Written by Colorado Green NOW

NASA defines global warming as the long-term heating of the Earth’s surface observed since the pre-increase in heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The data from NASA tells us that human activities have increased Earth’s global average temperature by about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and the temperature is anticipated to continue increasing by .2 degrees Celsius per decade.

What warms the planet is the increase of greenhouse gases, including CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons. CO2 accounts for more than half of the total greenhouse gases.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide and it reduces the total carbon going into the atmosphere. Controlling global warming is dependent on both the reduction of greenhouse gases and increasing carbon sequestration.

In our industry, we recognize the valuable mitigation impacts of soil and plants and their important role in sequestering carbon, but it’s important to consider other key choices we make that can have a meaningful impact.

Healthy soil acts as a significant carbon sink and recovering and protecting soil has the potential to sequester 5.5 billion tons CO2. More carbon is stored in the soil than in the atmosphere and vegetation combined. Some CO2 soil optimization tips include:

· Reduce soil disturbance including tilling, when possible; untilled grassland absorbs higher levels of CO2.

· Add organic matter to your soil and mulch planting beds or leave debris in the planting beds

· Plant in tight connection patterns to cover the soil fully with vegetation

· Preserve and create grasslands

· Plant trees

The greatest green industry action we can take to help sequester carbon will be to plant and integrate a forest into our larger landscape site plans, but grasslands or mixed grass and perennial plantings can have a measurable impact. Grasslands sequester most of their carbon deep underground in their root structure, so the deeper the roots, the greater the carbon sequestration. On the other hand, forests store CO2 in mostly wood leaves and biomass; in a stable climate, trees store more carbon than grasslands.

Everyone wants a beautiful landscape, but more and more often, clients’ motivation for improving their landscape, whether corporate or residential, involves more altruistic reasons such as pollinator preservation, biodiversity enhancement, saving Monarchs, or corporate sustainability values and initiatives, which can easily include carbon sequestration.

Whether your client specifically requests or is committed to reducing their carbon footprint or not, do your best to make choices that bring global warming reduction results. Include these winning plant selections in your next project for CO2 sequestration success.