Taking more carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by stashing it in the ocean seems like a good idea, but it could backfire if tiny marine animals called zooplankton get extra hungry.
Purple spring flowers growing on termite mounds in Namaqualand.
A Potts
Mangrove forests are shrinking due to human activities, yet they’re essential for shoreline protection and carbon sequestration. Ongoing research explores the concept of “floating” mangrove forests.
For decades, railroad tracks carried coal from eastern Tennessee to power plants in the eastern U.S.
Appalachian Voices
Large parts of Appalachia’s forests, once owned by coal companies, now make money for investors by storing carbon. But the results bring few jobs or sizable investments for residents.
Pine grows faster and sequesters more carbon. But native forest is better for biodiversity in the long run. Transitioning between the two offers a win-win solution.
New Zealand’s new government has vowed to explore ‘blue carbon’ options for removing atmospheric CO₂ to meet net zero goals. But first we need a national strategy for this developing field of science.
A brown bear in a Siberian boreal forest.
Logan Berner
How will Earth’s vast boreal forests look in a warmer world? Combining satellite-based research with fieldwork shows that the planet’s largest wilderness may be changing in unexpected ways.
Marine sediments are the world’s largest store of carbon, and fiords in particular are a massive sink. But New Zealand doesn’t even have an oceans policy to develop blue carbon climate policy.
We want good news on climate change. But whales storing enough carbon needs more evidence.
Smouldering fire in a drained peatland near Fort McMurray, Alta. produces smoke from underground. These ecosystems are affected by rising temperatures, drought, wildfire and various human actions including drainage.
(Leyland Cecco)
Seaweed is in the spotlight for so many reasons. It all sounds too good to be true. So can this wonder weed live up to expectations and fulfill its promise to save us from ourselves?
A raccoon with a fish at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, Fla.
Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The US Supreme Court opens its 2022-2023 term with a case that could greatly reduce federal protection for wetlands. Here is what makes these ecosystems valuable.
‘Blue carbon’ habitats can store a lot of carbon – but not reliably enough to offset emissions.
Although it is important to have a diversity of tree species in urban landscapes, planting and protecting taller species should be strongly encouraged.
(Shutterstock)
Tiny seashells draw carbon to the ocean floor when they die. This is the most significant geological process of carbon storage today, and it might increase in a warmer world, as it did in the past.