Enlisting Nature to Stem Climate Change: Capturing carbon in our NW cities, farms and forests
DID YOU KNOW THAT:
- Biocarbon refers to the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by photosynthesis and its storage in biological systems like plants and soils.
- A biocarbon approach represents a second (and necessary) avenue to mitigate climate change, complementing attempts to reduce fossil fuel usage.
- A biocarbon initiative is especially attractive because many practices that increase carbon storage in vegetation and soils will have other benefits, such as protecting water supplies, preventing floods, building soil fertility, and reducing urban storm water runoff.
- In the Pacific Northwest, agricultural and forestry practices and urban greening are the main areas in which this approach is relevant.
- Additionally, efforts to recycle the carbon in biological waste streams will provide new sources of energy, industries and jobs.
In February 2013, Sustainable Path in partnership with Climate Solutions, held a seminar on the topic of biocarbon and how human practices can promote the benefits of biocarbon.
Our region’s abundant capabilities for growing trees and food, commitment to land conservation and restoration, plus the progressive ideas at play in the major cities, allow us to become a leader in testing and refining the best practices for harnessing photosynthesis for the dual benefit of human society and nature.
Moderator: Patrick Mazza, research director at Climate Solutions who has been central to Climate Solutions’ Northwest Biocarbon Initiative and has authored a detailed report on this issue.
Presenters:
Dr. Chad Kruger, the director of the WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources, and leader of CSANR’s award winning Climate Friendly Farming Project. Chad addressed the ways in which forestry and agricultural practices in our region can be improved to enhance carbon storage and other services that nature provides. He also discussed the creative ways in which biological waste streams can be used to provide economic and societal benefits.
Professor Nancy Rottle, from the Landscape Architecture Dept. at UW, who directs the Green Futures Research and Design Lab. She focused on how the urban environment can be modified in various ways (such as urban forests, parks, green roofs, rain gardens, pocket wetlands, urban agriculture) to promote carbon uptake while providing simultaneous benefits such as storm water filtration and reduction, urban cooling, flood protection, recreation and healthy food.
In addition to the three speakers, a series of short talks from other individuals, representing business, government or NGOs, and who are actively working on projects related to biocarbon was presented.
Dissolving Before Our Eyes: The Acidification of Our Oceans, and Why It Matters to All of Us
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
- Oceans do us a huge favor by absorbing about a third of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by human activities?
- The drawback: As our oceans absorb more carbon dioxide they become more acidic.
- The result: The water becomes increasingly potentially lethal to a large swath of creatures that play a huge role in aquatic ecosystems, the Northwest economy, and our dinner plates.
Only a few years ago, researchers thought acidification would be a problem that was decades-out. But once they started looking for it, they found it nearly everywhere in waters from British Columbia to Baja California.
Former US Representative Brian Baird, NOAA Senior Scientist Dick Feely, and Taylor Shellfish Company Public Policy and Communications Director Bill Dewey explained the science, the environmental and economic consequences, and the political opportunities and challenges of ocean acidification.
Sightline Institute’s primer does an excellent job explaining the significance of ocean acidification to Pacific Northwesterners. http://www.sightline.org/research/northwest-ocean-acidification/