to illustrate the ability of the Paulownia tree to phytoremediate extremely high strength waste from dairy and animal feeding operations.  As a result, other effluent waste streams such as municipal and residential wastewater can be remediated much easier and more efficiently than conventional animal waste.  VLIC is proud to introduce Paulownia MEGAFLORA trees as a proven method of absorbing treated effluents derived from municipalities and septic tank systems.

Paulownia Nutrient Utilization for Dairy Effluents

Research authored by:

Dr. Ben A. Bergmann,   Department of Forestry, North Carolina State University

Dr. Carl F. Jordon,   Senior Ecologist,   University of Georgia

Overview 1

Paulownia species grow rapidly, utilize large amounts of nitrogen (including other nutrients), coppice (stump sprout) and regrow rapidly, and have a variety of end uses. Large quantities of nutrients can be removed from animal waste applied to Paulownia trees because of their high biomass production and high foliar nutrient concentrations.   The coppicing ability of Paulownia eliminates the need to replant for several rotations; a considerable cost advantage over tree species that do not exhibit this trait. The ability to stump sprout prolifically is an asset in systems aimed at removal of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients via high biomass production because plants may be cut down more than once during the growing season. 

A Paulownia tree farm designed for commercial timber production at 1093 trees per acre will absorb 445 lbs. of nitrogen the first year, 668 lbs. the second year (thinned to 546 trees per acre), 735 lbs. the third year (thinned to 273 trees per acre), 804 lbs. the fourth year, 1166 lbs. the five year, 15,291 lbs, the sixth year, 1,964 lbs. the seventh year and 3,052 lbs. the tenth year.  In addition the crop of selection to be intercropped with the Paulownia will increase the amount of nitrogen uptake per acre. {i.e. grass (215 lbs. per acre) corn (265 lbs. per acre)}.

All calculations are based on a conservative value of 2% nitrogen in leaves and 0.2% nitrogen in wood. Actual nitrogen removal rates will likely exceed these estimates given in that is has been shown; that Paulownia elongata foliar nitrogen content can be much higher than 2%. (Bergmann et al. 1998, Kasy and Gouin 1996) and that denser plantings can be used.   As with any land application system, protection of surface and groundwater quality is dependent on matching wastewater application volume and concentration with the tree species planted, soil type and weather conditions.

VLIC, purposes to increase the environmental benefits of the Paulownia uptake application by bio stimulating the lagoons causing them to become aerobic and eliminate the odor emissions. Further EB intends to sub terrain irrigate with the lagoon water reducing the amount of evaporation and the possibility of any odor emissions while providing the most beneficial usage of the nutrient water.

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1.  Section A, pages 18-19: Bergmann, Department of Forestry, North Carolina State University

Paulownia Qualities

Biomass Production of Paulownia

Biomass of Paulownia is the main component in a PCI (Paulownia-crop intercropping) system. The quantity of Paulownia biomass reflects the productivity and the flow of materials and energy of the PCI system. Biomass production (fresh weight and oven-dry weight) of Paulownia was investigated yearly from one to eight years after out planting, and the total biomass was divided into the following components - trunk (under crown), branches (big branches, medium branches and small branches), leaves leaf blades and stalks), bark, flower buds, flowers, fruits, roots (stock, thick roots, medium roots and small roots, and litter. The result of the biomass investigation is as follows:

Component of Paulownia Biomass

The biomasses of each part in and for the whole plant of a 3-year old Paulownia were ranked as roots, trunk and leaves.  After three years, the listing changed to branches and trunk, leaves, roots, flowers and fruits.  The root growth of Paulownia is more dominant than of other organs before it is 3-year old.  The growth of above-ground portion (trunk, leaves and branches) became faster with age of the tree.  The proportion of biomass of each organ to total biomass was 31.9%, 25.31%, 21.32%, 17.19%, 4.27% and 1.4% for trunks, leaves, branches, roots, flowers and fruits respectively.  Among which, the total amount of 30.98% of leaves, flowers and fruits fall off as litter.  The cumulative biomass of one Paulownia tree at eighth year was 607 lbs. dry weight. Correspondingly, the total biomass poundage per acre for different spacings of 8-year old Paulownia were estimated at 47,806, 23,890, 16,131, 11,950 and 9,561 lbs./acre of 5 x 10, 5 x 20, 5 x 30, 5 x 40 and 5 x 50 respectively.

Utilization of Paulownia biomass

As mentioned above, the biomass of trunk and branch was 53.22% of the total biomass. About 63.5% of the Paulownia biomass can be easily used as timber and firewood. The root biomass was 7% and of foliage 30%. Full use of the foliage will increase the economic value of Paulownia trees. The leaves drop off due to the effects of early frost not allowing enough time for the trees to transfer the nutrient matters from leaves to root for storage.  The nutrient status of the fallen leaves is close to that of the fresh leaves. Paulownia foliage can be used and the dropping off causes no harm to the growth of trees. The nutrient analysis of Paulownia foliage shows the presence of eight amino acids and trace elements such as Fe, Cu, Mn and Zn that are important to animal growth.

Paulownia is also a good nectariferous species. There is about 0.0236 g of pollen in a flower, from which 0.0473 g honey can be produced.  A standard group of bees can collect 22-33 lbs. of nectar during a flowering season.  To sum up, Paulownia has many suitable characteristics, such as fast growth, deep root distribution, sparse crown structure, multipurpose (timber, fodder, manure and nectar sources), use when grown in agro-forestry systems.

Ecological Effects on the Farming Fields

Soil Moisture and its Physical Features

Soil moisture was one of the main factors affecting soil fertility. The parameters related to the physical characteristics of soil moisture were observed because the physical property of soil moisture was closely related to the soil-ventilating feature.  The result indicated that the volume weight of upper soil layers (0-8 inches) decreased with increase of distance from the trees.

The maximum moisture holding capacity also increased with the distance from the trees. The volume weight of upper soil layer at 4 ft. to the tree rows was higher than the control (control means without Paulownia-crop intercropping).

