Acres, U.S.A.
January 2002
by: Malcolm Beck
Carbon Dioxide: We Need the Carbon in the Soil
LAND AREAS IN THE U.S.
(excluding Alaska & Hawaii)
Total land area: 1.9 billion acres
Cropland: 455 million acres
Grassland pasture: 578 million acres
The top 6 inches of soil on one acre of land weighs
about 2 million pounds. When a soil lab does an organic test,
they bum off the humus to determine organic content. Each 1 percent
of organic content in the top 6 inches of soil represents approximately
5,400 pounds of carbon, or nearly 20,000 pounds (10 tons) of carbon
dioxide.
According to Discover magazine, humans chum out
8 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year worldwide. All of
these 8 billion tons could be offset and put back into the soil
if we operated our farms, ranches, ball fields, lawns and gardens
with natural cultural practices.
If we increased the organic content of our cropland
in the United States just 1 percent, we would take 4.55 billions
tons (over half of what the world generates annually) Of C02 out
of the air and return it to the soil.
Research in south Texas by the USDA has shown an
increase of soil organic content by 0. 1 percent each year in
cropland under a no-till program. Organic farmers experience an
organic increase greater then that. The Holistic Resources Management
ranchers also see the organic soil content go up.
If proper soil management were to be taught and
practiced worldwide, C02 problems, perceived or real, would become
less and less prevalent. Most of the farmlands worldwide have
far less organic content than they should. If we weighed the excess
carbon in the air and what is missing from the soil, they would
probably be equal.
Building the organic content of all soils worldwide
would also solve a real and imminent problem: water shortages.
Recycling all waste could easily do this. Bio solids, feedlot
waste and most of the organic waste that is filling up our landfills
can be composted to pasteurize and detoxify it. All soils everywhere,
especially soils used to7 grow plants, urgently need organic matter.
The higher the soil organic content, the easier
the annual rains can penetrate the soil, where water is safe from
evaporation, lessens the need for irrigation, increases crop production,
lessens the need for pesticides, helps prevent flooding, brings
up the level of the aquifers, and keeps rivers flowing.
As organic matter decays under growing plants, C02
is released. The release is greatest when conditions for plant
growth is greatest. C02 is slightly heavier than air, so it tends
to remain under the canopy of the plants. Plants need the carbon
from the C02. Most of the stomata (pores) are on the underside
of the leaves. The leaves capture the C02 through the stomata,
take out the carbon, and release the oxygen.
Building soil organic content is the answer to most
of the problems mankind faces: health problems, pollution, food
shortages and floods, to mention a few.
Is this answer too simple?
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