Farmers Growing Global Warming Solutions
Paul Burman on March 26th, 2009As America starts looking forward to a clean energy future and emissions reductions that are at least 80% lower than they are today, it is becoming clearer that everyone must be an active participant in the new clean energy economy. One of the groups that may be most impacted by a cap on carbon emissions are farmers and people working in the agricultural industry. Modern agriculture is very energy and resource intensive, so even small changes to the price of fuel or fertilizer can impact a farmers bottom line.
But farmers who take an active role in the fight to stop global warming and reduce emissions stand to profit from a well designed cap and trade.
According to a report in Bloomberg.com, farmers can receive carbon credits from the Chicago Climate Exchange for implementing more sustainable agricultural practices. In the report, Bloomberg cited two examples of farmers who were receiving $3,000 and $1,500 annually for implementing a ‘no-till’ farming practices. Tilling to prepare a field for agriculture releases CO2 is stored underground in organic material. No-till farming allows farmers to continue to utilize their land for agricultural purposes, but it requires farmers not to agitate their soil before planting, thus keeping organic matter and carbon emissions in the ground.
No-till farming is also cheaper than conventional farming. Farmers do not need to use machines required to till a field, saving in fuel costs and more carbon emissions. It is estimated that corn-farmers that implement no-till practices can save $83 per acre in fuel and fertilizer costs.
In addition to the emissions reductions that can be gained through no-till farming, agricultural land can also be used to produce bio-fuels that burn cleaner than conventional fuels and farm land can also be utilized for locations of wind turbines and solar panels.
The role that farmers play in the clean energy economy is going to be crucial if we want to see emissions reductions that match the goals scientists say we must reach. By taking an active role, farmers can make money, produce food and unlock more real world global warming solutions.
Support farm based carbon offsets with Carbonfund.org.
(Image Courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica)
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I don’t know much about global warming, which maybe I should, but everyone makes it sound so scary. Is something being done about global warming or is everyone just sitting around waiting for it to happen?
Well, the bad news is that we have committed ourselves to some amount of unavoidable warming. Scientist seem to be pretty consistent in their opinion that we will continue to see temperatures and sea levels rise over the next 90 years.
But that doesn’t mean this fight is a lost cause. The best way that I have heard it described is in an anecdote: would you rather drive into a brick wall at 10 mph or 60 mph? What we are fighting for right now is the ’softer crash’, one that the earth can walk away from.
There is lots you can do. The cheapest and easiest way to fight global warming is to reduce your energy consumption. Turn off appliances when you are not using them, properly insulate your house, buy efficient appliances when economically practical, and waste less. Most people can cut their energy consumption significantly by taking these simple steps.
For all your remaining carbon emissions, consider offsetting your carbon footprint through Carbonfund.org. Our projects are third party validated and additional. Go to http://www.carbonfund.org/Calculators to calculate and offset your footprint now.
This topic is quite hot on the Internet right now. What do you pay the most attention to while choosing what to write about?
Global Warming is a problem that can kills us all. At this moment of time, i am very happy that increasing number of people are looking for the solution. Farmers are doing their best to help stop it, which is good for all of us.