Why Not Be Carbon Negative?

Aspiring to become carbon neutral is all well and good.

But aspiring to go beyond that and ultimately become carbon negative is better.

After all, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are their highest levels in at least 400,000 years. (1)

If we are to slow (or, one hopes, ultimately reverse) climate change, then some of what is already in the air will need to be extracted and sequestered.

I’m not a big fan of carbon-capture facilities. Too small a scale. Too much money to build. Too minimal a return on investment. (A multi-million dollar plant that just opened in Iceland will -- get this -- capture the annual emissions of 870 cars. Eight hundred and seventy.) (2)

I think that the primary force for carbon mitigation is us as individuals. Millions -- no, billions -- of individuals.

I’ll not proselytize. You already follow best practices.

Nature knows best how to accumulate biomass. So let’s foster those processes -- and then get out of the way.

Sources:

(1) https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/graphic-the-relentless-rise-of-carbon-dioxide/

(2) https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/09/worlds-biggest-plant-to-turn-carbon-dioxide-into-rock-opens-in-iceland-orca