Like one of the seven dwarfs, the forest behind the Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) in Falmouth, Mass., is small, but remarkably hard working. On a walk through its beech- and oak-covered acres, it’s easy to see science in progress: a soil pit that exposes layers of nutrient-rich turf; foot-wide PVC pipes used to help measure the carbon dioxide that emerges from the soil; scattered laundry baskets that collect fallen leaves for analysis.

The simple tools are mainly for demonstration purposes, and offer just a hint of the work WHRC is conducting in other areas of the Northeast. But they still provide valuable clues about an invisible—and potentially world-changing—process going on all around them.

Every day, in this and every forest, trees absorb carbon dioxide as part of photosynthesis. Yes, the photosynthesis you learned about in seventh grade. And yes, the carbon dioxide you hear about almost daily as the prime culprit in climate change. In essence, trees are able to absorb and store (or “sequester”) the very gas that has been fingered for altering our atmosphere. Even products made from trees, especially durable ones like furniture and lumber, lock carbon away. Which would seem to make trees climate heroes...if only it were that simple.

As researchers in the Northeast and around the globe dive into studying how forests store carbon, political and economic debates are budding. Which type of forest is best at absorbing carbon, old growth or new? What method of forest management yields the most efficient storage? Should landowners be compensated for the carbon their trees accumulate, and if so, how? And if global deforestation and climate change march onward, will any of this even matter?

They are not easy questions, nor are they easy to address separately. As naturalist John Muir famously wrote, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” And when it comes to the universe of carbon sequestration, that’s truer than ever. But an understanding of the current conversation could help you see the woods around you in a whole new light.

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