Noted: Plants’ ability to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is a crucial piece of our continued survival. The fastest, cheapest, most efficient way to bring down greenhouse gases and mitigate some of the effects of climate change is to grow more trees around the world and preserve the ones we have, said Donald Waller, a botany and environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “We could essentially be absorbing more carbon than generated by all the cars and trucks on our highways.”