Cloning California Redwoods to Save the Planet From Global Warming
A non-profit environmental group from Michigan, Archangel Ancient Tree Archive is on a mission to save the planet from global warming by planting ancient trees to absorb carbon dioxide. California's ancient redwoods, giant sequoias, which were cut down over a century ago have been cloned and are being planted in countries all over the world including Australia, Germany, the U.K and Canada.
The group wants to reforest the planet and has chosen the largest and oldest trees of all times, the California redwoods. Such massive trees can do most to absorb carbon dioxide, one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. However, only 5% of the total number of giant sequoias still exists.
For over 20 years the founders of the company have been searching for strong specimens from all over the US that have endured for a long time. They claim that the best genetic material can be found in them.
One such stump, thought to be 4,000 years old, is still producing small twigs. These twigs are cultivated in jars in a lab, where nutrients and hormones are added. They are monitored there until they are big enough to be planted out in the open.
The group has cultivated thousands of trees that are at different stages in their development. Now they want to find the right places to plant them and guarantee that people around the world will care for them.
Some months ago the first 250 trees were planted in Oregon. The trees will be planted in cooler regions as the climate gets warmer. The project is part of a big campaign to plant a hundred million trees in the US by 2020.
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Words
- absorb = take up
- ancient = old
- campaign = movement
- carbon dioxide = gas that is produced when animals breathe out or when carbon is burned in the air; it is one of the greenhouse gases
- care = look after
- century = a hundred years
- claim = to say that something is true
- clone = to make an exact copy of a plant or animal by reproducing its cell
- cultivate = grow
- development = growth
- endure = last, live on
- environment = about the world around us
- founder = person who starts a company or organization
- genetic = related to part of a cell that controls how something grows and the way it looks
- guarantee = make sure that something happens
- hormone = chemical that a plant or animal produces which influences the way it grows or behaves
- however = but
- including = also
- jar = glass container with a wide top
- main = most important
- massive = very big, large
- mission = campaign, movement
- monitor = watch, observe
- non-profit = without the aim of earning money
- nutrient = chemical that gives plants and animals what they need to grow
- reforest = plant new trees
- responsible = the reason for
- specimen = an example of a plant or animal
- stage = phase
- stump =the bottom of a tree that is left over after the tree is cut down
- twig = small branch of a tree