CO2 EMISSION
Help to save the planet ~ plant a tree
A
s a land-owner, do you
realise that you, too,
can play an important
role in reducing atmospheric
carbon dioxide?
Leading climate scientists
report that the atmospheric
concentration of carbon
dioxide has increased by 40%
since pre-industrial times.
More than half of this increase
has occurred since 1970, and
of all greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, carbon dioxide
plays the most significant role
in global warming.
Naysayers will hasten to point
out that the eruption of a
major volcano, such as Mount
Helens, Krakatoa, Mount
Erebus or Vesuvius, or the
eruption of the volcano in
Iceland that caused the
closure of airports throughout
Europe and North America,
singly and rapidly spew out
vastly more carbon dioxide
than humans will ever
Plants, being largely carbon themselves, and
even the earth, can remove vast quantities of
CO2 from the air. All it needs is a little help
from landowners, who should be planting
trees and crops
produce in their cars, planes,
power stations etc. But those
events, being natural and on a
vast scale, are not preventable.
Gases in the earth's atmosphere are necessary to trap
the heat of the sun, which
makes conditions on earth
suitable for plants, animals
and human habitation.
However, with the rise in
carbon dioxide temperatures
on earth have risen and have
caused the climate to change.
This affects the rainfall, what
types of plants grow where
and has also increased the
frequency of violent storms.
Scientists have come up with
various ways to capture and
store CO2, otherwise known
as carbon sequestration, but
these are not accessible to
ordinary citizens.
However, for those of us
involved in agriculture, no
matter how small our land,
the most promising systems
for carbon sequestration in
soil combine crop rotation
and low or no inputs of
pesticides, herbicides and
chemical fertilisers.
And here's the good news:
carbon sequestration is taking
place on your plot right now,
through the process of
photosynthesis.
In daylight, plants assimilate
carbon by absorbing CO2
through their leaves. They
chemically separate the two
oxygen atoms from the
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carbon atom and release the
oxygen back into the
atmosphere while absorbing
the carbon atom into their
own structure (plants are
largely made up of carbon).
The carbon that remains as
plant tissue is then consumed
by animals or humans or is
added to the soil as litter
when plants die and decompose.
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