Climate change is a pressing issue that has been impacting the United States for a long time. Everyday, environmentalists are finding new solutions and strategies in order to win the fight against global warming and the rapid growth in climate change through extensive research and studies.

Recently, Douglass Jacobs, associate professor of forestry and natural resources at Purdue University, conducted a study resulting in a new and “truly green” solution to the issue of climate change. Professor Jacobs came up with the proposal of creating a new hybrid of the American chestnut tree, which would not only help revive the endangered species, but also help reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

According to Professor Jacobs’s research, the American chestnut tree grows much faster and larger than any other hardwood tree species and absorbs more carbon than other trees over the same period of time. His solution to the climate change issue – creating a new hybrid tree that would bring various benefits to the environment – is extremely innovative. In his research, Jacobs compared the chestnut tree species to a variety of other species of trees and found that American chestnut grew faster, had as much as three times more above-ground biomass than other species at the same point of development, and also absorbed more carbon than any of the other trees.

"The American chestnut is an incredibly fast-growing tree. Generally the faster a tree grows, the more carbon it is able to sequester. And when these trees are harvested and processed, the carbon can be stored in the hardwood products for decades, maybe longer,” said Jacobs, whose article is featured in the June issue of Forest Ecology and Management.