EDN Issue 128
Published
2015-07-22
In This Issue:
Excerpt: Carbon Farming: Building Soils and Stabilizing the Climate
Excerpted from the forthcoming Carbon Farming: Stabilizing the Climate with Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agricultural Practices by Eric Toensmeier
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"Carbon sequestration is the act of moving excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into long-lived storage. In agriculture, this means storing it in the soil and in perennial plants like trees (Nair et al. 2010). Carbon farming is a term that describes these carbon-sequestering practices.
"Here’s how it works. During photosynthesis, plants take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and turn it into carbohydrates inside their cells. Some of this carbon stays in the biomass of the plant, like the trunks, roots, and branches of trees. About 50% of the dry weight of plants is carbon. Carbon can be stored for decades or even centuries in perennial plants like fruit and nut trees...
Learn more about how climate change is impacting the world's poorest people and the effects of Carbon Farming by reading the full article.