Total Nutrients 2

Extensive aerobic treatment will reduce odor from the liquid waste from a confined animal operation. In the process, however, much of the nutrient value will be lost. For example, much of the organic content of manure will be lost as carbon dioxide; nitrogen will be converted to nitrate and subsequently may be reduced to nitrogen gas.

Water Status in PCI System

The soil moisture content of upper layer (0-24 inches) was 24.2% in PCI field and 24.2% in the control field. The content of lower layer (below 60 cm) was 28.7% in PCI field and 29.5% in the control field. The observations match with the features of root system of Paulownia. When the Paulownia trees are planted in farmland, there is no negative interaction between trees and crops in water intake.

Energy Balance and Evapotranspiration of PCI System

Through the systematic observations of total solar radiation, reflect radiation. wind velocity, temperatures (with wet and dry bulb thermometers), soil temperature and moisture contents of different layers in different PCI models, a description of energy balance of the PCI system was worked out. The net radiation and its components in a PCI system decreased when compared with control plots.  However, the proportion of heat flux to net radiation was reduced, while that of latent heat flux and soil heat flux increased The ratio of actual over potential evapotranspiration and soil moisture increased, resulting in less water deficit compared to control plots. Paulownia's effects on these parameters depended on the tree density and growth stage, and their relative distance from one another. The modified energy balance was favorable to wheat growth during its heading and flowering stages under any Paulownia spacings, but the effect on wheat growth during grain filling in denser Paulownia spacing was due to the greater reduction in net radiation, perhaps brought about by the protective effects of the fully developed leaves on trees.

Soil Nutrition Status

Organic matter and nitrogen contents at 0-8 inches below soil surface decreased toward the trees. There was not much difference detected in available P, Ca and Mg. But available K was apparently higher within 5 m from the trees than further distance from the trees. Continuous measurements for three years at the age of 9-11 years old showed that there was not much difference in N contents at 0-23 inches below soil surface in the PCI field, but N contents at 31-40 inches below soil surface at a distance of 20 feet from the trees significantly decreased while compared with the control.

This could explain that Paulownia trees utilized nutrients mostly from lower soil layer (31-40 inches). It was also found that seasonal variation of available Ca and Mg was similar with that of the control.  At 2 inches from the trees, however, it increased at 0-8 inches below soil surface perhaps due to the decomposition of Paulownia litter.

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2.   Control of Odor Emissions from Animal Operations: Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina, page 22

ODOR REDUCTION DURING LAND APPLICATION 3

Land application of manure typically brings about the most complaints. Fortunately, odors from land application can virtually be eliminated by injection or immediate incorporation of the manure into the soil. These techniques also increase the amount of nitrogen and other nutrients available for crop uptake. Unfortunately, injection and incorporation are techniques most easily adapted to liquid manure application. Incorporation of solid manure typically requires another pass with some tillage implement. This is both time consuming and costly but is necessary to achieve effective odor control.

Another aspect of manure application that generates odors is the agitation of liquid manure storage facilities prior to manure removal. Agitation is necessary to reduce the solids buildup in storage, break up any surface crust, and evenly distribute the nutrients throughout the manure. Reports from many livestock producers suggest that some manure pit additives reduce solids buildup in the storage units. Although there is little university research to support this claim, this technique should be viewed as a possible odor control method. Chemical additives also have the potential to reduce specific gas formation such as hydrogen sulfide during agitation. These additives will have an immediate, short-term effect on gas emissions.

More research is needed to determine dosage rates and costs for this technology. The issue of reduction of odors and/or certain gases like hydrogen sulfide (especially in Minnesota due to the state regulatory agency's H2S emission standard) during manure storage agitation is very critical. Weather conditions, primarily wind speed/direction and humidity should be evaluated before manure is land applied to insure minimal impacts on neighbors and the public. The weather least suitable for spreading manure is high humidity and very light winds or clear, calm evenings. This condition prevents odors from dispersing and thus increases the chance of creating a nuisance or receiving a complaint

Chemical Activities of Soil

Enzyme, the biological catalyst extracted by microorganisms in their living activities, can accelerate the reactions of all biochemical activities of the soil. Results showed that at 0-8 inches below soil surface near the tree) showed more activity of invertase, hydrogen peroxidase, etc. which led to the increase of decomposition of organic matter, composition of humus and oxidation of other components to increase soil fertility.

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3. Odor Control for Animal Agriculture, page 2

Paulownia Foliage as Manure 4

The above analysis shows that PCI caused crop-favored changes in soil properties and nutrient status. It should be noted that all the above changes occurred when Paulownia foliage (80%) was not collected from the field. Local farmers usually collect Paulownia leaves for fodder. If all the Paulownia leaves are left in the field as litter, this will lead to greater changes in soil property and nutrition status in PCI system.  The experiment of fertilization was conducted using 2.94 tons of dry Paulownia leaves applied to 2.5-acres open field.  The result indicated 30.6% increase of wheat yield and 19.8% increase of cotton yield.

Paulownia foliage is a very good resource for manure and fodder. According to a survey made, there were 24 million Paulownia trees in Luyi County of Shandong Province. The Paulownia trees produced 354,000 tons of leaves which contained about 9,310.2 tons of nitrogen, equal to 20,239.56 tons of urea, crude protein 57,723 tons and crude fat 36,679 tons, 23.244 tons of dry flowers were produced which contained about 1.036 tons of nitrogen, equal to 2,253.7 tons of urea and 6,427 tons of crude protein. The total from both leaves and flowers in the county led to 22,493 tons of urea.

Disinfectant Role of Leaf Secretion 4

The aim was to study the disinfectant role of Paulownia leaf and the possibility to use Paulownia trees in purifying air. This study needed high-level test conditions and so it was conducted in laboratory. The experimental results indicated that:

1.   The compounds volatilized from Paulownia leaves can kill Tubercle bacillus (with a rate of 100%). Among the 36 tree species tested, Paulownia, Sorbaria kirilowii and Hibiscus syriacus showed highest antibacterial effect.

