| Project will study best ways to capture atmospheric CO2, rebuild fragile peat islands
Quote: Project will study best ways to capture atmospheric CO2, rebuild fragile peat islands
Imagine a new kind of farming in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta - "carbon-capture" farming, which traps atmospheric carbon dioxide and rebuilds lost soils.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the University of California, Davis plan to make it happen.
DWR has awarded USGS and UC Davis a three-year, $12.3 million research grant to take the concept of carbon-capture farming to full-scale in a scientifically and environmentally sound way.
Long-standing farming practices in the Delta expose fragile peat soils to wind, rain and cultivation, emit carbon dioxide (CO2) and cause land subsidence. To capture or contain the carbon, farmers would "grow" wetlands. In doing so, they would begin to rebuild the Delta's unique peat soils, take CO2 out of the atmosphere, ease pressure on the Delta's aging levees and infuse the region with new economic potential. | Quote: |
Carbon-capture farming works as CO2 is taken out of the air by plants such as tules and cattails. As the plants die and decompose, they create new peat soil, building the land surface over time.
| Another way to fight CO2 Build up?? 
Source USGS Release: "Carbon farm" project will study ways to capture atmospheric CO2 (7/23/2008 12:55:00 PM)
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