An ancient tree once helped keep a Greek army alive. It may now help curb global warming
In Anabasis, the soldier and historian Xenophon told the story of the Ten Thousand, a large Greek mercenary army assembled by Cyrus the Younger to seize control of the Persian Empire from his brother Artaxerxes II.
After Cyrus was killed in 401 BC outside of Babylon during the Battle of Cunaxa, the Greek army retreated to the shores of the Black Sea and then back home. The remaining 6,000 men were able to survive the arduous journey because they had a great supply of the fruit of a particular tree -- the chestnut.
Now, according to a recent Scientific American story, scientists at Purdue University believe that the American species of the tree, Castanea dentata, could help curtail climate change, being "an excellent sponge for greenhouse gases" that can live up to 300 years. Trees worldwide store about a sixth of carbon dioxide emissions, but scientists believe they have the capacity to store much more if more properly managed -- and not cut down at the current rate of deforestation.
Among Greek scholars, Xenophon's classic story of the Ten Thousand may be an old chestnut. Perhaps one day in the future, the story about trees preventing 21st-century anthropogenic climate change will be one too.
GET INVOLVED
- Sign a Greenpeace letter to Kimberly-Clark CEO Thomas Falk that says you will not purchase Kleenex, Cottonelle or any Kimberly-Clark products as long as he continues to buy from logging operations that are environmentally destructive and socially irresponsible
- Download the Greenpeace Tissue Guide so you can purchase tissue and toilet paper that is manufactured from recycled paper -- not old growth forests
- Support Trees for the Future, a non-profit organization that has been helping communities around the world plant trees
- Protect an acre of rainforest through Conservation International
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