New Global Warming Remedy: Turning Rangelands into Carbon-Sucking Vacuums

Studies conducted on a ranch in the heart of Marin County and led by UC Berkeley researchers and alums seem to confirm what home gardeners have long suspected: Compost really can save the world. That sounds hyperbolic, of course. But research led by Whendee Silver of Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management concludes that a judicious scattering of finished compost on our rangelands could lock up gigatons of atmospheric carbon, preventing it from heating up the planet and contributing to such unpleasantness as prolonged drought, polar ice cap loss, sea level rise and ocean acidification. What kind of numbers are we talking about? If a quarter-inch to one-half inch layer of compost were applied to 5 percent of California’s rangelands, it would sequester 28 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere—the equivalent to the annual emissions of 6 million cars. That certainly sounds too good to be true. And yet, the published papers and support in the scientific community indicate that it’s the real deal...more

 OK, but I'll bet it plays hell with the gartersnakes.