{"id":96,"date":"2007-05-17T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2007-05-17T20:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/05\/17\/ag_offsets_book\/"},"modified":"2008-04-22T13:16:44","modified_gmt":"2008-04-22T18:16:44","slug":"ag_offsets_book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/05\/17\/ag_offsets_book\/","title":{"rendered":"Agricultural Offsets"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have a book coming out next month. I don’t expect it to be a bestseller – it’s pretty technical – but the topic is important. The book, titled Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low Carbon Economy<\/i>, is a road map for producing carbon offsets based on land management practices. Let me explain.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Carbon offsets are a way to reduce your carbon footprint by funding the negation of carbon emissions elsewhere. They work because the source of carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>) doesn’t matter – only total CO2<\/sub> in the atmosphere matters.<\/p>\n

Some feel that offsets are just a way for people to absolve themselves of guilt without making difficult changes. For example, someone who drives a gas-guzzling hummer can buy offsets and then say they aren’t contributing to global warming. Of course it’s better if people minimize their emissions then offset the rest. But regardless, offsets lead to less greenhouse gas emissions, and that’s a good thing. (To learn more about offsets, see this earlier post<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The problem is, the U.S. offset market is unregulated. Some offsets are real and others are not. Our book is a how-to manual for farmers and foresters on how to create genuine offsets. It also proves to policymakers that there is a way to make offsets valid. You can read more about it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our land has huge potential for offsetting emissions. Green plants take CO2<\/sub> out of the atmosphere during photosynthesis to make living material in the form of organic carbon. Bugs and animals (including humans) eat the plants, converting the organic carbon back to CO2<\/sub>. We call this latter process respiration.<\/p>\n

Most of the time, photosynthesis and respiration are in balance, so there’s no net effect on atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, farmers and foresters can do many things to increase photosynthesis and decrease respiration. For example, photosynthesis is increased when tree cutting is delayed. Respiration is decreased by no-till farming practices. (Tilling increases the respiration of microbes in the soil by improving the conditions for decomposition.)<\/p>\n

Practices such as these increase the amount of organic carbon that is stored or sequestered in soils and trees. Each ton of carbon that is sequestered offsets a ton of emissions from burning fossil fuels, which is good for the climate. Farmers and foresters can sell these offsets, which is good for them and good for the economy.<\/p>\n

My colleague Zach Willey<\/a> convened a blue ribbon panel of scientists and challenged them to detail the methodology for producing verifiable land-based carbon offsets. We worked with the Nicholas Institute at Duke University and a scientific review panel chaired by Bill Schlesinger, the Dean of Duke\u2019s Nicholas School of the Environment, to integrate and edit the work of the scientists.<\/p>\n

It has been a Herculean task – I have been working on this project since I first joined Environmental Defense more than two years ago, and Zach has been at it even longer. But last week we delivered the final corrected galley proofs to the publishers at Duke University Press, and we expect the book to be available next month. If you pick up a copy, let me know what you think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have a book coming out next month. I don’t expect it to be a bestseller – it’s pretty technical – but the topic is important. The book, titled Harnessing Farms and Forests in the Low Carbon Economy, is a road map for producing carbon offsets based on land management practices. Let me explain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAgricultural Offsets - Climate 411<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/05\/17\/ag_offsets_book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Agricultural Offsets - Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We have a book coming out next month. 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