A climate change solution that's right under our feet

There's two times more carbon in the earth's soil than in all of its vegetation and the atmosphere -- combined. Biogeochemist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe dives into the science of soil and shares how we could use its awesome carbon-trapping power to offset climate change. "[Soil] represents the difference between life and lifelessness in the earth system, and it can also help us combat climate change -- if we can only stop treating it like dirt," she says.

So one of the most important solutions

to the global challenge
posed by climate change

lies right under our foot every day.

It's soil.

Soil's just the thin veil
that covers the surface of land,

but it has the power to shape
our planet's destiny.

See, a six-foot or so of soil,

loose soil material
that covers the earth's surface,

represents the difference between life
and lifelessness in the earth system,

and it can also help us
combat climate change

if we can only stop treating it like dirt.

(Laughter)

Climate change is happening,

the earth's atmosphere is warming,

because of the increasing amount
of greenhouse gases

we keep releasing into the atmosphere.

You all know that.

But what I assume you might not have heard

is that one of the most important things
our human society could do

to address climate change

lies right there in the soil.

I'm a soil scientist who has been
studying soil since I was 18,

because I'm interested in unlocking
the secrets of soil

and helping people understand this
really important climate change solution.

So here are the facts about climate.

The concentration of carbon dioxide
in the earth's atmosphere

has increased by 40 percent

just in the last 150 years or so.

Human actions are now releasing
9.4 billion metric tons of carbon

into the atmosphere,

from activities
such as burning fossil fuels

and intensive agricultural practices,

and other ways we change
the way we use land,

including deforestation.

But the concentration of carbon dioxide
that stays in the atmosphere

is only increasing by about half of that,

and that's because half of the carbon
we keep releasing into the atmosphere

is currently being taken up
by land and the seas

through a process we know
as carbon sequestration.

So in essence, whatever consequence
you think we're facing

from climate change right now,

we're only experiencing the consequence
of 50 percent of our pollution,

because the natural ecosystems
are bailing us out.

But don't get too comfortable,

because we have two major things
working against us right now.

One: unless we do something big,

and then fast,

emissions will continue to rise.

And second: the ability
of these natural ecosystems

to take up carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere

and sequester it in the natural habitats

is currently getting compromised,

as they're experiencing serious
degradation because of human actions.

So it's not entirely clear

that we will continue to get bailed out
by these natural ecosystems

if we continue on this
business-as-usual path that we've been.

Here's where the soil comes in:

there is about three thousand billion
metric tons of carbon in the soil.

That's roughly about 315 times
the amount of carbon

that we release
into the atmosphere currently.

And there's twice more carbon in soil
than there is in vegetation and air.

Think about that for a second.

There's more carbon in soil

than there is in all
of the world's vegetation,

including the lush tropical rainforests
and the giant sequoias,

the expansive grasslands,

all of the cultivated systems,

and every kind of flora you can imagine
on the face of the earth,

plus all the carbon that's currently
up in the atmosphere, combined,

and then twice over.

Hence, a very small change
in the amount of carbon stored in soil

can make a big difference
in maintenance of the earth's atmosphere.

But soil's not just simply
a storage box for carbon, though.

It operates more like a bank account,

and the amount of carbon
that's in soil at any given time

is a function of the amount of carbon
coming in and out of the soil.

Carbon comes into the soil
through the process of photosynthesis,

when green plants take carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere

and use it to make their bodies,

and upon death,
their bodies enter the soil.

And carbon leaves the soil

and goes right back up into the atmosphere

when the bodies of those
formerly living organisms

decay in soil by the activity of microbes.

See, decomposition releases
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere,

as well as other greenhouse gases
such as methane and nitrous oxide,

but it also releases all the nutrients
we all need to survive.

One of the things that makes soil
such a fundamental component

of any climate change mitigation strategy

is because it represents
a long-term storage of carbon.

Carbon that would have lasted
maybe a year or two

in decaying residue
if it was left on the surface

can stay in soil for hundreds of years,
even thousands and more.

Soil biogeochemists like me

study exactly how the soil system
makes this possible,

by locking away the carbon
in physical association with minerals,

inside aggregates of soil minerals,

and formation of strong chemical bonds

that bind the carbon
to the surfaces of the minerals.

See when carbon is entrapped in soil,

in these kinds of associations
with soil minerals,

even the wiliest of the microbes
can't easily degrade it.

