{"id":17604,"date":"2019-04-10T08:18:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T15:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=17604"},"modified":"2019-04-10T08:22:34","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T15:22:34","slug":"we-should-discuss-soil-as-much-as-coal-from-gatesnotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/04\/10\/we-should-discuss-soil-as-much-as-coal-from-gatesnotes\/","title":{"rendered":"We should discuss soil as much as coal – From gatesnotes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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By Bill Gates<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m done with cow farts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve written about them several<\/a> times<\/a> over the last six months, and I bring them up in polite conversation more than I should. In my defense, I have a legitimate reason: cows, with their burps and farts, are a good example of something that contributes to climate change but isn\u2019t related to generating electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most discussions about fighting climate change focus on electricity and the need for renewable energy. De-carbonizing the way we generate electricity would be a huge step, but it won\u2019t be enough if we don\u2019t reach zero net emissions from every sector of the economy within 50 years (and make a serious dent in the next ten). That includes the agriculture, forestry, and land use sector, which is responsible for 24 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions\u2014just one percentage point less than electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gassy cattle are a memorable and significant example of emissions\u2014but they\u2019re not the only major contributor to agriculture, forestry, and land use\u2019s slice of the emissions pie. We\u2019re just as well-off picking on soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a mind-blowing fact: there\u2019s more carbon in soil than in the atmosphere and all plant life combined<\/strong>. That\u2019s not a big deal when left to its own devices. But when soil gets disturbed\u2014like it does when you convert a forest into cropland\u2014all that stored carbon gets released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. That\u2019s one reason why deforestation alone is responsible for 11 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions. (Another reason is that forests and grasslands are natural carbon sinks. Clearing them reduces the planet\u2019s capacity to remove carbon dioxide from the air.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The microbes in soil can also create greenhouse gases when they come into contact with fertilizer. Synthetic fertilizers revolutionized how we feed the world, but they release a powerful greenhouse gas called nitrous oxide when broken down by those microbes. Natural fertilizers like manure aren\u2019t any better, because they release greenhouse gases as they decompose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do we fight climate change caused by agriculture? We can\u2019t simply get rid of soil\u2014or stop growing crops, using fertilizer, and raising livestock. There are some changes that societies can make\u2014people in level 1 and 2 countries<\/a> will eat more meat as they move up the income ladder, so people in level 3 and 4 countries could consume less to compensate, for example\u2014but at the end of the day, people need to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why the goal with agriculture is not to reduce the amount created, but to reduce emissions per product. I\u2019m involved with a group called Breakthrough Energy Ventures<\/a> that is backing a number of creative solutions to tackle the problem. Because every country and every culture approaches food production differently, there are a lot of different ways to do that. Here are some of the ones I find most interesting:
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