2.   Paulownia had no effect on Staphylococcus aureus, but it was lethal to Psudomanas aeruginosa (38.8%).

3.   Paulownia leaf paste had strongest effect to kill flies among the 20 tree species tested.

Portions of the Complete Study were Condensed & Edited for Republication Purposes

____________________________________________________________________

4.   Evaluation and Model Optimization of Paulownia Inter-Cropping System-A Project Summary Report, 

      International Development Research Centre, Page 9

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Posted by panampro at 6:38 AM CST

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Tags: global warming, greenhouse gases, CER, carbon credits, reforestation, deforestation, paulownia, Panama Mankind is feeling the wrath of nature. It seems that more and more natural disasters are taking place; and this has led to consciousness about the earth’s resources. Forests are the most affected ecosystem in the planet. This is probably due to the fact that basic necessities need trees as a raw material.

What is even more appalling is man’s desire for wider land areas, so they cut off more trees in order to convert the area into a housing community or subdivision; and an agricultural land or worse, a dump site – this perhaps can be the answer to what is deforestation.

By Definition
By definition, deforestation means the cutting or removal of trees from woodlands or forests in order to convert the land into commercial or logging reasons or for whatever purpose it may serve them. Generally, deforestation denotes the extraction of trees without sufficient reforestation or effort to replant a tree elsewhere to replace the one that has been cut.

Since time immemorial, man has been making the environment adapt to the civilizations’ growing needs. First it was cutting trees down to use for kindling, next it was for shelter, and then for paper and other products. Thousands of forests have been cleared all over the world to pave way for man’s innovations and spatial requirements. It seems that forests are present to cater to man’s needs and whims.

Raising Consciousness
It is human nature to be moved into action when our sense of well being becomes endangered. This is undoubtedly the reason why most people are becoming concerned over deforestation.

The easiest way to make people care is to emphasize the benefits of forests and woodland, and to show how its depletion will radically change our lives for the worst. First off, deforestation revolves around a number of issues but none as totally important as the two key subjects that we must be aware of: the primary concern is global warming or green house effect, the secondary matter is the question of whether the trees are utilized properly and if reforestation efforts are being made.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide, helping reduce the amount of carbon released into our atmosphere. Deforestation kills the trees that help prevent greenhouse effect. Green house effect accounts for the Earth’s over all temperature rises, thus causing bizarre weather patterns. That is why the frequency of droughts, floods, tidal waves, and other natural disasters have risen.

The second concern is that the trees being cleared to pave way for metropolis are simply slashed and burned. Aside from the excessive emission of carbon dioxide brought about by burning wood, there is the apprehension that the trees would have been put to better use providing shelter for the homeless, building materials or other useful undertakings. The subsequent effects are truly devastating. Who knew that deforestation can cause so much head ache?

Yes, who knew? If only people have taken the time to inform themselves then they would have been able to make informed decisions and fight for what is right.

What Can You Do To Help?
Since you are now knowledgeable of what is deforestation, it would be of much help to lead in the initial steps to change. Are you thinking what a lowly individual can do to help? Well, small steps make a huge difference especially when everyone is working at the same goal. Armed with the knowledge of the disasters that deforestation can bring about will definitely make a person regulate his or her actions.

Start by conserving the most basic of household materials like paper towels, napkins and tissue papers. Recycling and knowing how to recycle materials will greatly help find a solution to green house emissions. Next is to be pro active and help educate other people by joining campaign groups who fight against deforestation.

Generally you don’t have to be like a crazy person shouting at the streets and joining rallies, begin by changing your attitude and outlook and then you will see that little things do make a difference.

You might also consider in investing in reforestation projects. One of the most productive is a paulownia reforestation project in Panama which not only helps to save the environment, puts money in your pocket but provides jobs and social development for peoples of extreme poverty. Information may be found at www.panampro.com

To help you decide if paulownia investment is right for you, you might want to read www.paulownianow.org After Copenhagen, the world’s attention has turned to carbon credits and pollution. To see how paulownia is being used to counteract the effects of carbon pollution and excellent informational site may be found at www.paulowniapanama.org  

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Posted by panampro at 6:54 AM CST

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With the world’s wood supplies diminishing, it’s important to find a suitable alternative for making wooden items such as shutters that won’t have a detrimental effect on the world’s wood supplies or our environment.

Paulownia is the latest choice for manufacturing interior window shutters, as its ideal for making lightweight yet strong plantation shutters. However, this also has an added benefit, as it comes from sustainable sources. It provides all the benefit of traditional wood, but has a number of additional features which other woods don’t have. In particular its weight to strength ratio means that it makes an ideal choice for manufacturing.

Hard Wearing, Lightweight and Safe

Paulownia is less likely than more traditional woods to shrink or warp. As it is engineered in the manufacturing of interior window shutters, ensuring it is particularly strong, making it ideal to use for large shutters. Those offering Paulownia interior window shutters are able to provide greater guarantees than before, both for larger shutters and also increased folding options. For those want interior window shutters to cover large openings Paulownia is a perfect yet cost effective material to select.

Paulownia is also rot-resistant due to its low moisture content, but most importantly fire-retardant as it ignition point is higher than some traditional woods. This makes it a great choice for use in the home.

Appearance

Paulownia has a similar appearance to white ash, making it perfect to stain to resemble other woods such as mahogany or oak. The grains running through it are straight and easily visible, creating a beautiful texture for interior window shutters.

The Paulownia Plant

Paulownia trees are native to China, although they have been cultivated across other parts of Eastern Asia. The trees themselves can grow up to 25m tall and have flowers similar to foxgloves. In China they have also been used to reforest some areas, and their deciduous leaves appear on the badge of Japans government.

Eco-Friendly

The Paulownia tree is able to regenerate from its old stump, so it can be harvested in a similar fashion to Willow. This regeneration has led to them being known as the phoenix tree. The trees are quick growing, being ready for harvest within 5 to 7 years so that their wood can be used for manufacturing products such as interior window shutters. The tree also has the ability to help poor soil affected by industrialization, as its root systems run deep but are able to deal with contaminants and convert them into something more suitable for the environment. Their large leaves also play a part in the process by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and converting it to oxygen which is then released. An important process when many of our forests that would normally do this are disappearing.

