A Quick Overview of the Win/Win CO2 Solutions 

 

The Basics

 

CO2 is essential to virtually all life on earth because virtually all life on earth is dependent upon photosynthesis. In this process powered by light, green plants split the CO2 molecule, releasing the oxygen and using the carbon for growth. Green plants need a certain minimal level of CO2 just to survive and even higher levels to thrive.

 

At least as important, unless there is enough atmospheric CO2 to provide a sufficient level of “greenhouse effect,” the planet would be too cold to support life. CO2 is certainly an essential natural resource, one without which complex life could not exist. There can be no disagreement about these facts.

 

Atmospheric CO2 levels have fluctuated widely over earth’s history, from considerably lower than they are at present to considerably higher. The natural world has a number of mechanisms, together called the “carbon cycle,” which interact to balance atmospheric CO2 levels. These primarily are absorption by the oceans, sequestration in soils and absorption and conversion to sugars and plant tissues by green plants during photosynthesis. These continue to significantly reduce “anthropogenic” (human-generated) CO2 emissions today. It is estimated that the oceans, soil and green plants presently absorb about half of annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions, and, in fact, scientists have been surprised that these natural “sinks” have been keeping pace with increasing CO2 levels.

The lag in compensating for increases and decreases in concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases such as methane has been a major factor in climate changes over the geologic eons, both in warming and cooling the planet. But generally these changes, and the responses of natural systems, have occurred over relatively long periods of time compared to the rapid increase in emissions over the past century and a half. Primarily as a result of massive fossil fuel use and changes in forestry and agricultural practices, emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases have been rapidly increasing at the same time that global climate change is occurring.

Most scientists and many policymakers believe that these rapid, anthropogenic emissions are the major cause of global climate changes. To avoid catastrophic climate impacts they warn that we must not only slow the rate of increases of these gases in the atmosphere but reduce their current levels. Many policymakers at the international, national, state and local levels are responding by expending vast sums and implementing sometimes drastic policies to try to accomplish this.

But, at the same time, there is also strong opposition to these policies by those who are skeptical of the science and/or are concerned about the economic impacts and huge costs and potential social disruption they could cause.

 

Fortunately, this win/win strategy satisfies the concerns of both sides of the current climate change debate. It is Win/Win CO2 Solutions Group’s mission to educate policymakers and the public about these powerful ecosolutions and advocate for immediately adopting them on a global scale as the primary response to dealing with increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Adopting this strategy will sequester all the CO2 that many climate scientists say must be removed from the biosphere to avoid climate disaster.

Adopting this strategy will sequester all the CO2 that many climate scientists say must be removed from the biosphere to avoid climate disaster. And it can accomplish this more quickly and cheaply than any other strategy being considered. Based on actual results being obtained around the world, there is no question that adopting this strategy on a global scale can remove all the anthropogenic CO2 emitted from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. (See “What is the Potential for Sequestering Carbon in Natural Systems.”)

At the same time, because this strategy does not require the massive expenditures and potential economic and social dislocations of all the other technical alternative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas concentrations, it also alleviates most of the concerns of those opposed to these alternatives. Indeed, the many co-benefits this win/win strategy generates more than justify the comparatively small costs of implementing it. These co-benefits range from greatly improved ecosystem health and environmental quality to more resilient, sustainable and profitable forestry, agricultural and grazing practices. (See “Top Ten Win/Win Benefits of Natural Carbon Sequestration”)

The value of these co-benefits is being demonstrated today on tens of millions of acres around the world where these management practices that are also sequestering vast amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil are being employed by land managers solely for the value of these co-benefits alone and without subsidies of any kind. Getting this atmospheric carbon sequestered in the ground is what jump starts the production of most of these other valuable co-benefits and they more than pay for the small costs to achieve this sequestration. Calculating what could happen if incentives to also sequester carbon were added as an additional financial incentive on top of the already proven value of these co-benefits gives some idea of the immense potential of the win/win CO2 solutions approach. It would not only deal with atmospheric CO2 loadings but with other global problems such as food security and sustainable food production, droughts, floods, restoring wildlife habitat and reversing environmental degradation.

 

A very common reaction when most people first learn about the win/win CO2 solutions approach is that it sounds too good to be true. But, we present on this site a selection of the mounting scientific evidence and actual on-the-ground results that prove that it is real.  Adopting this win/win ecosolultions approach could easily buy us at least 75 or 100 years (and perhaps even longer) during which time we can develop strategies and options for dealing with the entire range of climate issues that will be far more measured, integrated, equitable, sustainable, thoughtful, responsible and cost-effective than is possible today.

How It Works

 

At its most basic level, this win/win strategy involves repairing and nurturing the healthy plant-soil communities that are the key to the long-term sequestration of atmospheric carbon. Healthy soil communities consist of a myriad of bacteria, fungi, insects and other organisms that exist in symbiotic relationships with green plants. It is this healthy soil community that sequesters much of the carbon the plants remove from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. Videos and other material on this site explain in more detail how this is done.  See selected videos here.

 

CO2 is the essential element to making this process work. Increased soil carbon content can only come through plants removing more CO2 from the atmosphere. The higher the soil carbon content, the more CO2 has been removed and the greater the many co-benefits. Yet, in many places in the U.S. and around the world, soil carbon levels are far below optimum and rapidly decreasing, creating a number of problems, including releasing greenhouse gases. Sequestering carbon in the soil is the first step to restoring the health of these damaged and degrading soil communities. As these are restored, they begin removing immense additional tonnages of atmospheric carbon. This is why the excess CO2 in the atmosphere actually represents a huge, universally available, free and important natural resource.

