From a press release from the Union of Concerned Scientists, we learn that you don’t need to worry anymore about global warming, we can just garden our way to carbon nirvana, that is, if the bugs don’t eat it. -Anthony
WASHINGTON (April 26, 2010) Home gardeners can avoid contributing to climate change by using certain techniques and tools that are more climate-friendly than others, according to a new gardening guide released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The science-based guide explains the connection between land use and global warming, and offers recommendations for conscientious gardeners to maximize the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide their green spaces store and minimize the other global warming gases gardens can emit.
“Many Americans understand that powering our cars and computers overloads our atmosphere with heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide,” said Karen Perry Stillerman, a senior analyst with the UCS Food and Environment Program. “With the right practices, farmers and gardeners can lock up some of that carbon in the soil.”
When too much carbon dioxide and other global warming gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, are released into the air, they act like a blanket, trapping heat in the atmosphere and altering weather patterns around the world, Stillerman explained. Unchecked climate change will have serious consequences for public health and the environment.
Although agriculture can store carbon and reduce other emissions on a much larger scale, gardeners can help. The Climate-Friendly Gardener: A Guide to Combating Global Warming from the Ground Up (www.ucsusa.org/gardenguide) offers five recommendations for gardeners.
1. Minimize Carbon-Emitting Tools and Products. Gasoline-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers are obvious sources of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. A typical mower emits 20 pounds of carbon dioxide per gallon. Synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, which require a lot of energy to produce, also contribute to global warming. The new guide provides several tips for avoiding garden chemicals and fossil-fuel-powered equipment.
2. Use cover crops. Bare off-season gardens are vulnerable to erosion, weed infestation and carbon loss. Seeding grasses, cereal grains or legumes in the fall builds up the soil, reduces the need for energy-intensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and maximizes carbon storage. The guide recommends that gardeners plant peas, beans, clovers, rye and winter wheat as cover crops and explains the specific advantages that legume and non-legume cover crop choices have for gardens.
3. Plant Trees and Shrubs Strategically. Planting and maintaining one or more trees or large shrubs is an excellent way to remove more heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over a long period of time. A recent study estimated that the trees in U.S. urban areas store nearly 23 million tons of carbon in their tissues every year. That’s more than all of the homes, cars, and industries in Los Angeles County emit annually, or about as much as all of the homes in Illinois or Pennsylvania emit every year. Well-placed trees also shade buildings from the summer sun or buffer them from cold winter winds, reducing the need for—and cost of—air conditioning and heating. UCS’s guide discusses the most suitable types of trees for a climate-friendly yard.
4. Expand Recycling to the Garden. Yard trimmings and food waste account for nearly 25 percent of U.S. landfill waste, and the methane gas released as the waste breaks down represents 3 to 4 percent of all human-generated heat-trapping gases. Studies indicate that well-managed composted waste has a smaller climate impact than landfills. The UCS guide describes how to create a climate-friendly compost pile.
5. Think Long and Hard about Your Lawn. Residential lawns, parks, golf courses and athletic fields are estimated to cover more than 40 million acres—about as much as all the farmland in Illinois and Indiana combined. A growing body of research suggests that lawns can capture and store significant amounts of carbon dioxide, but some newer studies warn of the potential for well-watered and fertilized lawns to generate heat-trapping nitrous oxide. The science is unsettled, but there are practical things gardeners can do to maximize lawn growth and health with a minimum of fertilizer and water. The new UCS guide summarizes the science and offers tips for homeowners to make their lawns truly “green.”
“Gardening practices alone won’t solve global warming, but they can move us in the right direction, just like installing super efficient light bulbs and using reusable bags,” said Stillerman. “Seventy percent of Americans garden, and they can have a positive impact. Our guide shows them how.”
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h/t to WUWT reader Milwaukee Bob
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US carbon dioxide emissions have already fallen about 10% in 2009 due to the economic slowdown, reduced consumption in general, and utilities switching from coal to natural gas for electricity production:
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/EE-Record_drop_in_US_energy_related_emissions-1105104.html
OK, so now let’s all buy a goat for the front yard! Heh, that will fix the lawn-mower problem!