Uses

Paulownia is ideal for manufacturing interior window shutters, which require strength, resistance to warping, twisting, and moisture and yet remain lightweight. Appearance is also important, as those who choose shutters also want to be sure that their product has a beautiful wooden finish whether stained or painted. Paulownia offers all of these yet allow the purchaser to make an ecologically friendly choice. There are a range of things that are currently made from Paulownia, including coffins, furniture and guitars. Its uses are many and diverse, but it makes the perfect wood to choose if you are looking for beautiful interior window shutters.

For more information consult www.paulownianow.org

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Posted by panampro at 6:30 AM CST

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Tags: Anti-herbivore defense, dendritic trichome, extrafloral nectary, flavonoids, glandular hair, glycerides, indirect defense, leaf development, morphology, optimal defense hypothesis, Paulownia tomentosa, shoot development, paulownia Panama

Sawa Kobayashi^1,*, Teigo Asai², Yoshinori Fujimoto² and Shiro Kohshima¹

¹Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology
² Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro, Tokyo 152-8551, Japan

Background and Aims: Recent studies have shown that small structures on plant surfaces serve ecological functions such as resistance against herbivores. The morphology, distribution, chemical composition and changes during shoot and leaf development of such small structures were examined on Paulownia tomentosa.

Methods: The morphology and distribution of the structures were studied under light microscopy, and their chemical composition was analyzed using thin-layer chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. To further investigate the function of these structures, several simple field experiments and observations were also conducted.

Key Results: Three types of small structures on P. tomentosa were investigated: bowl-shaped organs, glandular hairs and dendritic trichomes. The bowl-shaped organs were densely aggregated on the leaves near flower buds and were determined to be extrafloral nectarines (EFNs) that secrete sugar and attract ants. Nectar production of these organs was increased by artificial damage to the leaves, suggesting an anti-herbivore function through symbiosis with ants. Glandular hairs were found on the surfaces of young and/or reproductive organs. Glandular hairs on leaves, stems and flowers secreted mucilage containing glycerides and trapped small insects. Secretions from glandular hairs on flowers and immature fruits contained flavonoids, which may provide protection against some herbivores. Yellow dendritic trichomes on the adaxial side of leaves also contained flavonoids identical to those secreted by the glandular hairs on fruits and flowers. Three special types of leaves, which differed from the standard leaves in shape, size and identity of small structures, developed near young shoot tips or young flower buds. The density of small structures on these leaf types was higher than on standard leaves, suggesting that these leaf types may be specialized to protect young leaves or reproductive organs. Changes in the small structures during leaf development suggested that leaves of P. tomentosa are primarily protected by glandular hairs and dendritic trichomes at young stages and by the EFNs at mature stages.

Conclusions: The results indicate that P. tomentosa protects young and/or reproductive organs from herbivores through the distribution and allocation of small structures, the nature of which depends on the developmental stage of leaves and shoots.

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Posted by panampro at 4:38 AM CST

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Emissions’ trading is a means of achieving environmental objectives at potentially lower cost than the more traditional use of uniform standards on emissions sources. Properly designed emissions trading systems can also encourage innovation.

A number of different types of emissions trading approaches have been used in the United States and elsewhere. The least structured, termed emission “offsets,” involves a reduction of emissions at one place to compensate for increased emissions somewhere else. Such offsets can be between different plants or different sources within the same plant. Offsets can be particularly useful in allowing new or expanded sources of pollution to exist in a region already failing to meet its environmental objectives.

A more ambitious approach, which requires additional governmental infrastructure, is the open-market trading system. This approach allows a pollution source to earn marketable emission rights by reducing its emissions to levels below a regulatory standard or by making reductions in advance of a prescribed deadline. The credits earned may be sold to other sources and used to offset an equal amount of excess emissions. The credits may also be resold or (where allowed) banked for future use. Open-market trading has not been formally implemented in the United States.

Still more ambitious, flexible, and demanding in terms of government infrastructure is a cap-and-trade system, where sources in an area may trade pollution reduction responsibilities among themselves to meet an aggregate emissions cap for a given region. Under this system, the regulatory authorities decide on the aggregate level of allowable emissions for all the parties participating in the program (the "cap") and then it allocates to each party a portion of this amount in the form of "allowances," which are tradable rights to pollute. Once allowances are allocated, parties are prohibited from emitting more pollution than their allocation, unless they purchase additional allowances from another party.

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) acid rain program, widely hailed a success from both environmental and economic perspectives, is the most prominent example of the cap-and-trade type of emissions trading. Emission reductions are ahead of schedule and the costs are considerably lower than anticipated.

Emissions’ trading has several potential advantages compared to traditional regulatory approaches. Firms are free to use the options they believe to be most cost-effective, and they do not need to seek approval from government authorities or engage in lengthy negotiations about the "appropriateness" of their actions. At the same time, some remain skeptical of emissions trading, on both ethical and technical grounds. One thing that is widely agreed upon is that credible monitoring systems are essential to ensure the environmental integrity of emissions trading regimes.

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Posted by panampro at 6:58 AM CST

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Tags:Tags: paulownia, lumber characteristics, paulownia strength, balsa, aluminum of hardwood, conductivity, fire resistant, insect resistant

Lightweight

Paulownia is about 2/3 the weight of the lightest commercial wood grown in the US. It weighs an average of 14 to 19 lbs per cubic foot.  Paulownia is almost 1/3 the weight of Oak (44 lbs p/cubic ft) and half the weight of Pine (30 lbs p/cubic ft).

The specific gravity of Paulownia ranges between 0.23 to 0.30 (23 to 30% of the density of water).

Strength

Paulownia has one of the highest strength to weight ratios of any wood.

Strength modus of rupture MOR (psi) of Paulownia is 5740.

Paulownia holds nails and screws well and does not require pilot holes to be drilled. In fact both yellow poplar and white pine have proven to split before Paulownia. Flat head screws can be driven flush with the surface.

Plantation grown Paulownia is mostly knot free, making it very consistent.

