Argh. $1 BILLION for #CarbonCapture, 1/2 of it to a #FossilFuel company. The as yet unproven claim is 2 million metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere every year. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-capture-projects-get-1-billion-in-new-federal-funding/

The Marin Carbon Project has proven that a single application of 1/4" compost on range land would draw down 55 metric tons/acre every year for 30+ years. There are 62 million acres of rangeland in CA alone. $1B would go a LOT further with #RegenerativeAgriculture benefitting farmers instead of oil companies.

Carbon Capture Projects Get $1 Billion in New Federal Funding

This first-of-its-kind federal funding is meant to jump-start a new industry that can siphon climate pollution from the air

Scientific American

I should clarify. The #CarbonCapture draw down from #RegenerativeAgriculture compost is 1 metric ton/acre of rangeland - So potential for 62 million tons of drawdown in CA. This carbon is stored stably in the #soil vs soil carbon lost on untreated range land. The high tech carbon capture needs huge underground storage caverns.

The 55 tons/acre is net emissions reduction achieved by upstream diversion of traditionally high-emissions waste management practices

https://marincarbonproject.org/science/

Science โ€“ Marin Carbon Project

@exador23 Iโ€™ve been following the Marin compost carbon capture thing off and on for years! Still hopeful itโ€™ll take off.

@donkeyherder

#RegenerativeAgriculture is the only reason I still have hope for humanity solving the #ClimateEmergency. Marin Carbon is just one project. The Rodale Institute has a bunch more.

The only issue is education and buy-in from stake holders from farmers to policy makers. That's why I rail against the demonization of meat consumption. That pushes the farmers we need on board to solve this away.

https://rodaleinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/Rodale-Soil-Carbon-White-Paper_v11-compressed.pdf

While I endorse totally #RegenerativeAgriculture being more sustainable agricultural practices a key part of the puzzle on how to solve the multiple crisis we are facing, I am one of the serious looking guys that always call for caution with the hyperbolic claims.

Many people in the #RegAg community grossly exagerate its potential to attract funding and popularity.
It could be argued that this is ok, since RegAg is definitely an improvement compared to what we have now, but there are several biophysical limitations that will not allow RegAg alone to save the world.

a) in order to apply large amounts of compost, first you need to produce a lot of biomass.
b) Soil Organic Matter (SOM) is not a stable thing. It degrades progressi ely after some decades (yes, there are claims that "with RegAg-technique X SOM gets stabilized", but they didn't study this in long-term experiments)
c) in agriculture, there is no one-size-fits-all. E.g. if you wonder why in warmer, drier climates there is little SOM, it might be for some reason and not only because of bad agricultural practices.
d) Regenerative Agriculture needs to strengthen the focus on social and economic issues. Team up with the #Agroecology movement, as only an #ecosocialTransformation will give farmers the structure to achieve #FoodSovereignity while caring the planet.

So, promote Regenerative Agriculture, but be careful with the claims, as it won't help if in some years people will identify us as liars having promised too much.

Sorry for being boring ๐Ÿค“

@exador23 @donkeyherder

@earthworm @donkeyherder

"grossly exagerate its potential to attract funding and popularity." viability of solutions is a technical question not a popularity contest. You have to convince people of merits. Win win win proposals have huge potential for popularity once you educate the right people - in this case the farmers themselves - which is why labeling natural ruminant carbon cycling anthropogenic is both wrong and counterproductive.

@earthworm @donkeyherder

a) There are already large amounts of biomass, but it is treated as "waste" & stored in massive manure lagoons that emit methane accounting for11% of ag's current emissions.

By investing in RegenAg, you create a demand & market for compost so manure becomes a co-product instead of waste.

This is just like when you subsidize EVs as a solution you create a demand for #lithium and encourage destructive mining. Bad side effect vs good.

@earthworm @donkeyherder

b) Marin Carbon Project has been doing long-term experiments. Their data is based on 40 year old test plots. And is peer reviewed.

c) no there isn't. That's why I only mentioned rangeland in CA. The Rodale white paper looks at dozens of projects tailored to different environs and practices around the world. Each of them winds up being multiple benefits from simple low tech changes to farming methods.

@earthworm agree wholeheartedly. While #regenag might be a toolkit of techniques that can be regionally applied and hopefully consolidate some long term research - without social and economic reform, which is embedded in #agroecology , it is just another technique