Trees can often appear as little more than verdant wallpaper, a fuzzy green background for humans' comings and goings. But governments and nonprofit organizations worldwide are now talking up trees as potential saviors in slowing climate change. If only it were that simple. As our reporters explain in this special issue on trees and climate change, simply saying "add a trillion more trees!" fails to address the complexities of biology, ecosystems and human behavior. At Science News, we've been thinking about trees and the roles they play on our planet for quite a while. This package of stories is the result of months of work by many writers, editors and designers identifying the big issues at stake and researching the state of the science. We wanted to find out whether this burst of enthusiasm for planting trees would end up being yet another climate quick-fix gimmick, or a lasting solution.
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