Wood vaults are an interesting idea, but I'd like to know how they would fit into an overall sensitive management approach, so that enough wood can be left on the surface so that fungi can break it down and invertebrates find homes
Katharine soil is a great carbon sink agreed, but it will only sink what it has lost since we destroyed most of the soils releasing carbon into atmosphere. So yes we need to put it back, but that does not mitigate any fossil carbon.
Wood vaulting is an interesting way to provide substitute income to southeastern US foresters that are feeding wood to the pellet fuel business that sends wood to Europe to be burned in place of coal. It is currently an insane business that emits carbon and other pollution under the guise of being "carbon neutral" It might be carbon neutral over a 500 year time scale, but just dumps CO2 into the atmosphere now. I see it in the same light as "sustainable" fuels from corn - another insane process we seem to be stuck in. If instead of turning forests into wood pellets to burn, we could vault them and get carbon removal credit. At least we would be sequestering the CO2 for at least the near term when we need it most.
Thank you Katharine for sharing this innovative approach to reduce CO2 emissions from biomatter while enriching the soil. I'm curious on the tradeoffs compared to converting it into biochar. Biochar production has a high energy cost but I believe does not have the requirements to keep out water, air and bugs. From your article and the links I also imagine the source material is less flexible with wood vaulting.
I also imagine that deadwood decay releases methane so the gains are even larger than just reducing CO2 emissions by 5-15%!
With 3 kids, technically 2.75, we bought a new house north of Boston. The practice, not legal, was to clear the house lot, and dig a big pit for the stumps, cardboard packing, etc. The soil is scrapped away because the construction vehicles would compact and kill it, leaving on dirt. The pit was filled and a few inches of soil spread for the lawn. About five years later the stuff rotted and we were left with a big grassy pit in the middle of the lawn. Burrowing stumps does keep the carbon in the ground. But better to treat it as a slumping compost pile than a ball feed. Better to burn, throw in rocks and seaweed and have a big clam bake with corn in the husks, etc.
But how permanent a sink is soil? If climate change results in desertification, not much.
Plastic could be considered an intermediate fossil fuel. As the local treatment plant it gets separated out and effectively incinerated for energy. Does that make it OK? I don't think so. Need to stop taking so much stuff out of rock in general.
Great read thanks. Interestingly our local councils are responsible for arranging recycling facilities irrespective of collection location. Glass plastic paper cardboard alu & tin cans. Electric appliances. Only old furniture and contaminated soil are chargeable.
Another brilliant newsletter! Thank you Katharine
I like the use of wood vaults - being a forest owner myself, this may be an excellent path to reducing our carbon footprint.
Wood vaults are an interesting idea, but I'd like to know how they would fit into an overall sensitive management approach, so that enough wood can be left on the surface so that fungi can break it down and invertebrates find homes
Yes. As a forest land owner who does quite a bit of hugelculture, I’m also curious about how that fits into the picture.
Katharine soil is a great carbon sink agreed, but it will only sink what it has lost since we destroyed most of the soils releasing carbon into atmosphere. So yes we need to put it back, but that does not mitigate any fossil carbon.
Wood vaulting is an interesting way to provide substitute income to southeastern US foresters that are feeding wood to the pellet fuel business that sends wood to Europe to be burned in place of coal. It is currently an insane business that emits carbon and other pollution under the guise of being "carbon neutral" It might be carbon neutral over a 500 year time scale, but just dumps CO2 into the atmosphere now. I see it in the same light as "sustainable" fuels from corn - another insane process we seem to be stuck in. If instead of turning forests into wood pellets to burn, we could vault them and get carbon removal credit. At least we would be sequestering the CO2 for at least the near term when we need it most.
Thank you Katharine for sharing this innovative approach to reduce CO2 emissions from biomatter while enriching the soil. I'm curious on the tradeoffs compared to converting it into biochar. Biochar production has a high energy cost but I believe does not have the requirements to keep out water, air and bugs. From your article and the links I also imagine the source material is less flexible with wood vaulting.
I also imagine that deadwood decay releases methane so the gains are even larger than just reducing CO2 emissions by 5-15%!
I love that although there’s no silver bullet to solve climate change, there is silver buckshot. Poetic gold. 💚😊🙏
With 3 kids, technically 2.75, we bought a new house north of Boston. The practice, not legal, was to clear the house lot, and dig a big pit for the stumps, cardboard packing, etc. The soil is scrapped away because the construction vehicles would compact and kill it, leaving on dirt. The pit was filled and a few inches of soil spread for the lawn. About five years later the stuff rotted and we were left with a big grassy pit in the middle of the lawn. Burrowing stumps does keep the carbon in the ground. But better to treat it as a slumping compost pile than a ball feed. Better to burn, throw in rocks and seaweed and have a big clam bake with corn in the husks, etc.
But how permanent a sink is soil? If climate change results in desertification, not much.
Plastic could be considered an intermediate fossil fuel. As the local treatment plant it gets separated out and effectively incinerated for energy. Does that make it OK? I don't think so. Need to stop taking so much stuff out of rock in general.
Great read thanks. Interestingly our local councils are responsible for arranging recycling facilities irrespective of collection location. Glass plastic paper cardboard alu & tin cans. Electric appliances. Only old furniture and contaminated soil are chargeable.