Them sustainable and working and active, we really have the best tool that is out there that is widespread, its natural, and it is very economical to sequester carbon out of the atmosphere. You come to this as a forester yourself, the only one in congress, graduate of yale, master of forestry there must have been music to your ears when you heard the president getting behind this. Its near and dear to me. Look at the planet theres 3 trillion trees on the planet. We have 300 billion of them here in the u. S. And we do a good job of taking care of our forests here. We can always do better and thats part of what is in the bill. Not only to plant a lot of trees but also to take care of the forests we have. And then the neat thing about trees is they produce wood, which by its raw weight is 50 pure carbon so when we harvest a tree and make a product the car been says in wood for as long as the structure is there. This table, part of the wood, you see wood around the studio here, that carbon was pull out of the atmosphere decade or centuries ago exhibits remains in that wood, so this bill has a component to it to promote sustainable building practices, which can do a go a long ways towards reducing atmospheric carbon and storing the carbon. When you think what forests can do. We can sequester carbon in the trees and harvest the trees and we have an endless amount of storage and pull carbon out of the atmosphere, goes through the forest into Building Products and stored there and people are catching on to this, especially in my state where we have a lot of beautiful forests, good Sustainable Forestry practices. The university of arkansas where i did my undergraduate work work in engineering, they built two fivestory mass timber dormitories. Theyre the largest wooden building project in the country. Are those as safe as a steel or absolute limit put the Design Standards out and have to meet the fire codes. Theres been a lot of testing on using wood in buildings. If you think of a big log in a fire, it chars from the out but takes a long time to burn into the middle, and the neat thing about wood is it heats up and retains its strength. Thats one over first questions asked. Just up the road from the university of arkansas you have walmart building their under Corporate Headquarters and they said they are going to build it all out of sustainably grown arkansas wood, which is good for local economies there, too. So its for instance, that walmart facility will have about 17 millionpounds of carbon success at sequestered in it. Its a billing thats more like a college campus. Were talking we welcome your calls and comments 2027488001, rubbles. 2027488000 for democrats and independents and others, 202 7488002. How can just first of all whats the number a trillion trees worldwide. Whats the estimated number this book would propose in the u. S. Theres 300 billion trees in the u. S. Thats 10 of the worlds population of trees. If we were to do our fair share, which i think well do more than that, it would be 100 billion trees over 30 years, or 3. 3 billion trees a year. But the cool thing is were already planting 21 2 trillion trees a year in the u. S. And well doing the else and get the public involved. A fifth grade for industry challenge and want to forestry challenge and want to help youngsters understand how photosynthesis works and the sustainability and Good Building practices and part of the program will be to supply seedlings so it can be a classroom experience and hands on experience and were opening that up for nonprofits and corporations in in ngos. They can come together and help supply the trees and we are getting overwhelming response. The trees planted annually, who is the largest the federal government, industry . Industry by far plants more trees than nibblings. Talk but sustainable forestries. In my home state of arkansas we plant three or four trees for every tree we harvest. And trees were reproducing long before we learn how to plant seeds in a nursery and transplant the seedlings. Trees can cause Natural Regeneration to occur and you can get more trees sprouting than we could ever plant. So we can get more trees but doing Natural Regeneration on our federal lands. I know its more of a worldwide issue but when you as a forester look at issues like the amazon and the rain forest and the clearcutting and the fires that happen in a place like that, how concerned are you that sort of thing might happen in the u. S. . Well, we have seen that in the past in the u. S. We didnt understand for industry. Its new science really. You mentioned i went to the yale Forestry School. The first Forestry School in the country start i by gifford pi nchot. We figure out the science pinned for industry and how to do it correctly here. Part of the trillion tree acs to provide assistance to countries who may be behind. We want to stop deforestation. Forests are the best karma dating carbon aiding mechanism we have. Sunshine excites the water and Carbon Dioxide and causes the because as the hydrogen to go over to the Carbon Dioxide and releases oxygen into the atmosphere and stores the carbon in the tree for as long as the long as theein as wood is maintained. When the tree burns up in a forest fire the carbon goes back into the atmosphere and when it falls over and dies it goes back as carbon and usually its methane when its chewed up by an insect. We can can intervene in data and take the carbon stored in buildings, use the wood for a lot of different projects and reduce the carbon in the atmosphere. The Carbon Dioxide since we have been measuring actual atmospheric carbone dioxide sine 1958 in hawaii, three to 15 parts per million and now 411 parts per million. Using air pockets we know going back thousands of years its never been above. Parts per million. Host you are concerned about manmade Climate Change. Guest theres no question