The Role of Carbon Sequestration in Fighting Climate Change
This post is in continuation of a blog that I wrote about climate change, ‘Exploring an Unconventional Solution for Environmental Issues’.
When asked how trees, afforestation and deforestation are related to reduction of global warming, the general answer is something along the lines of they absorb carbon etc, etc…or sometimes even something about how wild animals lose homes because of the loss of forests.
But, how many of us actually understand the relevance of absorbing carbon? And how is the planting of trees related to it?
Most of us know plants absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. It is using this process that trees reduce carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the first place.
But why and how do fossil fuels add more carbon to the atmosphere causing it to heat up?
The Formation of Fossil Fuels
Years ago, back when the earth was still in the early stages of the formation of life, the atmosphere was nothing like the atmosphere we know today. It was heavily filled with all kinds of organic gases including carbon dioxide. The general surface temperature of the earth was also much higher than it is today. In fact, during the last greenhouse phase of the earth, there was no permafrost nor did it even frost up anywhere. It was so warm back then, that it is believed that trees even grew in Antarctica.
There are many hypothetical theories believed to have caused the drawdown or absorption of these gases. Among these, the better known ones are that of plankton absorbing them or the absorption by a freshwater fern called Azolla (aka, the mosquito fern). Over millions of years, the plankton and ferns absorbed these gases. This led to the atmosphere turning into something like the atmosphere in which, humanity and most life forms we see today have evolved. In the scientific world, the phase we live in today is called the Cenozoic Ice Age.
Yes, I know that we are not living in the ice ages today, but, we are living in what is known as an ice-house stage of the earth. And an ice-house stage of the earth is much, much cooler than a greenhouse phase.
In the greenhouse phase of the earth, the dead plankton and fern sank to the bottom of the oceans. The chemical reactions and high pressures deep under there transformed these buried materials to form what we know as petroleum and crude oil. A similar process was also undergone by ancient terrestrial plants to form coal. These fossil fuels remained buried deep under the earth for years. It prevented the gases from escaping thus, avoiding an excess of the greenhouse effect from taking place. By burning fossil fuels, we are actually releasing the gases absorbed all those years ago. Thereby, heating up the atmosphere.
And, not to mention, destroying the millions of years of hard work put in by those ancient ancestors of ours. Of the non-human variety of course! Those poor plankton and ferns! Especially considering that humanity as we know it itself is not a million years old!
Today, talk about mitigating climate change generally involves topics like shifting to renewable sources of energy. The thing about renewable energy is that it prevents more greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere. Yet, it does not take into account the ginormous amounts of greenhouse gases we have released ever since the industrial revolution, including what we are continuing to release today.
And yep, it is definitely contributing to warming the earth up!
Carbon Sequestration’s Aid
Here’s where carbon sequestration comes in.
By definition it is the long-term removal, capture or sequestration (in a way, absorption) of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to slow or reverse atmospheric pollution, thereby, trying to reverse global warming.
When we talk about afforestation, what those trees are doing is carbon sequestration. However, only relying on processes like afforestation to remove carbon will NOT make a major difference.
Frankly, if we planted trees in every piece of unused land in this world, it would take about 50–60 years for them to grow to full maturity . It would only be then that they would absorb to their highest potential. By then, unfortunately, we would already be a couple of decades into facing the most devastating effects of global warming.
Don’t get me wrong, afforestation is definitely needed, and it definitely does contribute. Plus we do need to replant at least some of those thousands of forests we’ve cut . Especially, if we want to avoid having to mess around with wild animals in our towns and cities in the next couple of decades.
But we can’t rely on it alone.
This is why researchers today, are putting together various strategies to try and absorb and store carbon in much higher amounts.
Means of Carbon Sequestration
There are loads of methods of carbon sequestration present today such as direct carbon capture, using biological means like algae and fern or improving agricultural practices.
The most tech savvy methods would include direct carbon capture and storage. Here, industrial level machinery is used to directly absorb carbon from the air. This carbon is then stored in liquid form, deep underground. Unfortunately, it is an extremely expensive method.
There are plenty of other methods out there today. Some of them include using biological means like algae. This is because blue carbon sinks are much faster at absorbing carbon than green carbon sinks. These sinks can also continue to do so for millions of years.
Well, you’re probably wondering what blue and green carbon sinks are. Blue carbon is the carbon absorbed and stored by the world’s oceans and coastal ecosystems. Green carbon is the carbon absorbed and stored in the world’s natural forests. Sea grasses, mangroves and algae, can absorb carbon much, much faster than the time it takes for trees to do so.
Other viable methods of carbon sequestration look at changing agricultural practices. Practices like zero or reduced tillage or nutrient management increase the amount of carbon present in the soil. Higher amounts of soil carbon drastically increase the carbon sequestration capacity of plants. In this way, contributing to carbon sequestration efforts.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we should not only look at reducing our consumption of fossil fuels. We should also reduce the carbon we have already put out there in order to prevent our world from burning up.
It would be great if you would share this post with others. We must care about our amazing planet. I might be a teenager today but I would love to see this world stay green in my future.
