The plan estimates that «
every fully vegetated acre of green infrastructure would provide total annual benefits of $ 8.5 in reduced energy demand, $ 166 in reduced CO2 emissions, $ 1,044 in improved air quality, and $ 4,725 in increased property value.»
In the article and subsequent aimiable exchange with Nordhaus, Dyson touted no fewer than three possible crackpot mega-schemes as contingency «low - cost backstops» against global warming: «carbon - eating trees» covering
fully a quarter of Earth's
vegetated land mass, «carbon - eating phytoplankton in the oceans», and «snow - dumping in East Antarctica» (via «a giant array of tethered kites or balloons so as to block the westerly flow on one side only.»)