A similar approach applies to forests. However, because unlike cropland and grazing land where the majority of the carbon is more securely sequestered underground, much of the carbon sequestered in forests is captured in the above ground biomass where, as we have increasingly seen, it is subject to rapid and harmful release back into the atmosphere through wildfire. It used to be thought that these releases by fire were effectively “carbon neutral” because the re-growing forests would recapture this released carbon. But there is increasing and disturbing evidence that for a variety of reasons, wildfires are becoming so intense that in many cases it is unlikely many burned forest areas will ever regenerate to the pre-burn conditions, at least on a short enough timescale to be significant in offsetting the carbon released. Forests are an important carbon sink, but there must be special emphasis on implementing healthy forest practices that protect the forest and encourage rapid tree growth in order for them to be a dependable carbon sink.

These are some of the basic processes by which natural systems have always removed atmospheric carbon. But scientific breakthroughs in the past several decades have given us a better understanding of the damage being done to soil communities and the many problems this is causing as well as how to better restore them and make them even more efficient at sequestering atmospheric carbon. This is why this win/win strategy works on “both sides” of the atmospheric CO2 solution. As mentioned above, on one side of the equation, degrading agricultural and grazing lands along with wildfires become net contributors of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The process of restoring ecosystem health almost immediately halts these emissions. Then, very shortly, these lands become effective sinks on the other side of the equation, removing large quantities of CO2.

 

Just as improvements in scientific understanding and practical experience on the ground over the past few decades have improved our ability to more efficiently sequester carbon they have also improved our ability to increase the many valuable co-benefits that this win/win strategy generates. These include increased and more sustainable production of higher quality food, greater biodiversity, better resilience to changing climatic conditions and especially better drought resistance, improved water quality and quantity, and reduced need for agricultural inputs such as herbicides and artificial fertilizers which can mean much higher profits for producers and stimulate the revitalization of rural economies. All of these are very serious and pressing issues in their own right which can be directly addressed while reducing atmospheric carbon.

 

The obvious question is, if this win/win strategy has so many advantages (and, really, no downsides) why is it not being adopted as the primary strategy for dealing with excess CO2? Part of the answer is profit motive. Unlike most of the other alternatives, the only direct and significant benefit to the “bottom line” is for the local farmer or grazer and the local community. The main reason why Win/Win CO2 Solutions Alliance was organized was to inform those concerned about climate change, food security, environmental quality and rural development about these truly effective win/win/win/win options to address their concerns.

 

But the other part of the answer to this question is that, in fact, sequestration in natural sinks has been at least partially recognized as a viable and effective solution. For example, the Paris Climate Accords (see our analysis of the Paris Accords here) emphasizes the importance of protecting and expanding natural sinks for CO2. This approach has also been adopted by nearly 40 countries as an interim approach to dealing with rising CO2 levels through a voluntary international agreement called “4 per Thousand” (see our analysis of “4 per Thousand” here) Spearheaded by France, these countries along with nearly 200 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) financial institutions, regional development agencies and university research institutes have all agreed to develop and implement policies to increase the average soil carbon stocks in just the worlds agricultural and forest soils by an average of just 0.4% per year. Research shows that if that can be accomplished all of the projected increase in anthropogenic CO2 emissions over the next several decades could be safely sequestered. For several reasons, this is a very conservative goal.

…the Paris Climate Accords emphasizes the importance of protecting and expanding natural sinks for CO2.

Unfortunately, for reasons that are not completely clear the U.S. has not joined these other nations in participating in this effort and adopting the 4 per Thousand goals. It is one of Win/Win CO2 Solutions Alliance’s prime objectives to push for U.S. participation in 4 per Thousand.

 

But the major reason that this win/win strategy is not the primary response to dealing with the climate issue is that too many key policymakers simply are not aware of the potential. And the primary reason they are not aware of it is because not enough people who are concerned about climate change, enhancing food security and nutritional quality, improving environmental quality and revitalizing rural communities in the U.S. and around the world are demanding that they consider this policy response.

Based on the evidence and experience we already have there can really be no question that adopting the win/win/win/win solution to dealing with excess atmospheric carbon can buy us at least 50 to 75 years of declining global CO2 levels.  This would give the world time to develop the most responsible, equitable, sensible, cost-effective, integrated and sustainable energy future possible.  At the same time, we would generate a number of other vital economic and environmental benefits, including ensuring food security, improving the quality of life for several billion people around the world and restoring global ecosystem health and integrity.

 

It is Win/Win CO2 Solutions Alliance’s broader mission to make the public and policy makers at all levels aware of these opportunities.  We invite everyone concerned about our future to join with us and, literally, change the world.

Please help us spread the word about the many win/win/win benefits of this approach to dealing with excess CO2 making a generous contribution

 

There are no big, well funded and well-organized groups pushing for this approach because they do not stand to make the huge profits they will with the mechanical alternatives to dealing with CO2 that they are pushing. So, if this win/win approach is to become the first policy choice for dealing with excess CO2 it is up to people like you to help make it happen. You can easily and securely donate to support our efforts here.

 

Please help by making a generous contribution to Win/Win CO2 Solutions Alliance.