Thomas M. Bonnicksen

In the following viewpoint, Thomas M. Bonnicksen maintains that the United States can reduce carbon dioxide emissions as required under the Kyoto Protocol, a global climate agreement, by improving the health of its forests and planting trees on fallow land. According to Bonnicksen, forests act as “carbon sinks” and absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. The capacity of trees to soak up carbon dioxide could cut in half the fossil-fuel emissions reductions required of the United States, in the author’s opinion. Bonnicksen is a professor of forest science at Texas A&M University.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. In the author’s opinion, how might the carbon-sink effect of planting trees reduce pressure on American companies?
2. What evidence included in recent studies has demonstrated...