Guest Author - Alegra Bartzat

Carbon sequestration, in biology, is the idea that carbon is held in large quantities in the earthly realm. Forests sequester carbon. Oceans sequester carbon. Even animals sequester carbon, though in smaller quantities. This is part of the carbon cycle. The carbon cycle, like the water cycle, is the natural progression through which an atom of carbon can be traced.

Carbon sequestering, in environmentalism, is the idea that excess carbon (particularly carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere can be captured into solid mass. The idea is commonplace in biology, this is the role that forests play, and re-forestation could work to do this.

Carbon, like all elements, is recycled through different forms, becoming one molecule and then another, as it moves from leaf to earth to animal back to soil back to tree and so on. As a leaf decomposes a worm eats some part and takes that carbon into its own body, until it decomposes into the soil and a tree absorbs it up again. On and on forever. But the carbon stays in some forms longer than others, and trees and plant matter are one of the longest parts of the cycles. The plants that died millions of years ago and were pressed beneath the earth into petroleum were an extra-super-long-stay in plant form.

As we release these excess stores of carbon into the atmosphere by processing and ultimately burning petroleum, we end this long-lasting part of a cycle without an alternative storage unit. As the ratio of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, carbon dioxide moves from a natural component of “air” to a “pollutant.” To remedy this situation we simply have to absorb carbon dioxide back into another form. The simplest answer is to re-forest where forests have been lost. The growing plants will sequester the excess carbon into solid form. Sounds simple, right? And in theory it is.

There are other approaches to reducing the ratio of excess carbon dioxide as well, which may or may not work. For example, some scientists believe that we can pump excess carbon dioxide into the earth, in pockets beneath the land. This, I believe, is a terrible idea. While the science behind this idea says that it is safe and will reduce global warming, I can’t help but be suspicious that at some point down the line the earth will decide it did not like being pumped full of carbon dioxide and this excess in storage will eventually cause more harm than good.

However, the basis of carbon sequestering is useful, healthful, and necessary. The natural carbon sequestering processes have been halted. The huge carbon dioxide storage bins, sometimes referred to as crude oil, have been tapped into and the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as we burn oil and gasoline in our factories and cars. Not to mention the fact that the carbon sequestering forests have been diminished greatly in recent decades. We have produced a world out of balance, where the natural, healthful levels of carbon dioxide are unsustainable because we are releasing more and preventing the earth from absorbing it.

With this knowledge, yes, we have to promote carbon sequestration, but only in the most natural sense, restoring balance to the carbon cycle so the earth can check itself.