The facts about soil carbon

FACTS ABOUT CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND SOILS

• FACT: All “advanced technology solutions” are untried and have unknown capacity

• FACT: “Carbon scrubbing” at source (interception of CO2 at point of emission) does not reduce the existing CO2 burden in the atmosphere

• FACT: “Geosequestation” (burial beneath deep cap rock formations and in exhausted oil wells) does not reduce the existing CO2 burden and researchers say it will take 100 years to determine if it is effective

• FACT: Forests can be net emitters in their early stages and take many years to reach their sequestration potential

• FACT: The terrestrial biosphere currently sequesters 2 billion metric tons of carbon annually. (US Department of Agriculture)

• FACT: Soils contain 82% of terrestrial carbon. (US Department of Agriculture)

• FACT: "Enhancing the natural processes that remove CO2 from the atmosphere is thought to be the most cost-effective means of reducing atmospheric levels of CO2." (US Department of Energy)

• FACT: "Soil organic carbon is the largest reservoir in interaction with the atmosphere." (United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation) - Vegetation 650 gigatons, atmosphere 750 gigatons, soil 1500 gigatons

• FACT: The carbon sink capacity of the world's agricultural and degraded soils is 50% to 66% of the historic carbon loss of 42 to 78 gigatons of carbon. (US Department of Energy)

• FACT: Grazing land comprises half the land surface of the world.

• FACT: An acre of pasture can sequester more carbon than an acre of forest. (DR Christine Jones)


WHO IS ASKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT IN THE BATTLE AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING?

Michael and Louisa Kiely are Convenors of the Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming and regular speakers at the “Managing The Carbon Cycle” Forums around Australia. They have been delegates at many high level symposia in Australia and the USA. The couple endured 25 flights in 22 days on a fact-finding tour of the USA on behalf of Australian abatement providers in 2006. While there, they negotiated the first order for soil carbon credits from the Chicago Climate Exchange. They appeared as expert witnesses before the NSW Premier’s Advisory Panel on Greenhouse Gas. They are members of the Australian Business Council for Sustainable Energy. For the Carbon Coalition - which has more than 550 members across Australia and a chapter in the USA - they manage member registration and communication (email newsletters, websites and blogsites), lobbying and representation to federal and state politicians and ministers, fundraising and seeking sponsorship, seeking funds for research, co-ordinating submissions to government climate change and carbon trading enquiries, and liaising with scientists. They set up Carbon Farmers™ as a vehicle so members could trade their soil carbon.


This photo of the graduation of the first Central West Catchment Management Authority Farmign Systems program attendees who were taught, over 20 days, about the issue of global warming, soil carbon and broader farming ecology issues. All members of the class contributed to the formation of the Coalition and several serve on the Coalition's Advisory Council, including Col Seis, Ric Maurice and Angus Maurice. The Coalition thanks the CWCMA for the inspiration and drive they supplied for its formation, and in particular three people not pictured here: Dr Christine Jones, CMA Soils Officer John Lawrie, and UWS Professor of Human Ecology Dr Stuart Hill.


"I FEEL LIKE THE MAN ON THE BEACH JUST BEFORE THE TSUNAMI ARRIVED..."



There was an Australian journalist who worked for the Australian. She lived in Thailand and was on the beach in the resort town where she lived on the day the Tsunami hit. The people all knew it was coming because they had been told that there had been an earthquake out at sea and this usually results in tidal waves. Still they did nothing to prepare for it. Three hours later the water was sucked out to sea, leaving fish flopping around on the sea floor along the beach. Children ran in to pick up the fish and throw them into the receding water. They were having fun. Still no one took steps to get away to higher ground. Then came an increasing roar and on the horizon could be seen the wave approaching. Still no one moved to escape. One man started running along the beach, urgently ordering people - family groups playing in the sand - to go up onto the headland. Most people ignored him. The journalist said she felt a strange sense of quiet and thought "This will be interesting to watch." She felt there was a failure of human intelligence on a mass scale. The wave hit, not like a wave but like a shelf of water, followed shortly after by a higher shelf and then another. Then the first shelf started retreating and the second, while the fifth and sixth shelves arrived, causing havoc in the water currents. Most of the people on the headland survived. Few others did. Clarky, forgive me. I might seem like a sensationalist, but I feel like the man on the beach. We've all seen the same signs. But most people are transfixed by the prospect and don't know what to do. Soil sequestration of carbon is the one thing we can do that will make a difference on the scale we need it to be made.