Workability

Paulownia has been widely used in the orient for fine furniture, musical instruments, carvings and decorative finishes for over 1000 years. It can be peeled for veneer in 1/16 inch thickness and has even been sliced at 1/32 inch.

Intricate patterns can be cut with a jig saw or band saw without splitting easily. Paulownia has been a favorite for many carvers in the US. Furniture, doors and windows can be made with close tolerances. All normal finishing materials can be applied and it bonds well with glue.

Stability

Air-drying takes as little as 30 days. Boards can be kiln dried at high temperatures in as little as 24 hours to 10% to 12% moisture content with no warping. Reported shrinkage from green to oven-dry is only 2.2% radial and 4.0% tangential.

Paulownia remains stable during changes in humidity and experiences little shrinkage or expansion compared to most other woods. It is highly durable and resists decay under non-ground contact conditions. The wood is insect resistant.

Conductivity

Paulownia is a very good insulator. Paulownia log homes are said to have twice the R factor as pine or oak logs. This temperature resistance serves to give the wood a high fire resistance. Ignition temperature is approximately 400 deg. C. which is almost twice many conventional American hard and soft woods.

Attractiveness

Paulownia has a light blond appearance and resembles White Ash. It stains well with a variety of colors and can be made to mimic other woods. Once planed a silky luster is revealed. The feel is also very silky.

For more information on paulownia or to purchase paulownia seeds or seedlings (elongata, fortunei, tomentosa) please refer to http://www.paulownianow.org or http://www.panampro.com

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Posted by panampro at 10:22 AM CDT

Updated: Sunday, 9 August 2009 10:44 AM CDT

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Tags: paulownia, lumber characteristics, paulownia strength, balsa, aluminum of hardwood, conductivity, fire resistant, insect resistant

Lightweight

Paulownia is about 2/3 the weight of the lightest commercial wood grown in the US. It weighs an average of 14 to 19 lbs per cubic foot.  Paulownia is almost 1/3 the weight of Oak (44 lbs p/cubic ft) and half the weight of Pine (30 lbs p/cubic ft).

The specific gravity of Paulownia ranges between 0.23 to 0.30 (23 to 30% of the density of water).

Strength

Paulownia has one of the highest strength to weight ratios of any wood.

Strength modus of rupture MOR (psi) of Paulownia is 5740.

Paulownia holds nails and screws well and does not require pilot holes to be drilled. In fact both yellow poplar and white pine have proven to split before Paulownia. Flat head screws can be driven flush with the surface.

Plantation grown Paulownia is mostly knot free, making it very consistent.

Workability

Paulownia has been widely used in the orient for fine furniture, musical instruments, carvings and decorative finishes for over 1000 years. It can be peeled for veneer in 1/16 inch thickness and has even been sliced at 1/32 inch.

Intricate patterns can be cut with a jig saw or band saw without splitting easily. Paulownia has been a favorite for many carvers in the US. Furniture, doors and windows can be made with close tolerances. All normal finishing materials can be applied and it bonds well with glue.

Stability

Air-drying takes as little as 30 days. Boards can be kiln dried at high temperatures in as little as 24 hours to 10% to 12% moisture content with no warping. Reported shrinkage from green to oven-dry is only 2.2% radial and 4.0% tangential.

Paulownia remains stable during changes in humidity and experiences little shrinkage or expansion compared to most other woods. It is highly durable and resists decay under non-ground contact conditions. The wood is insect resistant.

Conductivity

Paulownia is a very good insulator. Paulownia log homes are said to have twice the R factor as pine or oak logs. This temperature resistance serves to give the wood a high fire resistance. Ignition temperature is approximately 400 deg. C. which is almost twice many conventional American hard and soft woods.

Attractiveness

Paulownia has a light blond appearance and resembles White Ash. It stains well with a variety of colors and can be made to mimic other woods. Once planed a silky luster is revealed. The feel is also very silky.

For more information on paulownia or to purchase paulownia seeds or seedlings (elongata, fortunei, tomentosa) please refer to http://www.paulownianow.org or http://www.panampro.com

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Posted by panampro at 10:22 AM CDT

Updated: Sunday, 9 August 2009 10:52 AM CDT

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 Tags: greenhouse gas, carbon credits, climate change, conservation, reforestation, EPA,Waxman-Markey legislation, Kyoto protocol, paulownia

 By Jeff Horowitz

The tropical forest provisions in the recently passed Waxman-Markey legislation represent a rare area of emerging US leadership on climate policy – one that will create a new era for forests, tropical development and carbon markets.

If these provisions are enacted into law and equaled or surpassed by other developed nations, the world can rapidly (and affordably) reduce and reverse deforestation, eliminating the 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions caused by deforestation and provide a sustainable route to prosperity for the planet’s millions of forest dependent people.

The legislation bridges a political gap that has long plagued efforts to tackle climate change in the US and around the world: the dispute over whether companies should be able to receive credit for investing in tropical forest conservation or whether efforts to protect forests should rely exclusively on government funding.

Instead of continuing to debate these questions while the planet’s forests burn (300 million acres of forests have been lost since the Kyoto protocol excluded tropical forest protections in 1997), major US environmental groups and companies decided to do something about it – and entered a negotiating process facilitated by Jeff Horowitz, the founder of Avoided Deforestation Partners.

This process yielded a major insight: it’s not a choice between governments and markets. Rather, both government funding and incentives for private investment are essential to end deforestation – and will build on one another.

This insight was embodied in a Forest-Climate Unity Agreement signed by groups and companies across the ideological spectrum, from the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council to the Environmental Defense Fund, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, American Electric Power and Duke Energy.

With such a powerful alliance behind it, policy makers took note and the Waxman-Markey legislation broadly reflects this consensus. First, it sets aside five per cent of the bill’s emissions allowances to help tropical government’s end illegal logging, conduct conservation activities to which markets may not be suited, and build the capacity they need to meet the legislation’s strict requirements for participation in carbon markets.

Companies can only get credit for reducing emissions from forest conservation once the reductions have already occurred – and either they or EPA has to compensate for any subsequent reversals that occur because of fire, logging, or other intentional or unintentional activities.

