Carbon Sinks: How Nature Itself Can Fight Climate Change
At the crucible of any climate change policy is a version of the phrase “to reduce the amount of dangerous greenhouse gases in the atmosphere”. Simply stated, climate change is driven by greenhouse gasses (primarily carbon dioxide) that continue to fill the atmosphere and warm the planet. Any solution to stopping or mitigating global warming relies on humans limiting the amount of dangerous greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere.
Common solutions to fighting climate change include reducing pollution, burning fewer fossil fuels (which release greenhouse gases), and installing large amounts of renewable energy systems. While these are all important portions of climate change, none of these solutions address one key question: What about the carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases that are currently in the atmosphere?
Since 1970 global carbon dioxide emissions have increased by 90% with over 78% of those emissions stemming from fossil fuel combustion and industrial practices. When carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, such as methane, are released in the atmosphere, they do not disappear, rather they accumulate. So even if by tomorrow the world was suddenly powered entirely by renewable energy and pollution magically disappeared, the atmosphere would still contain the greenhouse gases that have built up since the Industrial Revolution. As it stands today, the average atmospheric carbon dioxide is 410 parts per million, which is higher than at any point in history over the last 800,000 years and more than enough to cause significant damage to the world.
Renewable energy sources and limiting pollution are excellent tactics to curb future greenhouse gas emissions, but immediate action needs to be taken to remove carbon dioxide presently in the atmosphere. Luckily, nature is bountiful with carbon sinks, which are natural deposits, such as forests and oceans, that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon sinks are incredibly powerful carbon dioxide removers, as a single acre of forest can remove 5,000 pounds of carbon a year and the world’s oceans absorb over 2.6 billion tons of carbon a year.
Analysis: Climate change policy needs to devote significant attention to conserving and restoring carbon sinks across the world. Additionally, new carbon sinks need to be created and tailored to specific geographic regions to increase the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere.
Investing in carbon sinks needs to be a crucial part of global strategies to mitigate climate change. The transition away from fossil fuels to 100% clean energy will take decades and during that time greenhouse gases will continue to accumulate. During this transition, carbon sinks will serve as a crucial buffer to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and limit the amount of greenhouse gases warming the atmosphere. For carbon sinks to maximize their potential to mitigate global warming, a two-pronged policy intervention must be executed by countries worldwide.
1. Conserve and restore current carbon sinks.
Some of the largest carbon sinks, such as the Amazon Forest or Great Barrier Reef, are under threat by anthropocentric activities. Countries across the world need to consider increased protections for forests, grasslands, and marine ecosystems. Cutting down forests, turning grasslands into suburbs, and polluting fragile ocean ecosystems all damage the natural reservoirs that are currently slowing global warming through their carbon sequestration. By further destroying the natural world, more carbon will enter the atmosphere instead of getting absorbed back into the earth, which further accelerates global warming. Stricter conservation measures are a great strategy to ensure that carbon sinks can continue to thrive.
In addition to increased protections for carbon sinks, it is equally important to restore damaged carbon sinks. Policy measures must be implemented to bolster damaged forests, reestablish grasslands, and clean pollution out of the ocean. Revitalizing damaged carbon sinks will only increase their effectiveness at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Overall, conservation and restoration measures go hand in hand with each other as a way to strengthen carbon sinks across the world.
2. Creating new carbon sinks based on the local geography and climate of a region.
As previously stated, humans are not going to stop releasing greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, in the near future. As nations continue to expand renewable energy programs with the goal of decreasing greenhouse gases, significant attention needs to be devoted to creating new carbon sinks to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere until a full clean energy transition occurs. As the world continues to grow and emit more greenhouse gases, so do carbon sinks need to grow and protect against further accelerated global warming.
If countries are to invest financial and labor resources into expanding carbon sinks, they must heavily consider local geography and climate. Contouring potential carbon sinks to local environmental conditions creates natural ecosystems that are more resilient and effective at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. For example, in California, a UC Davis study found that grasslands were more reliable carbon sinks than forests due to persistent, climate change driven wildfires. For a policy intervention, California should consider turning old golf courses or abandoned farmland into natural grasslands, rather than forests, to maximize the potential of any new carbon sink. In another example, encouraging research by NASA has shown that tropical forests have emerged as one of the most effective carbon sinks (in comparison to boreal forests in colder climates) due to rising global temperatures. Countries near the equator can prioritize adding tropical trees to undeveloped or abandoned land as a way to create new, effective carbon sinks. Overall, by tailoring the creation of new carbon sinks specific to the local environment, the world can add more resilient and effective natural reservoirs to store atmospheric carbon.
Conclusion
No matter where environmental and energy policy goes in the future, the world still has a carbon dioxide problem that needs to be addressed. The extraordinarily high levels of carbon dioxide, among other greenhouse gases, are already having dangerous impacts on the environment worldwide and the best. way to remove these gases from the atmosphere are through revitalizing and expanding worldwide carbon sinks. Programs that restore forests, grasslands, and oceans around the world an ideal way to mitigate global warming from carbon dioxide. Additionally, more trees, improved grasslands, and healthier oceans all have positive externalities for humans, as they all act as important natural recreational areas.
It is certainly important for society to focus on curtailing and eventually halting all future greenhouse gas emissions, but it is equally important to address the greenhouse gases currently wrecking havoc in the atmosphere, and the best way to do that is to conserve, restore, and expand, the world’s carbon sinks.
How To Help
There are many ways that individuals can help bolster carbon sinks across the world. If you live on private property with turf or grass, you can replace those with native plants and trees, which are much more effective at removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (native plants and trees also are less water intensive, which helps conserve water too!). Additionally, you can volunteer at local community service events that clean up natural spaces and/or plant trees or donate to nonprofits dedicated to advancing environmental conservation measures.
Bibliography
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Espinoza, Luis. “NASA Finds Good News on Forests and Carbon Dioxide.” NASA, NASA, 17 Apr. 2015, www.nasa.gov/jpl/nasa-finds-good-news-on-forests-and-carbon-dioxide.
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Kerlin, Kat. “Grasslands More Reliable Carbon Sink than Trees.” Science and Climate, 6 Aug. 2020, climatechange.ucdavis.edu/news/grasslands-more-reliable-carbon-sink-than-trees/.
Trees Improve Our Air Quality, urbanforestrynetwork.org/benefits/air%20quality.htm.
Yang, Yi, et al. “Soil Carbon Sequestration Accelerated by Restoration of Grassland Biodiversity.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 12 Feb. 2019, www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-08636-w.
