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Go green, get green
Making cash from climate change through carbon sequestration By Clay Pope Executive Director Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts Climate change--we hear about it all the time. Some say it's all a myth, the greatest hoax ever perpetrated. Some say it is the end of the world and civilization as we know it is about to be destroyed. But, as is so often the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle. One thing's for sure though--climate change is real. Case in point: the Oklahoma Climatological Survey recently issued its official position that the earth has warmed over the last 100 years, that the earth will continue to warm for the foreseeable future and that much of the global average temperature increases over the last 50 years can be attributed to human activities. Basically, the world is getting warmer, human activity since the industrial revolution is part of the problem, and the weather will get wilder with more frequent droughts punctuated with catastrophic rain events similar to this year. So what do we do? Do we crater the economy? We have no choice but to use fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. We still want growth. We still have to meet the world's need for food and fiber. In the 1930s we faced a similar situation--the Dust Bowl--where the activities of humans greatly affected the ecosystem. Working together, we found ways to balance between agriculture and the need to conserve our natural resources. We did it so well that last year during the driest year ever in Oklahoma history we did not see the return of the dust storms. We have to find similar means to address this new natural resource issue in ways that make economic sense just like we did in the Dust Bowl. One way to accomplish this is through carbon sequestration. What the heck is carbon sequestration? Basically, it's photosynthesis. In school we learned that plants breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. As the plants grow, their biomass captures this carbon dioxide in their cells and, as long as plant residue isn't greatly disturbed, the carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere and restored to the earth as organic carbon. On agricultural land there are primarily three ways to do this: grass, trees, and no-till farming. Research has shown that no-till agriculture can store anywhere from .2 to .6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per acre per year. Grass can store up to .75 to 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide per acre per year, and trees can store even more. Experts believe there is the potential to offset close to 15 percent of U.S. and 30 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions each year through agricultural carbon sequestration. When you figure that U.S. farm ground has lost anywhere from 20 to 70 percent of the organic carbon originally in the soil due to conventional tillage, there is a huge potential for carbon storage in this country. While carbon sequestration is not the full solution, it can help. It can also help the bottom line for producers. According to the Wall Street Journal the world market for carbon credits is already over $30 billion and growing. Dr. Richard Sandor, the founder of the Chicago Climate Exchange, has said he believes that in the future agriculture offsets by themselves may be worth $20 billion annually. Many organizations such as the National Farmers Union and the American Farm Bureau have active programs to "bundle" carbon credits from farms for future marketing. Currently, no-till and grassland bring $1.50 to $2 an acre. Not a lot of money, but if you're already no-tilling or if you have converted acres to grass, you are basically getting paid for what you are already doing. In our state, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission is also working to tie carbon credits with water quality work. Currently, with programs like the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and Clean Water Act Section 319, the Commission and local conservation districts are working with landowners to restore riparian areas (plant trees and grass), switch to no-till and improve pastures to address non-point source issues in priority watersheds. These practices not only help clean up water, they also help address climate change by sequestering carbon, improving wildlife habitat, and saving producers money over the long run by reducing fuel costs. No-till also increases the chance for summer crop production by increasing soil moisture. Everybody wins! The bottom line is that while climate change is real, there are ways to help address it. We have to face this issue head on. Through common sense approaches like carbon sequestration agriculture producers can be part of the solution and make money too. Date: 12/24/07
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