In major emitting countries such as Brazil and Indonesia, companies can receive credit only if conservation activities are part of a national plan that ensures a countrywide reduction in deforestation, not just a local one. In the program’s early years, conservation projects run through major emitting states and provinces will also be eligible, as will projects in small-emitting countries that are working to develop national plans for reducing deforestation.

Critically, no conservation will receive credit unless biodiversity is protected, and indigenous and forest-dependent people share in the proceeds. Consider the numbers: by 2015, the combination of the set-aside funding and offsets will generate $12-15 billion annual investment in tropical forest conservation, preventing the destruction of millions of hectares of forest and reducing pollution by a conservatively estimated one billion tons of CO2 a year – equivalent to wiping away all of Germany’s pollution.

Many of these funds will go directly to forest dependent and indigenous communities – and for the first time on a large scale, the quest for a better life will be tied to conservation of the earth’s natural treasures, not their destruction.

The legislation also credits environmentally-sound reforestation and afforestation activities, giving hope that the millions of acres of forests that have already been destroyed might one day approach something like their former glory (and carbon storage capacity).

All this is achieved on an extremely affordable basis. EPA has estimated the bill would be 89 per cent more expensive without international offsets, most of which will be forest based, allowing the US to take on more ambitious emissions reduction targets than would otherwise have been politically possible.

That could be an important insight for European countries and others with stronger pollution reduction targets than the US: although they’re starting from a better baseline, including affordable, high quality tropical forest offsets in their climate policies would allow these countries to achieve even greater pollution reductions at the same economic and political cost –with extraordinary benefits for the climate.

For more information on carbon credits and REDDs  and reforestation you may read www.paulownianow.org and www.panampro.com which explains how paulownia acts as a carbon sink helping to restore the environment.

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Tags: global warming, Earth Day, ecosystems, extinction, environment April 22, 2009, marks the 39th celebration of Earth Day, a time when people around the world hold events to honor our home planet -- and to remind everyone about the importance of our ecosystem. Founded in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, a former United States senator from Wisconsin, Earth Day has grown into a global event. In 1970, 20 million Americans demonstrated in streets, parks, and auditoriums for a healthier, cleaner environment. This year, hundreds of millions of people in more than 180 countries are expected to participate in Earth Day activities around the world.

How the First Earth Day Came About

By Senator Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day

What was the purpose of Earth Day? How did it start? These are the questions I am most frequently asked.

Actually, the idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. For several years, it had been troubling me that the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country. Finally, in November 1962, an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, a virtual cinch to put the environment into the political "limelight" once and for all. The idea was to persuade President Kennedy to give visibility to this issue by going on a national conservation tour. I flew to Washington to discuss the proposal with Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who liked the idea. So did the President. The President began his five-day, eleven-state conservation tour in September 1963. For many reasons the tour did not succeed in putting the issue onto the national political agenda. However, it was the germ of the idea that ultimately flowered into Earth Day.

I continued to speak on environmental issues to a variety of audiences in some twenty-five states. All across the country, evidence of environmental degradation was appearing everywhere, and everyone noticed except the political establishment. The environmental issue simply was not to be found on the nation's political agenda. The people were concerned, but the politicians were not.

After President Kennedy's tour, I still hoped for some idea that would thrust the environment into the political mainstream. Six years would pass before the idea that became Earth Day occurred to me while on a conservation speaking tour out West in the summer of 1969. At the time, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, called "teach-ins," had spread to college campuses all across the nation. Suddenly, the idea occurred to me - why not organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment?

I was satisfied that if we could tap into the environmental concerns of the general public and infuse the student anti-war energy into the environmental cause, we could generate a demonstration that would force this issue onto the political agenda. It was a big gamble, but worth a try.

At a conference in Seattle in September 1969, I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air - and they did so with spectacular exuberance. For the next four months, two members of my Senate staff, Linda Billings and John Heritage, managed Earth Day affairs out of my Senate office.

Five months before Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the astonishing proliferation of environmental events:

"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...."

It was obvious that we were headed for a spectacular success on Earth Day. It was also obvious that grassroots activities had ballooned beyond the capacity of my U.S. Senate office staff to keep up with the telephone calls, paper work, inquiries, etc. In mid-January, three months before Earth Day, John Gardner, Founder of Common Cause, provided temporary space for a Washington, D.C. headquarters. I staffed the office with college students and selected Denis Hayes as coordinator of activities.

Earth Day worked because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself.

Did You Know There Are Actually Two Earth Day?s?

International Earth Day

March 20 is the International Earth Day, you may say isn?t Earth Day April 22? Well, yes there are two different Earth Days, The International Earth Day on March 20 and Earth Day on April 22. There are different origins and they both started about the same time.

The March 20 observance of International Earth Day started in 1969 with the proposal to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and it was followed by an Earth Day Proclamation by the City. Then in 1971, at the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations) Conference in San Francisco John McConnell proposed International Earth Day and it was signed by U.N. Secretary General U Thant. To date, a total of 39 world leaders, such as, Yasir Arafat, Yehudi Menuhin, Cosmonaut Anatoli Berezevoi Margaret Mead, and John Gardner have signed leaving space for one more signature.

Margaret Mead wrote an Earth Day Essay featured by International News Service.
This quote by Margaret Mead says it all ?Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.?

On 1974 McConnell, discussed his Earth Right proposal at the United Nations Raw Materials Conference his with Sheik Yamani of Saudi Arabia, and other leading delegates. McConnell later stated at the United Nations Church Center, ?Underlying property rights and sovereignty rights is the fundamental right of every person on Earth to an equal share in Earth?s raw materials and natural resources.?

In 2007 Weekly Reader Research surveyed 1,657 students between ages 6 and 18 from schools around the country. The organization found that 64 percent of America's youth have discussed the environment and global warming in class, and a majority (especially girls) expressed concern.

Still, most people are not freaking out over the prospect of climate change, the Gallup polling organization finds.

"While Americans say they are worried about global warming, they also believe the worst manifestations of the problem are a long way off," writes Lydia Saad of the Gallup News Service in her analysis of a poll taken last month.

