We can't count on plants to slow down global warming

[appal_jack]

1. While this is very worth studying, I suspect that this study is not the last word on the topic.

Last edited Thu May 15, 2014, 06:33 PM - Edit history (4)

While this is very worth studying, I suspect that this study is not the last word on the topic. On agricultural lands, the entire history to this point has tilted toward burning, destroying, and otherwise reducing soil carbon. Various exciting cover-cropping, reduced-tillage-organic, and soil humification strategies being pioneered by people such as the Rodale Institute offer significant tools that could help turn this trend around if widely adopted. Also, pastured systems and rotational grazing seem to significantly build soil humates over time as animals are moved over perennial polyculture meadow grounds. Then there is the bio-char work being done by Cornell University, etc. Some of the fringe-ier deep ecology types actually oppose bio-char work out of a fear that it could deplete our O2 supply if widely adopted. Naturally, I think that those people have a poor understanding of basic math, and especially orders of magnitude. But I do believe that a bio-char, cover-cropping, reduced-tillage-organic, and soil humification-centric agriculture, adopted across much of the world, could not only decrease atmospheric CO2, but also radically improve agricultural productivity and sustainability.

K&R,

-app