Uh, no wait, enteric methane emissions from a ruminant, nitrous oxide from the manure….damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Gail Combs at 9:42 am said:
In a word I support capitalism but I hate “corporatism” the unholy mix of international corporations and government where the chase for the almighty dollar promotes the trampling and even killing of people. I hate “corporatism” even worse when it is hidden under the cloak of “Altruism”
Perfectly stated! And now mix in a good dose of Intellectual Elitism and what do you have? Right! Exactly what individuals have been fighting for as long as societies have existed- slavery. The suppression of freedom and liberty. Because someone “thinks” they’re smarter, better, more capable? Nope. Because of their excessive addiction to the most basic of human needs; social and self approval! (primarily via power and/or money) They run the world and when they “forget” they also are human, a lot of people suffer and die. As it was in the beginning, is now and …..
George E. Smith: May 11, 2010 at 11:19 am
Gaia keeps everything in balance This is precisely what ecology means. Thus it would be ecologically right to promote the reproduction of natural predators to eat the excess of green idiots so as to reestablish balance.
opps, forgot the after ‘Altruism’ above.
bubbagyro says:
May 11, 2010 at 10:05 am
Let the UN or some other group do something positive for a change and pay the fees! [BTW, if the third-world seeds were so great, why do they need our grain?]
__________________________________________________________________
Yes I would love to see the UN do something positive for a change like pay the fees.
On the third world seed and importing grain:
A long story in short: NAFTA and WTO opened the borders of third world countries. The grain traders like Cargill could buy EU and USA grain at below the cost of production because of tax subsidies and monopsony. They could afford to sell below cost for a year or two to bankrupt the native competition. On top of that in some countries with World Bank/IMF SOPs in place, government help for farmers was cut and “cash crops” for exports had to be grown to satisfy the bankers. The net result was native farmers went bankrupt and the big corporate farms moved in.
see:
Farmer suicides in India:
http://alternatives-international.net/article1394.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/sainath02122009.html
NAFTA and WTO in Mexico a 75% decline in farm families:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/publication/rg/RGRich.shtml
http://www.countercurrents.org/mohanty230608.htm
Milwaukee Bob says:
May 11, 2010 at 11:08 am
“Great comments all and here is the problem I have with the whole thing: It’s 90% propaganda…
YOU will be re-educated! YOU will be assimilated! Resistance is futile! We are the chosen ones. And if we can’t “get” you, we’ll get the next generation.
All with the help of the benevolent US federal government….”
______________________________________________________________________
And as I was told by one of them in Cambridge MA “… When we take over we are going to KILL people like you”
If we refused to be “re-educated” there are definitely those in the “movement” ready to kill dissenters. Talking to the herds of wild-eyed fanatics when I lived in the Cambridge area was very very scary. It was like being on a different planet.
Gail Combs: May 11, 2010 at 7:07 am
UHMmm Bill, I am in North Carolina and we grow winter wheat, oats and rye in the winter.
Yeah, I got a tad overly-sarcastic this morning — my bad.
I’m in Jersey (when I’m home) along the Delaware, and even with the ameliorating effects of the river, any vegetable seed planted in the fall rots in the ground due to the freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw cycles in November and December.
Enneagram says:
May 11, 2010 at 11:38 am
George E. Smith: May 11, 2010 at 11:19 am
Gaia keeps everything in balance This is precisely what ecology means. Thus it would be ecologically right to promote the reproduction of natural predators to eat the excess of green idiots so as to reestablish balance.
___________________________________________________________________________
Finally, a proper use for green idiots —- predator bait.
“peas, beans” … those freeze over the winter … what climate type is this guide aimed at ?
@Gail Combs: May 11, 2010 at 7:07 am
don’t think you really grow winter wheat … most likely you seed the wheat in the autumn, it germinates just before winter, then it pretends to be alive until the spring comes. A cold winter without snow cover will kill “winter wheat”.
I don’t think rye is a “winter” crop, it used to be put in the ground in the spring … but you never know, with the new GM crops 😛
Gail Combs
May 11, 2010 at 12:04 pm
What will you do?.
Gail:
♫♫♫♫
What goes up must come down
spinning wheel got to go round
Talking about your troubles it’s a crying sin
Ride a painted pony
Let the spinning wheel spin
You got no money, and you, you got no home
Spinning wheel all alone
Talking about your troubles and you, you never learn
Ride a painted pony
let the spinning wheel turn
Did you find a directing sign
on the straight and narrow highway?
Would you mind a reflecting sign
Just let it shine within your mind
And show you the colours that are real
Someone is waiting just for you
spinning wheel is spinning true
Drop all your troubles, by the river side
Catch a painted pony
On the spinning wheel ride
Someone is waiting just for you
spinning wheel is spinning true
Drop all your troubles, by the river side
Ride a painted pony
Let the spinning wheel fly
♫♫♫♫
tmtisfree says:
May 11, 2010 at 2:51 am
I don’t remember who says that (or something approaching) : “Rebutting alarmists is like shooting fishes in a barrel”.