Gallup asked Americans how worried they are about seven weather events tied to climate change including hurricanes, droughts, rising ocean levels, tropical diseases, and species extinction.

"Generally speaking, not much more than one-third of Americans are 'very worried' about any of the seven effects of global warming measured in the survey," says Ms. Saad. "However, a solid majority are at least 'somewhat worried' about nearly all of them."

At the same time, Gallup finds, Americans by a wide margin ? 58 percent to 34 percent ? think "the government should put a higher priority on protecting the environment than on increasing energy production." Even though 92 percent think the energy situation in the United States is "serious" (of whom 37 percent say "very serious"), those surveyed favor energy conservation over production by 64-26 percent.

"A lot more people seem willing to go the extra mile, spending a few dollars to help the environment," says Steve Haskins, a Williamstown, Mass., home builder, who's seen a rapid increase in the numbers of requests for sustainable building practices. "Concern about climate is driving it. But it's also cost of energy and cost to heat the house."

Corporate boardrooms are getting the message, too. "There's been a dramatic shift in the business community's attitude toward the environment," says Dan Esty, director of the Yale Center. "Rather than seeing environmental issues as a set of costs to bear, regulation to follow, and risks to manage, companies have begun to focus on the upside, recognizing that society's desire for action on climate change, in particular, will create a huge demand for reducing carbon-content products."

This year, April 22, the annual day to tout personal and community greenness, has a new emphasis for many people: global warming and its predicted effects on Mother Earth.

Around the country and around the world, a batch of recent opinion surveys show swelling public interest in and concern about climate change.

There is "a significant shift in public attitudes toward the environment and global warming [with] fully 83 percent of Americans now saying global warming is a 'serious' problem, up from 70 percent in 2004," reports the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy.

"The last six months have been the most rapid period of change in public awareness and attitudes on climate change that I've ever seen," says William Moomaw, a Tufts University climate expert and coauthor of the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN-sponsored group of scientists.

Demand for climate-change briefings he's delivered for the past five years have jumped in the past year, says Dr. Moomaw. Audiences who were once polite are now actively engaged

Do Your Part to Make a Difference!

? Encouraging your family to recycle on a regular basis is a good way to help the Earth!

? Switching to energy-efficient light bulbs in your house helps to reduce the effects of global warming.

? Every glass bottle you recycle saves enough energy to run a TV for an hour and a half, while recycling an aluminum can saves enough energy to run your TV for three hours!

? Turn out the lights when you leave a room - unless someone's still in there!

? Use re-useable containers for you school lunches and snack

? Plant a tree to replenish the earth. I recently visited a huge magnolia tree my grandmother and I planted 40 years ago at our old home. I recalled every detail of that long-ago day and felt a strong connection with the graceful beauty of that tree. If tree planting isn't feasible where you live, consider donating to a tree-planting organization. Sons of David Foundation is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to planting, maintaining, and protecting as many indigenous trees as possible worldwide. Find out more at www.paulownianow.org

Nature restores our sense of peace and allows us to feel life touching us--it soothes and nourishes our spirits and sometimes frightens us with its power. We make this gift available to our children as we teach them to become respectful of the earth, to walk with awareness, to recycle, and to leave no destructive record of their visit. The natural world is our perpetual, yet ever-changing link with the universe. God, nature, and child all share the same space, connected in the powerful web of life. All parts of the web have importance and purpose. Celebrate Earth Day as an opportunity to become reacquainted with our glorious Mother Earth. You and your child will be blessed by the effort.

A Party for the Earth!

Planet Earth has been around for a very long time. Some call the planet "Mother Earth". This is a good name because the Earth provides shelter and food for our survival, just as a mother protects and provides for her children. Even though the earth is tough and sturdy, it is also fragile.

The Earth's "ecosystems" (ekko-sis-tems) help it to stay in balance. Imagine a picture puzzle that has been put together. The person who has the puzzle can dust it off and take care of it and it will be like new for a long time. But if the puzzle is taken apart and put back together too many times, pieces of it will be torn and bent and probably smudged. Some pieces might even be lost, and then the picture wouldn't be the same at all.

When something damages one part of our ecosystems, it hurts the other parts.

When any living thing on Earth is having problems surviving and continuing its species, it is endangered. If the problems are not solved, there is a chance that it might become extinct. When something becomes extinct, it means that it doesn't exist anymore. Over the years, many mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects and plants have become extinct. Quite a few are on the endangered list now. Could there ever come a time when Earth becomes extinct?

Earth has always been a natural environment but, through the years, it has had to put up with what mankind's progress has done to it. Factory smokestacks pour pollution into the air; cars and other vehicles add even more fumes into the atmosphere; waste materials get dumped here and there and everywhere; and animals and other living things lose their habitats because construction needs to take place in order to keep up with the needs of a growing population.

We have taken a natural environment and have been turning it into an un-natural one. But we can't stop progress and we know the world's population is going to get larger. However, what mankind CAN do is find better ways to help the Earth survive along with us. We have been depending on this planet for decade after decade and century after century. Now it seems that it is depending on us to make better choices and find better answers. That's what Earth Day is all about. It is a party for Mother Earth. It is also a chance to discover what each of us can do to help her stay strong and healthy.

"Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure." (Earth Trustee Formula, International Earth Day Site)

?Man is the only species which can save another species from extinction? (David W. Morris)

Posted by panampro at 8:05 AM CDT

Updated: Sunday, 19 April 2009 9:17 AM CDT

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Dr. Nitish PriyadarshiTags: global warming, forest fires, paulownia, ENOCIS, Enoch Olinga College, reforestation, environment

April 01, 2009

Imagining Earth without forests is a horrifying picture to conceive. As its knowledge base has expanded and deepened, mankind has realized that forests are extremely important to the survival of humans and other life forms on earth. Yet deforestation in the form of forest fire continues unabated in different parts of the world. According to the World Resource Institute based at Washington DC (U.S.A.), the rates of rainforest destruction are 2.4 acre per second, 149 acres per minute, and 214,000 acres per day and 78 million acres per year.

