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Ross Reid, aka Nerdy About Nature 🌲🤓🤙
@nerdyaboutnature

273,887 followers

Just wanted to repost this one to remind all the conspiracy theorists out there that geoengineering is not a new thing - it’s been happening in nature for millennia, and pine trees are some of the OG’s. Did you know that the lovely smell of a pine forest on a hot summers day can change the weather…? Trees get energy through photosynthesis, which requires sunlight and water, yet as temps rise and soils dry out, their ability to photosynthesize begins to wane. Sensing impending drought, these trees release different terpenes, which are common molecules in plants that create distinct smells - think fresh oranges or lavender. Plants use different terpenes for different things like deterring pests, attracting pollinators, or signal that their fruit is ripe, but in the case of these pine trees, the goal of these terpenes is to create rain. The most abundant of these terpenes is alpha-pinene, which most commonly comes from pine trees, and when these tiny little lightweight alpha-pinene molecules drift up into the atmosphere they stick to molecules of ozone (O3) which causes them to stick to others such as evaporated H2O, forming the aerosol base of a future raindrop. In other words, this lovely scent of pine trees helps condense evaporated water to form clouds which will rain on this forest to provide the trees moisture that they need to continue photosynthesizing, while also reducing risk of wildfires. This condensed evaporated water is *gasp* the same thing that forms when planes fly in the sky, leaving trails behind them. It’s a pretty incredible feature that has evolved over millennia in these hot forests to help them survive, yet it only really works when there are large enough tracts of intact mature forest to release significant quantities of these terpenes to have an effect on the atmosphere, and clearcutting forests reduces canopy spread which makes this phenomenon less effective, thus increasing desertification and wildfire risk. So in a changing climate, it’s probably best to keep our forests intact and these good smells around! #climate #evolution #nature #bioengineering #chemtrails #edu #science #wildfire #funfacts #climatechange #conspiracy