If you can get them into a barrel, for heaven’s sake, don’t shoot them. You’ll be arrested for discharging a firearm within city limits or some such. Simply secure the cover back on the barrel and move it well away from habitations into an area of strong sunshine for two or three weeks. That should take care of the initial problem. Whatever is left over can be used as fertilizer.
As to the 20-lb weight of CO2 from 6 or 7 lbs of gas–is it fair to count the oxygen that was already in the atmosphere as part of the “excess” weight of CO2? Isn’t that a wash, just moving it from one column (O2) to another (CO2) in the same location? I’d love to be able to work this trick with cash or some prescious metal and recover more than I burned.
I don’t understand why everybody is so hard on UOCS.
They fill a market niche.
It used to be not too long ago that the process of becoming a scientist was long, expensive and hard. But the social rewards were good. Scientists were looked up to and listened to.
But with college tuition nowadays it’s getting almost impossible to let your kids become scientists.
Enter UOCES.
Just $25.- donation check makes you a scientist. Even a “concerned” one, which is nowadays even more respectable. Much cheaper that college tuition. And you can even put out press releases that are published in the MSM. Old-style real scientists even struggled with that often.
Emil says:
May 11, 2010 at 1:00 pm
“peas, beans” … those freeze over the winter … what climate type is this guide aimed at ?
@Gail Combs: May 11, 2010 at 7:07 am
don’t think you really grow winter wheat … most likely you seed the wheat in the autumn, it germinates just before winter, then it pretends to be alive until the spring comes. A cold winter without snow cover will kill “winter wheat”.
______________________________________________________________________
The area I am in, middle North Carolina does just fine. The December avg minimum temp is 31F/ max 52F, January is 29F/49F and February is 31F/56F so winter rye grows quite well and so does winter wheat and oats.
“WINTER RYE: A RELIABLE COVER CROP
Vern Grubinger
Vegetable and Berry Specialist
University of Vermont Extension
Why Rye? Cereal rye is an excellent winter cover crop because it rapidly produces a ground cover that holds soil in place against the forces of wind and water. Rye’s deep roots help prevent compaction in annually tilled fields, and because its roots are quite extensive, rye also has a positive effect on soil tilth.
Compared to other cereal grains, rye grows faster in the fall and produces more dry matter the following spring–up to 10,000 pounds per acre, although 2 tons is more typical in the Northeast. Rye is the most winter-hardy of all cereal grains, tolerating temperatures as low as -30°F once it is well established. It can germinate and grow at temperatures as low as 33°F, but it sure won’t grow very much when it’s that cold….” http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/factsheets/winterrye.html
Winter wheat has to be sown sooner than rye but can be used in most of the USA as a “cover crop” and in the south as a “double crop” see http://www.sare.org/publications/covercrops/winter_wheat.shtml
“Wheat is a versatile crop. There are 6 classes of wheat grown in the United States but there are more than 30,000 different varieties, each with its own characteristics.
Spring wheats are planted in late spring, usually before or in the month of April. Spring wheats do not go thru a dormant stage, but just develop and mature until they are harvested.
Winter wheats are planted in the fall, starting in September and continuing thru October. Winter wheat sprouts and grows in the fall. Once it freezes in the fall, winter wheat becomes dormant until the soil warms up in the spring. Then the wheat grows and matures until harvest in the summer. In fact, without the cold temperatures, winter wheat would just continue to produce leaves and would never produce the head of wheat kernels …
Soft Red Winter Wheat – This wheat is used for flat breads, cakes, pastries, and crackers. It is the dominant wheat grown east of the Mississippi River. Soft Red Winter Wheat states include Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, and Wisconsin….”
http://www.cyberspaceag.com/kansascrops/wheat/wheatclasses.htm
Enneagram says:
May 11, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Gail Combs
May 11, 2010 at 12:04 pm
What will you do?.
__________________________
I took my painted ponies (all six) headed for North Carolina and bought a farm. Big change from an apartment in Boston’s Combat Zone, and best move I ever made.
Richard et al, thanks for the answer, I should have spent more time thinking about it.
So I’m putting more plant food into the garden by cutting it with a motorised lawn mower? Excellent, I’ve been looking for a reason to upgrade from the push/pull hand mower.
Smokey says:
May 11, 2010 at 6:55 am
The same mindset is running the UN’s World Health Organisation [WHO]. This is the result.
