Sequestering Carbon in Undersea Forests of Seagrass
Seagrass meadows are some of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. New research shows that they’re enormous carbon sinks, too.
The trouble with carbon dioxide is that it’s invisible and doesn’t reek to high heaven. As dejected environmentalists have long pointed out, climate change would rank a lot higher on Americans’ worry lists if the gas were, say, purple, or smelled like rotting fish. As it is, we’re at war with an unseen enemy, and the war is not going well.
The latest round of climate talks concluded in Bonn, Germany, last month utterly gridlocked. Kyoto is set to expire at the end of the year with no successor in sight. And according to the International Energy Agency, CO2 emissions from fossil fuels reached an all-time high in 2011—after falling off a bit during the global recession—with coal and China leading the way.
And that’s the good news, that 10 percent increase in Chinese emissions. It could have been a lot worse. “What China has done over such a short period of time to improve energy efficiency and deploy clean energy is already paying major dividends to the global environment,” said IAE chief economist Fatih Birol.