Polarizing images are usually photos advertisers won’t use because they generate strong reactions, both positive and negative, from the public. This image created a host of reactions and I wanted to share it.
The first reaction was American: A breath of relief. The USA’s blue tree is smaller than Europe’s blue tree. All our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint are having an impact! The developing world, with its use of coal, has a much higher carbon footprint, as expected.
The second reaction was that of an analyst: What a fabulous example of a graphical representation of complex information in an understandable form. Who is @india.in.pixels? I want to congratulate them, find them to see what else they have done and follow them, with anticipation, for what they produce in the future.
The third reaction was a bit slower and hit like a sledgehammer: Wait – these aren’t to scale. The 2022 contribution is in millions. The roots are in billions, and it takes 1,000 millions to make a billion.
So multiply the American blue tree by 3 to get 1 billion tons. Put another way, if the blue tree was a negative number, it would reduce the USA Root system by 1/1200th.
Yes, if the total US Carbon footprint was negative, not positive, historic emissions over the past 270 years would shrink by just over 1/10th of 1% – You probably couldn’t see the difference.
RegenIowa wants to convert 1 million acres of farmland to regenerative agriculture by 2025. If we succeed, AND we can get every one of those acres to the level of carbon sequestration that Gabe Brown has on his land (which has taken a decade and we are proud to say SymSoil can do this in 18 months), then Iowa farmland will have taken a 5% chunk out of the blue tree.
OMG – Let me say it again.
1 million acres of farmland in Iowa, using RegenIowa’s process will take a 5% bite of of the USA’s blue tree.
SymSoil’s biology can do this in 18 months, with the help of the RegenIowa process, which includes a combination of local microbiology, rock dust and minerals, biochar and soil conditioning.
1 million acres is a long way from being enough!
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