Capture carbon right in your own backyard!
- Bob Dahm
- Jun 11
- 4 min read
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere warms the planet, causing climate change. According to NASA, human activities have raised the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content by 50% in less than 200 years. But we can help reverse this trend – right in our own backyards!
The easiest solution to remove these gases from the atmosphere is to store them in the soil through the roots of plants. This is called a carbon sink. Plants consist of about 90% carbon pulled from the atmosphere. The more root mass a plant has, the more carbon it can place into the soil.
How Plants Use CO2
We all learned about the magic of photosynthesis in school. Plants use sunlight, soil, water, and the CO2 they inhale to make simple carbohydrates - their food. Plants produce up to 40% more carbohydrates than they need and store them in the soil around their roots. Think of it as nature's “spare tire”.
Microbes feed on these carbohydrates. As the microbe populations grow, so does the amount of carbon that is sequestered in our soils. The microbes release or cycle nutrients in the soil that cause plants to grow and create increased root mass and an increase in the plants' abilities to store more carbs in the soil. This creates an exponential upward trend in the soil’s ability to store carbon through both root mass, microbe populations, and soil structure.
The soil structure is a network of pores, tunnels, and aggregate clumping created by microbes, and is where roots grow in the soil. Water and air also travel through this structure, which in turn encourages more beneficial soil microbes.
These beneficial microbes are more active during the night, causing the soil to open up to breathe, breathing in air and releasing CO2. Plants also open up the pores on the undersides of their leaves at night to breathe. They are right there when the soil microbes exhale CO2 and they suck up this CO2 before it gets into the atmosphere.
Now that we know how a healthy soil and plant community can sequester our main greenhouse gas (CO2) the obvious question is, “How do I do this in my yard”? Here are the steps:
Convert your lawn to organic and stop using toxic chemical products.
Lawn chemicals and synthetic fertilizers kill off beneficial microbes. This interferes in building soil health and can cause soil compaction. When the microbes that use the pores and tunnels are killed, the soil loses its structure, and the structure collapses.
Using organic methods and products will jumpstart your lawn’s soil health by introducing more beneficial species and bolstering the beneficials that already exist in your soil. It is a 3-year process to regenerate the dirt and create healthy soil.
Convert marginal areas of lawn to native plants.
There are many conditions where turf grass doesn’t grow well. Examples are deep shade, any boulevard, low wet areas, steep slopes, and hot dry areas like a southern or west-facing yard where the sun hits hard for a long day.
There are entire native plant communities that love these conditions. Many native plant nurseries and conservation groups have pre-designed gardens for specific site conditions and challenges, like deer, weeds, invasive plant replacements, and more.
Convert your lawn to an alternative turf.
The average Kentucky Bluegrass (which is originally from northern Asia) is a fertilizer, water, and energy guzzler. The root mass of bluegrass rarely goes deeper than 6”, so it does very little for carbon sequestration.
There are many alternatives to Kentucky bluegrass. A no-mow, fine fescue lawn requires very little maintenance if not mowed. A tall fescue lawn can have roots up to 30” deep and, once established, requires much less fertilizer and water.
Pollinator lawns of native species need very little maintenance once established. This is typically a 3-year process, but people who have done this say it’s well worth it. Pollinator lawns sequester much more carbon than a Kentucky bluegrass lawn, because of their deep roots and low energy footprint.
Practice soil health principles in all gardening and landscape tasks.
The four soil health principles are not complicated, but can pull a lot of CO2 from the atmosphere. They are:
Minimize disturbance. No tilling in gardens, no herbicides or pesticides anywhere, no heavy equipment.
Maximize biodiversity. Plant natives, plant flowers in lawns, use plants as a living mulch, plant companion plants in or near veggie beds.
Maximize soil cover. Plants as living mulch, wood mulch in perennial beds, straw or wood shavings in veggie gardens, and leave grass clippings.
Maximize living roots. Use cover crops in veggie beds, plant densely, use plants as living mulch, and plant native plants for their deep roots.
Creating a carbon sink in your yard sounds great, but can seem like a big undertaking. Earthwise Organic Consulting is your best option for resources to create and execute a plan.
Here a a few resources:
Organic Lawn Care Services
Native plant nurseries
Alternative Turf / Bee Lawns
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