Composting For Climate Change

The next time you cook some eggs or chop up vegetables, don’t miss out on a small, but significant opportunity to impact climate change. That is, every time we compost biowaste and reuse it in our yards, we capture carbon in the soil that mitigates greenhouse gas emissions.

By applying organic fertilizers to agricultural land, we increase the carbon stored in the soil and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study published in Waste Management & Research.

If  20 percent of the surface of agricultural land in the EU could be used as a sink for carbon, it could constitute about 8.6 percent of the total EU emission-reduction objective, according to the report.

The researchers also note that increasing organic matter in soils may cause other greenhouse gas-saving effects, such as improved workability of soils, better water retention, less production and use of mineral fertilizers and pesticides, and reduced release of nitrous oxide.

Since industrial farming techniques deplete carbon from soil, its capacity to act as a carbon sink is reduced, but this loss of carbon sink capacity is not permanent. By composting, we can restore soil quality and sequester carbon in the ground.

So go get your worm farm ready for the spring planting season, and feed your garden the natural way this year. Your body will thank you, and so will the planet.