And carbon that's not degrading fast

is carbon that's not going back
into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases.

But the benefit of carbon sequestration

is not just limited
to climate change mitigation.

Soil that stores large amounts of carbon
is healthy, fertile, soft.

It's malleable. It's workable.

It makes it like a sponge.

It can hold on to
a lot of water and nutrients.

Healthy and fertile soils like this

support the most dynamic, abundant
and diverse habitat for living things

that we know of anywhere
on the earth system.

It makes life possible for everything
from the tiniest of the microbes,

such as bacteria and fungi,

all the way to higher plants,

and fulfills the food, feed
and fiber needs for all animals,

including you and I.

So at this point, you would assume
that we should be treating soil

like the precious resource that it is.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Soils around the world are experiencing
unprecedented rates of degradation

through a variety of human actions
that include deforestation,

intensive agricultural production systems,

overgrazing,

excessive application
of agricultural chemicals,

erosion and similar things.

Half of the world's soils
are currently considered degraded.

Soil degradation is bad for many reasons,

but let me just tell you a couple.

One: degraded soils have diminished
potential to support plant productivity.

And hence, by degrading soil,

we're compromising our own abilities
to provide the food and other resources

that we need for us

and every member of living things
on the face of the earth.

And second:

soil use and degradation,
just in the last 200 years or so,

has released 12 times more carbon
into the atmosphere

compared to the rate at
which we're releasing carbon

into the atmosphere right now.

I'm afraid there's even more bad news.

This is a story of soils
at high latitudes.

Peatlands in polar environments

store about a third
of the global soil carbon reserves.

These peatlands have
a permanently frozen ground underneath,

the permafrost,

and the carbon was able to build up
in these soils over long periods of time

because even though plants are able
to photosynthesize during the short,

warm summer months,

the environment quickly
turns cold and dark,

and then microbes are not able
to efficiently break down the residue.

So the soil carbon bank
in these polar environments

built up over hundreds
of thousands of years.

But right now, with atmospheric warming,

the permafrost is thawing and draining.

And when permafrost thaws and drains,

it makes it possible
for microbes to come in

and rather quickly
decompose all this carbon,

with the potential to release hundreds
of billions of metric tons of carbon

into the atmosphere
in the form of greenhouse gases.

And this release of additional
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere

will only contribute to further warming

that makes this predicament even worse,

as it starts a self-reinforcing
positive feedback loop

that could go on and on and on,

dramatically changing our climate future.

Fortunately, I can also tell you
that there is a solution

for these two wicked problems
of soil degradation and climate change.

Just like we created these problems,

we do know the solution,

and the solution lies
in simultaneously working

to address these two things together,

through what we call
climate-smart land management practices.

What do I mean here?

I mean managing land
in a way that's smart

about maximizing
how much carbon we store in soil.

And we can accomplish this

by putting in place
deep-rooted perennial plants,

putting back forests whenever possible,

reducing tillage and other disturbances
from agricultural practices,

including optimizing the use
of agricultural chemicals and grazing

and even adding carbon to soil,
whenever possible,

from recycled resources
such as compost and even human waste.

This kind of land stewardship
is not a radical idea.

It's what made it possible
for fertile soils

to be able to support human civilizations
since time immemorial.

In fact, some are doing it just right now.

There's a global effort underway
to accomplish exactly this goal.

This effort that started in France
is known as the "4 per 1000" effort,

and it sets an aspirational goal

to increase the amount of carbon
stored in soil by 0.4 percent annually,

using the same kind of climate-smart
land management practices

I mentioned earlier.

And if this effort's fully successful,

it can offset a third
of the global emissions

of fossil-fuel-derived carbon
into the atmosphere.

But even if this effort
is not fully successful,

but we just start heading
in that direction,

we still end up with soils
that are healthier, more fertile,

are able to produce all the food
and resources that we need

for human populations and more,

and also soils that are better capable

of sequestering carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere

and helping with
climate change mitigation.

I'm pretty sure that's what politicians
call a win-win solution.

And we all can have a role to play here.

We can start by treating the soil
with the respect that it deserves:

respect for its ability
as the basis of all life on earth,

respect for its ability to serve
as a carbon bank

and respect for its ability
to control our climate.

And if we do so,

we can then simultaneously address

two of the most pressing
global challenges of our time:

climate change and soil degradation.

And in the process, we would be able
to provide food and nutritional security

to our growing human family.

Thank you.

(Applause)