Just add compost: How to turn your grassland ranch into a carbon sink

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http://grist.org/climate-energy/just-add-compost-how-to-turn-your-grassland-ranch-into-a-carbon-sink/

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When UC-Berkeley ecologist Whendee Silver first heard about the idea behind the Marin Carbon Project, she was pretty skeptical. The group wanted her to study the land they were ranching to see if putting compost on grasslands might stimulate the landscape to siphon carbon out of the atmosphere and incorporate it into the soil.

“I doubt I could measure it,” she told the group, which had assembled at Lawrence Berkeley Lab. “And you won’t like the results if I can.”

For years, ranchers have been drawn by the prospect of using their rangelands to soak up carbon. That would mean more grass, richer soil, and less planetary catastrophe. But hard science to support the idea has been lacking. Some range scientists suggested the idea was bunk.

Silver agreed to take on the project. Now, after five years of collecting data, she has been surprised by the results.

[kristopher]

1. Kick kick kick kickity kick, kick kick

“We have 3.5 billion hectares of grasslands [globally],” Wick said. “The most conservative estimate shows that if we do this with 2.7 billion hectares it would get atmospheric carbon down to 350” parts per million, the level that might prevent human-driven global warming from escalating. “There is the capacity to do this while producing food, fuel and fiber. And helping wildlife.” He paused for a perfectly timed beat: “And having a lot of fun.”

Project website:
http://www.marincarbonproject.org/science/land-management-carbon-sequestration

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4. 1/2 inch layer of compost over one hectare comes to 125 cu meters required

For 2.7 Billion hectares, that comes to 337 billion cu meters of compost. That is a hell of a lot of organic material, but at least it would be used for something useful rather than be dumped in a landfill.

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2. Amazing solution for co2 capture.

I hope Green Peace and other environmental groups latch onto this.

Imagine if environmental groups and corporations could agree to work together to fund this project rather than keep throwing money on debating the issue.

Green Peace has done this before with another environmental problem involving Cargill and soybean production in Brazil.

Amazon soy and deforestation: Collaboration delivers for Greenpeace and Cargill

By EC Newsdesk on Jul 26, 2010

A Brazilian ban on buying soybeans from illegally deforested areas in the worlds largest standing forest has seen a sharp drop in land clearance to grow the country’s largest cash crop, non-governmental groups such as Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund say.

~Snip~

International trading groups such as U.S. giants Cargill, Bunge, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Frances Louis Dreyfus as well as local company Amaggi, which account for around 90 percent of the country’s soybean purchases, since 2006 have frozen soy trade with producers that are...

Full article:

http://www.ethicalcorp.com/communications-reporting/amazon-soy-and-deforestation-collaboration-delivers-greenpeace-and-cargill

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3. This is why I advocate for using horses to mow.

Anywhere there is a large parcel of land where grass is growing. Interstate loops, wide medians, under bridges etc.

Horses can be kept in with 2 strands of electric fence and left to graze with much less supervision than it would take to sit on the mowers.

Hopefully one day the idea will catch on. A horse and the electric fence can be purchased for considerably less than those mowing tractors. It would enable local people to start up a small mowing business with very little capital outlay. Keep more money in local areas (unless they manufacture tractors and make their own fuel).

It's win, win , win. Even before you take the carbon sequestration into account.