How Forests Store Carbon

• Carbon dioxide goes up, threat of climate change goes up
• Carbon capture tech...
  • Unproven
  • Expensive
  • Mostly theoretical
• Trees and forests —> the best carton capture tech
  • Sequester ~16% of the United States annual emissions
  • Store carbon in trees and soil
• Trees
  • The best carbon capture tech in the world (yay Wren!)
  • Pull carbon dioxide out of the air during photosynthesis
    • Pull it out of the air, bind it up in sugar, and release oxygen
• Forests are good at storing carbon for a long time
  • It does ultimately get released via decomposition, respiration, and other methods
  • Permanence is the ability to store carbon for long periods
    • It varies based on location
• The Amazon rainforest is a poor carbon sink because there is little permanence
  • Whole trees rapidly decompose, the soils are not able to store a lot of carbon
• Enhancing carbon capture
  • Increasing forest cover (best way)
  • Controlling invasive plant species
    • Disrupting natural ecosystems interferes with a forest’s ability to sequester carbon
  • Periodically thin forests to encourage growth of new trees
    • Must reduce disturbance to soil

Climate Change Article Carbon Capture