Reuters reports today that the Kyoto Protocol's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have been undone by an unlikely culprit-- soil.
According to Reuters, the journal "Nature" carries an article about the study of British soils from 1978-2003; the study concludes that during this time Britain has lost about 13 million tons of carbon a year from British soil. The study further concludes that the carbon "may" have entered the atmosphere as greenhouse gases and methane and adds:
Since the carbon appeared to be released from soil regardless of how the soil was used, they concluded that the main cause must be climate change itself.
OK, OK--I don't understand that sentence, either. But the main thing here is the study's additional conclusion that the release of carbon from soils is 300 times greater than its release from industrial activities and a companion study's conclusion that "the carbon released from British soil
wiped out the gains made by cutting its industrial emissions" pursuant to agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol.
What to do, what to do? According to the companion study, "[a]n effective climate policy will require a more
comprehensive approach" than merely regulating industrial activity. What--are we going to order Mother Nature to stop polluting? Bad soil, bad!
Comments