Volume 241, June 22, 2023

Graphics were created by ORI Summer Interns Megan Mathieu (Tufts), Morgan Owens (Tufts), and Sabrina Machtay (Brandeis).



Soil is the Elephant in the Climate Change Room


With 2800 billion tons of carbon, the world's soils contain three and a half times more carbon than the atmosphere. To return to 360 ppm carbon from the current 420 ppm, 100 billion tons of carbon must be removed. Nature has a global solution that we call photosynthesis.


The world's biomass contains 564 billion tons of carbon. Photosynthesizing reduces the carbon in the air and increases the carbon in biomass. Plants push a fixed percentage of carbohydrates out of their roots to build soil whenever they photosynthesize. Unlike humans, plants always give some carbon to feed the soil while producing biomass.


Soil, particularly humus, can store carbon for thousands of years, and wood stores carbon for hundreds of years. In soil, carbon storage is long-term, while carbon stored in wood is short-term.


At best, soil covers 25% of the world's land surface, while approximately 40% is desert or degraded land. By converting desert and degraded land to healthy soil with plants, spreading green borders, and expanding oases, we can dramatically increase the amount of carbon drawn out of the atmosphere. If a quarter of degraded land could be regenerated, it would increase the atmospheric drawdown of carbon by hundreds of billions of tons.


Tell Beacon Hill that more green means less climate change. 

Climate Action Starts with Healthy Soil


One tablespoon of soil contains more organisms than the number of people on Earth! A spoon of mycorrhizae can hold as much as XXXX miles of fungal strands. Many organisms live in the soil, including microbes, beneficial nematodes, tardigrades, and arthropods such as springtails and mites. Wide networks of fungi connect and develop symbiotic relationships with bacteria and plants. Fungi provide plants with nutrients and minerals prepared by a vast diversity of bacteria from deep in the soil that plants otherwise would not be able to reach. The plants provide the fungi with carbohydrates (liquid carbon) made from photosynthesis. 

Healthy Soil Acts Like a Sponge


Fungi, microorganisms, worms, insects, and others tunnel into the soil to create channels that drink in and absorb air and water.  During extreme weather events, four inches of healthy soil beneath the turf will swell, like a sponge, to hold 7 inches of rainwater to better protect your home and property from erosion, sedimentation, and flooding. 


Research indicates that if we can slow water down so that it does not rush to the ocean,  sea level rise may be reduced by as much as 25%.

Natural Lawns vs. Fertilized Lawns


Grasses, including salt marsh, sea grasses, and even lawn grasses, are the best plants for storing carbon. About half of the plants' carbohydrates (liquid carbon) are put into the soil. In the best growing conditions, a natural lawn in Massachusetts can build an inch of soil in a year.


An unnatural lawn is a fertilized lawn. Here, the nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and chemicals (herbicides, pesticides) harm the lawn ecosystem. Applying a bit more fertilizer than recommended will burn the grass. The roots stay close to the surface for the fertilizer. The lawn will require more watering, and much of the fertilizer is washed off to pollute waterways.


Stop fertilizing; treat a residential lawn like a golf course fairway where quick-release fertilizer is not applied. The roots of the grass will go down into the ground and strengthen symbiotic relationships with the organisms that dwell in the rhizosphere, a realm less understood than the ocean.



Residential Lawns and Groundwater Recharge are Reducing the Climate Catastrophe


The Massachusetts Slow Water Drought Relief Carbon Offset Fund will turn water conflicts and strife into collaborations and mutual benefits for entire communities.  There are two parts to the Fund. Residents who pledge not to spread fertilizer on their established lawns will be paid by the ton of carbon added annually to the soil.  A lawn will push an inch of carbon into the soil in good conditions.  For a 240-square-foot lawn, an inch equals a ton of carbon. 


As part of their stormwater management plan, property owners restore groundwater by installing metered pumps to pump water into the ground into the aquifer.  This action has been found to raise groundwater levels, push back intruding seawater, and reduce the need for irrigation during dry periods.  Property owners are credited for gallons pumped in with a corresponding saving on their water bills. 


The State will fund the Slow Water Drought Relief Carbon Offset Fund and will include matching funds from private donations.  People and businesses may donate carbon offsets to the Fund that will benefit their local communities.


Tell Beacon Hill to create and finance the Slow Water Fund.


Here's a small act that will make a big difference


By joining ORI's Round-up Change Program, you can help us green the planet and greatly reduce carbon in the atmosphere.


Every time you purchase, your credit card will round up to the dollar amount and hold the pennies for ORI. It will be gifted only when at least $10 is accumulated over a month. No funds are transferred if less than $10, and the accumulation process begins again at zero.


At the Ocean River Institute, your small change can make a difference


Connect a credit card to round-up to dollar amount.


We could not be saving the planet from global warming without the generous support of people like you.

Consider a modest gift today. Thank you.

Publications:


"Gasping climate change contrarians." Greenfield Recorder, June 6, 2023


"Saving Forests with Carbon Offset Rewards for Not Cutting, Let Forests Grow Old." E The Environmental Magazine, March 14, 2023


"Slowing Water For Greener Neighborhoods." The Environmental Magazine, December 18, 2022


"Speak for the trees: President Biden should protect public forests." Illuminem, December 18, 2022


"Slowing Water for Greener Neighborhoods." Illuminem, December 9, 2022


"Top Gun at COP27. It's not the plane. It's the pilot." The Environmental Magazine, November 29, 2022


"Biden’s game-changing administrative actions for climate at COP27." illuminem Voices, November 19, 2022


"Taking action to improve plight of right whales." Boston Herald, November 9, 2022


"Revival Coffee in Somerville takes up the Natural Lawn Challenge." The Somerville Times, August 27, 2022


"For eco groups, less lawn fertilizer is key to water crisis." By Dustin Luca, Salem News August 12, 2022


More carbon capture, better water retention and greener emerald bracelets for Dedham.” The Dedham Times, August 12, 2022.


“Emerald Bracelets to Solve Three Of The World’s Greatest Environmental Problems.” by Rob Moir, The Environmental Magazine, June 21, 2022


"Of Mousy and Elephantine Cycles, Managing the CLIMATE CRISIS after Glasgow COP26." The Eden, March 2022



“Lincoln resident promotes natural lawn care,” Concord Journal, Aug 3, 2021


Zumi’s host Natural Lawn Care for Healthy Soils Challenge,Ipswich Chronicle Transcript, Aug 10, 2021


Peabody peak capacity generator need not burn fossil fuels,” The Salem News, Aug 5, 2021 


30% preserved or restored by 2030,” The Salem News, Sep 29, 2021


Pogie deaths, a Mystic River mystery,” Boston Herald, Oct 4, 2021


Remember the right whales with a special day,” CommonWealth, Oct 29, 2021


Retreating Arctic Sea Ice, Sea Ice Formation, and the Stronger Flow of the Gulf Stream” Seven Seas November 2021


"Rob Moir, PhD, Science Advocate," Bloomberg Business, April 11, 2022

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