since 1800 to put more carbon into the atmosphere so you hear a lot about we have to stop putting, carbon and the atmosphere but people rarely stop and think whether we do about the carbonates already in thene air . How are you going to get it out of the atmosphere . It tree. Host we have lots of calls per to go to linda in minnesota. Caller i am open northern minnesota. In i was in the force. Im 65 i years old and both of y parents worked in the forest industry. I planted my first tree when i was 1yearold and ive continue planting trees every year since then. I must say after 65 years its finally great that the republicans are on board and think that this ison a good idea but trees are not the only thing that are causing Climate Change. Lets talk about trump turning back the clean water. You want clean air for your kids to breathe that you do not want clean water for your kids to drink. My suggestion for you if you are serious is get ahold of greta because you want to talk about what the young kids want in this country, they want greta so listened to her, get some ideas from her and lets try to move forward and thank you sirir. Guest thank you and id into bemidji minnesota even in the wintertime when its frozen cold up there but im glad you mentioned water. We think about trees in terms wf Teddy Roosevelt calling it the lungs of the earth but if you look at the roosevelt early speeches i just went back and reread when he addressed the First AmericanForest Congress in 1905. He talked extensively about how Important Trees are for water and i have said all along we think ofe trees as the lungs of the earth but l they are like te kidneys of the earth as well. We wanted water in the west and how important it was to protect the watersheds in the timber. We know that new york city and austin their water comes from sustainably managed forests. Over twothirds of the Drinking Water in United States comes from forest areas so you are exactly right on taking care of water and thats the beauty of our forests. Its not only good for clean air we get clean water and Wildlife Habitat and all the other benefits that go along with the healthy forests. Host bogota wholesome texas next job on the republican line. Hi g there. Caller goodor morning. We have a lot of trees. They take out the trees and they put more in than they take out. We have always have that and its good for our environment here. Previous caller on Climate Change and trump they want to political issue. Where i come from, im 50 years old but ive studied the bible and the earth is the lords and the fullness thereof and this is his planet. Hes not going to let anything happen to it. He holds the deed to its so its wanting to do one thing to one industry and think its going to help with the problem is youre going to get the rest of the world to do anything. China and india will do nothing and if they dont we can do all we want to do do one bit of good. I like to hear your comment on that. Thank you. Guest you are my neighbor. My district borders on arkansas, another beautiful part of the country in east texas and the piney woods but i agree with you that god is sovereign but he also tells us to be good stewards with what he gives us to care taken thats what we should do regardless of what others around the world do. I think we can be leaders in showing them how to be good stewards. Thats what the trillion trees act is about. Take care of our responsibility at home and take care of the force landed the timber that we have but we also have a program to help educate other countries and i can tell you in ethiopia planted 350 Million Trees in one day. You can plant a d lot of trees f you have the gumption to do that or they think you can see changes around the world and you are exactly right most Greenhouse Gas emissions are coming from china and india right now people dont realize the u. S. Is leading the world in reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions. We have reduced their Greenhouse Gas emissions more than the next 12 countries combined in a paris climate agreement tree theres a lot more we can do but the trees are the obvious answer i think the first big step in addressing the carbon in the atmosphere. Host the Natural Resources committee and how much traction as your committee getting in more broadly in a house . Guest im getting a lot of good feedback about the bill and talking to the democrat cosponsoring the bill. I think people with what we are trying to achieve with this bill we are in washington d. C. I think its solid on the facts and solid on the research. I can bring you stacks of Research Papers and its interesting since ive been working on the seven reaching out to academics and ive been flooded with Research Showing the most effective thing we can do to mitigate carbon is to have healthy forests and we are not burning them up in and forest fires. We are growing more would in a forest where wee are using the product from the forest and we will generate thesee residuals, chips and sawdust when you saw the lumber. Thatshe energy that can be used as a renewable source of energy. Think about instead of just imagine instead of millions of acres of timber land of the west going up in flames we go in and we thin out some of these overgrown forests and we capture that energy and that keeps fossil fuels in the ground when we do that. Again its not the only solution but i think its a great first step. Host letss hear from betty next in ellsworth kansas on the democrat line. Caller good morning, sorry for my voice. My husband is 75 and he spent a log or all his life. We have just a little oneman sawmills or we are just a small operation. Our passion right now is that our cities, our counties and their states, when those companies, i mean when their workers cut trees after a storm or foror whatever reason they jt take those to the landfill. He has