If you've heard of carbon offsetting, you've probably heard that planting trees is one way to offset the amount of carbon dioxide, a dangerous greenhouse gas that causes global warming. But did you ever think of what trees are best to plant?

I didn't really think there was a difference. So imagine my surprise when I begin to read a blog post about an F1 hybrid and carbon dioxide and immediately think of some new Ford hybrid pickup truck, only to find out it's actually a hybrid tree that captures much more carbon dioxide than other trees.

The Hokkaido Forest Research Institute and Hokkaido Forest Products Research Institute researched on the Dahurian Larch tree family and found that the F1 hybrid of the tree can store 30 percent more than regular larches. It comes from pairing Dahurian Larch as seed trees and larch trees as pollen providers, and is more resistant to mice and weather, and even grows faster than regular larches.

Hokkaido plans to plant about 20,000 trees a year until April, and then will hike it up to about 300,000 a year.

Most tree planting and carbon offsetting organizations I've seen don't specifically state which trees are being planted. Of course trees must be planted in proper environments to ensure they can live in certain soils and weather conditions, and so as not to invade other species' turf, so to speak. But I'm reassured by research like this that will hopefully maximize the efficacy of the trees we pay to plant.