The forest is also vital as a watershed. Because of the thick humus layer, loose soil, and soil-retaining powers of the trees' long roots, forests are vitally important for preserving adequate water supplies. Almost all water ultimately feeds from Forest Rivers and lakes and from forest-derived water tables. In addition, the forest provides shelter for wildlife, recreation and aesthetic renewal for people, and irreplaceable supplies of oxygen and soil nutrients. Deforestation, particularly in the tropical rain forests, has become a major environmental concern, as it can destabilize the earth's temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels.

Besides being the source for food, plants help us in a number of other ways. Animals, including humans, inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; plants take up carbon dioxide and in return they release oxygen ? this exchange is very important. Forests in particular act as a huge carbon dioxide sink. If there were not enough trees to absorb carbon dioxide, its accumulation would make the environment poisonous. Over the last 150 years, the amount of carbon dioxide has increased.

While all living plant matter absorbs CO2 as part of photosynthesis, trees process significantly more than smaller plants due to their large size and extensive root structures. In essence, trees, as kings of the plant world, have much more "woody biomass" to store CO2 than smaller plants, and as a result are considered nature's most efficient "carbon sinks."

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), tree species that grow quickly and live long are ideal carbon sinks.

An excellent species to serve as a carbon sink is paulownia. It is fast growing, fire resistant and its large leaves can absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide.

The Enoch Olinga College (ENOCIS) is experimenting with paulownia in its agricultural extension center in Panama. They are using paulownia to provide alternate income sources for farmers of extreme poverty.

Forests are carbon stores, and they are carbon dioxide sinks when they are increasing in density or area. In Canada's boreal forests as much as 80% of the total carbon is stored in the soils as dead organic matter. A 40-year study of African, Asian, and South American tropical forests by the University of Leeds, shows tropical forests absorb about 18% of all carbon dioxide added by fossil fuels, thus buffering some effects of global warming. Tropical reforestation can mitigate global warming until all available land has been reforested with mature forests. About 70-80 billion tons of carbon dioxide is fixed annually by terrestrial and aquatic photoautotrophs.

Life expectancy of forests varies throughout the world, influenced by tree species, site conditions and natural disturbance patterns. In some forests carbon may be stored for centuries, while in other forests carbon is released with frequent stand replacing fires.

From the last hundred years forests are being reduced drastically due to forest fire, the most common hazard in forests. Though the forests fires are as old as the forests

themselves, but in recent years the incidence of forest fire, either man made or natural, has increased many fold.

They pose a threat not only to the forest wealth but also to the entire regime to fauna and flora seriously disturbing the bio-diversity and the ecology and environment of a region. During summer, when there is no rain for months, the forests become littered with dry senescent leaves and twinges, which could burst into flames ignited by the slightest spark.

The burning of forest trees gives off not only carbon dioxide but also a host of other, noxious gases (Green house gases) such as carbon monoxide, methane, hydrocarbons, nitric oxide and nitrous oxide, that lead to global warming and ozone layer depletion. Consequently, thousands of people suffered from serious respiratory problems due to these toxic gases. Burning forests and grasslands also add to already serious threat of global warming. Recent measurement suggest that biomass burning may be a significant global source of methyl bromide, which is an ozone depleting chemical.

Wild land fires are taking tons of carbon out of storage and feeding it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, a primary greenhouse gas.

Usually it is cars, factories and power stations that are most often mentioned as sources of carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas which traps heat in the atmosphere. Trees, considered the "lungs of the planet", soak the gas up. But what if they burn?

Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow and climatologists see forests as carbon "sinks" - places where large amounts of that element are stored. When they burn, whether in forest fires or as logs in a stove, it is released.

In the atmosphere, CO2 is the main gas which contributes to the greenhouse effect - trapping the earth's heat which would otherwise be radiated into space.

The latest UN report on global warming says temperatures will rise by a best estimate of 1.8 to 4.0 Celsius (3 to 7 Fahrenheit) this century and sea levels will rise by between 18 and 59 centimeters. The resulting hotter, drier summers.

Bushfires that have scorched Australia's Victoria state released millions of tons of carbon dioxide and forest fires could become a growing source of carbon pollution as the planet warms.

A raging forest fire in the Saranda forest, one of the largest Sal forests in Asia, of Jharkhand State of India has become a cause of concern for locals as well as the authorities. According to recent reports large area has been covered with fire. From the last two decades we already are seeing the effects of global warming in Jharkhand State. From last several years Jharkhand is facing extremes of the climate. Earlier thick forest cover played major role in absorbing excess carbon dioxide and balancing the temperature difference. But unfortunately due to deforestation in large scale in Jharkhand, carbon dioxide may have increased in the atmosphere many fold.

During the 1997-98 El Nino 20M hectares burnt. This one event released 2.6 billion tons of carbon - the highest annual increase since measurements began. They were so massive that the output of CO2 from combustion reached 40% of the world total. This happened again in 2006.

Indonesian fires have shown us that catastrophic events in small areas can release vast amounts that have been locked away for millennia.

The WWF said about 10 million hectares of forest were burned in the 1997 forest fires, releasing about 2.57 gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making Indonesia the world's third-largest emitter after the United States and China.

There has been a four-fold jump in the average number of wildfires beginning, a process that began in the mid-1980s. The total area being burned is six and a half times greater, and the length of the bush fire season has been extended by 75 percent. In South-East Asia, in Russia and in the Amazon the extent of bush fires has increased.

Sources:

http://himachal.gov.in/home/HomeGuards/pdfs/forest%20Fires.pdf

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/greek-huge-forest-fires-could-be-co2-threat/214144/0

http://nidm.gov.in/Forest_Fires2_ii.asp

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0858185.html

http://www.planetextinction.com/planet_extinction_trees.htm

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:http://redapes.org/news-updates/major-forest-fires-in-sight-as-more-hotspots-detected/

http://www.enocis.org

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sink

http://environment.about.com/od/whatyoucando/a/best_trees.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia

http://www.paulownianow.org

http://www.panampro.com

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