asked them why dont you try to get some use out of that timber . Let people come in and cut it for firewood, take it to their sawmill and use it for their woodworking projects and they say oh no we cant do that because it would compete with their lumberyards, our businesses. I think if we would do something on a city, county and state level it would show a message of conservationon. It would show a message of caring for the environment. That is just our passion right here, just a small issue but we think it could be big if you think of it all over the United States. Host led you brought it up that he, thank you. Guest thank you betty and conservation starts with the individual and what you are talking about is an issue that needs to be addressed. There is a lot of technology being developed for people can take municipal followup ways that ends upgo in a landfill and they can make crude out of that and it can be refined into petroleum. There are other ways that you can use wood residue to generate electricity and heat. Research in those areas and exciting thing and where promoting this and this legislation is more research and development on biodegradable plastics andel biochemicals. Its a world of opportunity out there to make a lot of the things that we used on a daily basis to make it a lot more sustainable by using woodta as a resource for the input into the process. Host you mention people would, some will disagree that this is the pushback from the Technology Review from m. I. T. Their headline trees are a good idea but it could be a bigger climate destruction. They write guest trees can and will be sequestering carbon already already in the atmosphere but thats all the more reason we cant rely entries and expand them for the separate Monumental Task of cutting emissions from our Energy Transportation and agriculture sector. Planting anything but a cynical effort to dampen growing calls for sort of regulations and taxes required to bring about those changes. Guess who id love to debate whoever is saying that because i dont see the whole picture. I go back to what do you do about the carbon is in the atmosphere click show me a technology or tool thats more efficient and more economical than a tree to pull the carbon out of the atmosphere and stored for long periods of time. One thing that people are missing that the argument we are doing anything to reduce o emissions look at the sustainability tax credit thats in the bill. It provides a tax credit thats based on the score of the sustainability of the building. The input is how much energy went into manufacturing thehe product andne transporting it to the job site. Thats going to cut down on carbon emissions. Its courses on how much energy does it take to operate and maintain the building. How do you put more efficient appliances lighting and heating and cooling in it. That cuts down on emissions and carbon. Finally how much carbon is stored in the structure over time . I would lovee to debate with anybody how that does not reduce the amount of carbon going into the atmosphere. The focus a lot of transportation tools through transportation combined planes trains and automobiles ships farm tractors, 27 of the Greenhouse Gas emissions come from transportation and 50 of it comes from industry and electrical generation. We always think its easier to see cars moving around and say that for all the missions are coming from but its not. This bill directly affects the amount of carbon thats being released into the atmosphere and it does more than anything i have seen to pull carbon out of the atmosphere. Host o you come to those with expertise in forestry. What first got you y interestedn this . Guest i grew up in arkansas. We have natural forest everywhere and ive spent a lot of time in the force but my sunday schoolteacher when i was a young man was a world war ii veteran and he had come back from the poor. He was in the first graduating class at the university of Arkansas School of forestry which is the only Forestry Program in the state. I have Great Respect for him and went hunting and fishing with him. He knew everything about the Natural Environment around us. I wanted to be like mr. Culpepperli. I studied engineering as an undergraduate and got an opportunity to go to yell and studyn forestry and it was a passion of mine. My wife calls me a tree nerd so i guess it has drawbacks as well. Host michael is next on her democrats line. Go ahead. Caller hey how are you . Just a couple of things that i really find the comment about mr. Trump i find it curious this is happening during anth electin year. Why hasnt anything been done in the last three years and what is trump going to do plant trees on top of the pipeline that hes allowing in america a . Give me some understanding why this is happening nine months before the election and whats been done in the last three years which i know is absolutely zip. Host michael. Guest this is something ive been working on pretty much my whole time in congress. Ive worked on Sustainable Forestry issues since ive been elected in 2014. For me itss not something that just started. You bring up a great point. There are places, we can plant trees that need treason part of this bill looks at urban forestry. We can do a lot better job of planting trees in urban areas. Urban areas most of them used to be forced to do and we have cleared those forests. We can look at marginal agriculturale land and we can also look at things like wetlands and we have got to make sure we have the right species and doing the proper science in planting these trees but then again while we are doing this and what is the motive behind it i would ask you this question what is a better alternative . I dont believe there is a better alternative in moving atmospheric carbon than to plant trees and keep our forests healthy and sustainable and to use those products in