Reasonable minds recognize that climate change is occurring worldwide, and that we need to take steps to avoid its worst consequences. This involves both cutting down on fossil fuel use and capturing carbon that is still being generated.
While the majority of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions stay in the atmosphere, about a sixth of that carbon is captured by the world’s oceans and a quarter by the land. While it’s well known that forests and especially wetlands are important carbon “sinks,” a little-known fact is that when it comes to capturing and storing carbon, our seemingly barren desert is a champion, second only to wetlands and tropical rainforests.
Why, you may ask?
Because carbon is cycled in and out of plants and soil. So, although the desert may capture carbon more slowly than other more verdant lands; once captured underground in the desert, carbon stays in the system far longer than in other ecosystems. Large-scale disturbance of the desert, especially to its creosote bajadas and the woodlands along desert washes, not only threatens California’s biodiversity but also releases vast stores of carbon that have been stored for millennia.
Read all about it in The California Desert’s Role in 30X30: Carbon Sequestration and Biodiversity.
Joan Taylor is a long-time Sierra club member and activist from the San Gorgonio Chapter who Chairs the Desert Committee.