Homestead mailing list

[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Gene GeRue wrote:

> The pertinent connection  
> here is his premise that we can sequester enough carbon in  
> agricultural soil to halt global warming in about a decade. This would  
> be accomplished by treating the soil as organic farmers do: low- or no- 
> till, no chemicals, high humus input.
this sounds like total load of crap to me. how's that supposed to work? 
the organisms in living soil exhale CO2 as surely as any other animals. 
the only force that removes it from the air and water is photosynthesis 
(and dry ice manufacturers). so the CO2 could only be removed by "extra" 
plants grown solely for mulch or compost. even then, organic matter 
disappears into the air from soil faster than i can replace it. so 
wouldn't if be more effective just to grow lot of vegetable matter to 
sequester the CO2, then submerge it in a swamp, or otherwise preserve it 
so that it can't decompose and release the CO2 back? in a nutshell, i'm 
really trying hard to see how having lots of decaying organic matter 
lying around will reduce CO2. take a lesson from the "Biosphere".