- Attachments : Big Redwood Tree
- Dirt could save the Earth! The amazing power of dirt, and, we could also say the amazing power of plants, that make the dirt. Really, if we went back to farming and understood the genetics of plants and the microbes in the soil we could solve the Global Warming problems the natural way. No mandates needed, just education.
- Plants love CO2. Plants breath CO2 and exhale the “O” that we need to breath. They keep the “C“ and put it in the soil. We get the Oxygen and the dirt gets the Carbon. If science would focus on this part of our environment we could be taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and sequestering it underground, nature’s way.
- One of the obvious problems is that most of the plants farming has developed are “annuals”. They are food crops that have to be planted every year. What we need is a “ perennial “ version of corn and wheat. With perennial crops yields on farming in the world’s most desperately poor places could soar. At the same time these plants would soak up the excess carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere and put it back in to the soil.
- Genetic technology could make this happen. We have the technology.
- With perennials crops would not be replanted each year. Their deep roots would prevent soil erosion. The soil would hold minerals and require less fertilizer and less water. Perennials do not require tilling so the land would remain a carbon sink.
- Adopting perennials to agricultural crops is a significant scientific and cultural change effort. The genomes of plants must be analyzed for desirable traits associated between genes. Then we need to analyze the microbes in the soil that break down the carbon left by the plants.
- Perennial root systems sequester an amount of carbon equal to 1% of a cubic meter of topsoil. Replacing only 2% of the world’s annual crops would remove enough carbon to halt any increase in carbon dioxide in the world today. If all plants were converted to perennials it would reduce the world’s atmosphere by 118 parts per million CO2. That would take us back to pre-industrial historical levels. Today we are at 389 parts per million CO2. Before industrialization in the 19th century we were at 275 parts per million.
- Even without the genetics in the picture farmers in Malawe in southeast Africa are planting rows of perennial pigeon peas in between rows of corn. The peas are a much needed source of protein for the farmer while the legumes increase soil waste retention and double soil carbon and nitrogen content without reducing yields on their money crop, corn. The next step would be to plant perennial corn. Why not ?
- It is not just the plants we should also learn how to get the microbes in the soil working for us. The microbes could be doing same thing, removing carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it underground.
- Soil is not just top soil that is tilled. Rich brown and black dirt can be 2 to 10 feet down. This is decayed organic matter derived from plants that thrives all the way down to the bedrock.
- Soil organic material is about 60% carbon. Soil holds more than 3 times as much carbon as all the amount of carbon found above the ground. Carbon exist in the living roots, in the microbes themselves, in worms. in fungi and in other organisms as well as the generations that have passed before them.
- The secret lies in the soil microbes that decompose this material. Science has categorized over 15 different types of soil around the globe. Each soil type has its own family of living microbes. One gram of soil can contain 1,000,000,000 individual microbial cells. The number of different species can vary from 10,000 to 1,000,000 species in that single gram of dirt.
- These soil types are not just in our traditional farmlands. The permafrost in the Arctic likely contains half of all the soil carbon on the planet. Permafrost melts could be a serious rapid decomposition of carbon rich soil releasing it into the atmosphere. We need to understand the microbes involved in this process. How do they react to temperature changes?
- Some microbes are “ methanogens”. The exude as waste methane gas.
- Some microbes are “ methanotrophs” that actually consume the gas.
- Developing the balance in nature will take an intimate understanding of microbe cultures and communities. Let’s get with it. If we can do DNA on a chip we should be able to tell what species of microbe is in a sample of soil. Besides it is fun to play in the dirt.
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