Ah! So you found that. For years that I found out (scratching the surface of a “scientific” claim, as usual) that the WHO is not respectable at all. But you wouldn’t believe me, so I’ll stay shut. The biggest lies are the best.
biddyb says:
May 11, 2010 at 8:06 am
I grow my own vegetables because they are fresher than those bought in the shops,
FAR tastier, but I am not sure they are cheaper.
Definitely not cheaper in this corner of the woods. But they’re real.
I dread to think how much I spend on horse muck and seeds and potting compost.
Horse muck, well, all I can get is cow.
My husband mows the lawn. He sings maniacally as he does it so perhaps there is something in that nitrous oxide argument.
And what I really wanted to say was we can’t possibly get enough N2O, and doubling the CO2 will be ah cool.
LarryOldtimer says:
May 11, 2010 at 9:32 am
Either we deal with pests and weeds by killing them, or the pests and weeds will do us in. Life for a farmer (and everyone else) is indeed better with chemistry.
As I had the opportunity to learn, nature is not kind to anyone. City/concrete people don’t know that, and that might be one of the points.
Gail Combs says:
May 11, 2010 at 11:34 am:
In reply to you, I invented a drug called albendazole in the 70s. It is now the 8th most used drug in the world, especially for parasites in humans. It is the drug of choice in the southern hemisphere for sheep and cattle.
The brand name for cattle is Valbazen, originally from SmithKline (my old company). It kills 3 classes of parasites, nematodes, tapeworms and flukes.
It works great in cattle. Ivomec was pushed in this country by Merck and Pfizer. SmithLine did not have a strong veterinary marketing force, so they chose to compete in Australia and South Africa where it is still the drug of first choice for worms. It has the advantage of killing insect larvae (bots), but this is not important in the US. It is ideal for your case, and non-toxic to humans and dogs, unlike Ivomec.
Merck pushed the idea that there was “benzimidazole resistance”, and since they had the only detail force, the stigma caught on. There is such a thing as BZ resistance, but ABZ is not like the other benzimidazoles, and although Merck and Pfizer paid a few authors for a few papers to conjure up resistance in a laboratory setting, it does not occur in the field.
ABZ does not kill beneficial insects, either, like Ivomec and the milbemycin family. It is nice that dung beetles are courteous enough to till the dung into the soil for the farmer, no?
North of 43 and south of 44 says:
May 11, 2010 at 9:44 am
It is all a valid part of reduce, reuse, or recycle.
We moved into the country (in the “Portuguese Desert” – which happens to be unexpectedly fertile, to my own surprise) about ten years ago. When we arrived we noticed that we produced almost an entire garbage container of waste a week (garbage is collected weekly), while our neighbors seemed to produce a single plastic bag per household in the same time . Now that was shameful!
In a couple of months we were producing just two or less plastic bags of trash too, recycling most via the neighbors dogs and pigs and the compost heap (completely frustrating, the heap never grows!) And by the way, don’t mention plastic bags, there’s no alternative here. Unless you opt to dump the garbage without a bag.
The economy is pretty much tighter (hence independent) and there’s much less waste. Our neighbors grow, say, extra potatoes they sell us (they find the idea of selling them unusual), we provide them services, etc., the barter approach. The generalized idea in the village is, nobody will ever be hungry here, we can grow our own food (includes sheep – a sheperd/owner uses my land for grazing, and “pays” in sheep). Seems to work. And we got the Internet too 🙂
George E. Smith says:
May 11, 2010 at 11:19 am
You can even buy organic water nowadays in bottles.
Organic water. I’m speechless.
CRS, Dr.P.H. says:
May 11, 2010 at 11:35 am
Uh, no wait, enteric methane emissions from a ruminant, nitrous oxide from the manure….damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
And the organic poop, and overgrazing Thought about overgrazing? Otherwise, great cheese.
Josualdo says:
May 11, 2010 at 3:29 pm
biddyb says:
May 11, 2010 at 8:06 am
I dread to think how much I spend on horse muck and seeds and potting compost.
Horse muck, well, all I can get is cow.
Oops, forgot. Clostridium tetani. Tetanus. Cow doesn’t seem to have that problem, but I wouldn’t bet my hat on it. I’ve heard it from a vet. And anyway, no big problem. (Why should we be afraid of every potential problem? Life becomes impossible thus. Precautionary principle, eh.)
I think this is the final nail in the coffin of climate alarmism. Union of Concerned pseudoScientists is NEVER right. It is their most sacred tradition.