Carbon Sequestration Can Save Green

Friday, March 1, 2002

Carbon Sequestration Can Save Green (NAPSA)—Anapproachto soil and forest management called carbon sequestration may help reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—and save the U.S. some green. A report by the Washington Advisory Group concluded managing forests to increase their capacity for sequestering carbon could offset someof the effects of global warming. Sequestering carbon refers to a process by which the element carbon is kept in soil, rather than being released from the soil into the atmosphere where it becomes carbon dioxide, or COs. CO:zis one of the gases believed to contribute to global warming. The report adds that keeping carbon in the soil is likely to result in more robust trees and vegetation. Most vegetation survives by taking carbon dioxide from the air and converting it to energy through a process called photosynthesis. More photosynthesis could mean less carbon dioxide and that, says the Washington Advisory Group, could slow global warming. In addition to forests, the group recommends better management of crop land and grazing land (which makes up 55 percent of the total land in the U.S.). It’s thought that with proper management, Better soil management could reduce the projected concentration of CO: in the atmosphere. these areas could absorb significant amountof the carbon dioxide emissions that result from combustion fuels. That’s important because the International Panel on Climate Change has projected that among other practices, burning fossil fuels will warm the earth’s surface temperature by 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. However, it’s thought, soil carbon sequestration could make up the difference between expected and desired U.S. CO: emissions trajectories in just the first three or four decades of the 21st century. For more information, visit www.CO2andClimate.org.