Harnessing Nature's Potential for Carbon Capture and Removal

Carbon dioxide is a naturally-occuring "greenhouse gas" in the atmosphere, so-called for its ability to trap longwave radiation and warm the air, much as a greenhouse does for plants. However, while a relatively small amount of CO2 is benefitical for the planet - it is a primary reason that the planet is not literally freezing - an increased amount of this notorious GHG is also primarily responsible for the effects of anthropogenic climate change. It is impossible to quantify the exact degree - no pun intended - that CO2 contributes to our changing climate, but it is responsible at least in part for an increasing propensity for stronger tropical storms, increased wildfires, spreading droughts, and more frequent heat waves, all of which can negatively affect crop production, disrupt natural habitats for animals, and bring forth a host of other issues. Although we cannot know how much these are affected by increased CO2, we do know one thing for sure: the recent increase that has seen atmosphereic carbon dioxide nearly double in the past 150 years is due primarily to human actions, particularly as a by-product from burning fossil fuels as industrialization exponentialized. Fortunately, there is some good news hidden in this seemingly doomish scenario.

In our collective quest to tackle the problem of climate change we are moving quicker than you may think to reduce emissions - the EU has cut emissions one-third below 1990 levels, which is really quite remarkable - but perhaps more importantly, we are discovering and beginning to utilize the largely untapped potential of nature-based carbon storage and removal capacities. These processes harness the abilities of natural ecosystems like forests, wetlands, and oceans to actively absorb and store CO2 directly from the air, helping to suppplement our emissions reductions efforts for reducing carbon in the atmosphere. The ecosystems being targeted for nature-based solutions, or NBS, have always been valuable to humanity and the health of our planet-wide biome, but with a concerted effort to protect them they can become invaluable allies, helping us mitigate the impact of point-source emissions and the accumulation of CO2 in our atmosphere.