Reforestation Is The Bomb: Retrofitted Military Cargo Planes Help Plant Trees

Earth needs trees, but humans and our pesky usurpation keep cutting them down.  But what if we could use that incessant drive to conquer as a force for good forestry?  Taking over land is always a major objective of warfare, so why not use a weapon of war to help improve vast swaths of land?

Botany has never looked so badass.
(Image courtesy xplanes.tumblr.com.)

According to minds.com, it is possible to retro-fit warplanes for use as an entirely new kind of bomber.  "Seed bombing" could blast down the sources for 900,000 trees a day...certainly enough, even with error, to keep the atmosphere's oxygen fresh and to provide ample habitats for creatures of all kinds.

Aerospace company Lockheed Martin have teamed up with a company called Aerial Reforestation Inc. to apply this idea.  They work together to retrofit Hercules C-130 cargo planes to "bomb" cones full of seeds into the Earth.  These cones "bury themselves in the soil of a deforested area at the same distance that one would want them to be if planting the trees by hand. The tree bombs don’t explode on impact but rather their casing dissolves over time and they contain a measure of fertilizer and enough moisture to ensure that the tree takes root."

Incoming seedling assault!
(Image courtesy szantofold.hu.)

Some trees can grow as much as 3 feet per year once they've reached a height of 5 feet, and many can reach maturity in around a decade.  This provides very decent reforestation for areas that have been hit by lumberjacks, or for areas where seed might not previously have reached, like a desert.  Various other types of plants can also join the party.  According to True Activist, this practice has a history dating back to 1930.

Will out future farmers find themselves leaving the arduous work of hand-planting trees to the likes of these seed-bombing cargo planes, or even drones?  It could be more efficient and expansive for everyone involved.  And who knows, maybe the idea could help us colonize somewhere REALLY new...

Could we kick this off from orbit?  The future awaits...
(Image courtesy slideshare.net.)