Can plants help us avoid seeding a human‐made climate catastrophe?
Societal Impact Statement Human‐made climate change places the future of the planet in peril. Rapid greenhouse gas emissions over the past few decades already commit Earth to a warmer climate state and lock‐in future extinctions. I consider what steps might be taken to protect the climate and the fu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Plants, People, Planet |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10066 |
| _version_ | 1811242613563457536 |
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| author | David J. Beerling |
| author_facet | David J. Beerling |
| author_sort | David J. Beerling |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Societal Impact Statement Human‐made climate change places the future of the planet in peril. Rapid greenhouse gas emissions over the past few decades already commit Earth to a warmer climate state and lock‐in future extinctions. I consider what steps might be taken to protect the climate and the future of the biosphere by drawing on our understanding of the Devonian rise of forests. At stake is nothing less than the future of humanity and the fate of species we are fortunate enough to share the planet with. Summary Drastic phase down of our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels within decades will likely be insufficient to avoid seeding catastrophic human‐caused climate change. We have to also start removing CO2 from the atmosphere, safely, affordably and within decades. Technological approaches for large‐scale carbon removal and storage hold great promise but are far from the gigaton‐scale required. Enhanced chemical weathering of crushed silicate rocks and afforestation are proposed CO2 removal approaches mimicking events during the Devonian rise of forests that triggered massive CO2 drawdown and the great late Palaeozoic cooling. Evidence from Earth's history suggests that if undertaken at scale, these strategies may represent key elements of a climate restoration plan but will still be far from sufficient. Climate protests by the world's youth are justified. They recognize the urgency of the situation and the intergenerational injustice of our time: current and future generations footing the immense economic and ecological bill for damaging carbon emissions they had no part in and which world leaders are failing to limit. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:53:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1106108f23d24fd0b04dd26afcc23181 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2572-2611 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T13:53:40Z |
| publishDate | 2019-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plants, People, Planet |
| spelling | doaj.art-1106108f23d24fd0b04dd26afcc231812022-12-22T03:30:26ZengWileyPlants, People, Planet2572-26112019-10-011431031410.1002/ppp3.10066Can plants help us avoid seeding a human‐made climate catastrophe?David J. Beerling0Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation University of Sheffield Sheffield UKSocietal Impact Statement Human‐made climate change places the future of the planet in peril. Rapid greenhouse gas emissions over the past few decades already commit Earth to a warmer climate state and lock‐in future extinctions. I consider what steps might be taken to protect the climate and the future of the biosphere by drawing on our understanding of the Devonian rise of forests. At stake is nothing less than the future of humanity and the fate of species we are fortunate enough to share the planet with. Summary Drastic phase down of our carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from burning fossil fuels within decades will likely be insufficient to avoid seeding catastrophic human‐caused climate change. We have to also start removing CO2 from the atmosphere, safely, affordably and within decades. Technological approaches for large‐scale carbon removal and storage hold great promise but are far from the gigaton‐scale required. Enhanced chemical weathering of crushed silicate rocks and afforestation are proposed CO2 removal approaches mimicking events during the Devonian rise of forests that triggered massive CO2 drawdown and the great late Palaeozoic cooling. Evidence from Earth's history suggests that if undertaken at scale, these strategies may represent key elements of a climate restoration plan but will still be far from sufficient. Climate protests by the world's youth are justified. They recognize the urgency of the situation and the intergenerational injustice of our time: current and future generations footing the immense economic and ecological bill for damaging carbon emissions they had no part in and which world leaders are failing to limit.https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10066carbon dioxide removalchemical weatheringclimate changeEarth historyreforestation |
| spellingShingle | David J. Beerling Can plants help us avoid seeding a human‐made climate catastrophe? Plants, People, Planet carbon dioxide removal chemical weathering climate change Earth history reforestation |
| title | Can plants help us avoid seeding a human‐made climate catastrophe? |
| title_full | Can plants help us avoid seeding a human‐made climate catastrophe? |
| title_fullStr | Can plants help us avoid seeding a human‐made climate catastrophe? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Can plants help us avoid seeding a human‐made climate catastrophe? |
| title_short | Can plants help us avoid seeding a human‐made climate catastrophe? |
| title_sort | can plants help us avoid seeding a human made climate catastrophe |
| topic | carbon dioxide removal chemical weathering climate change Earth history reforestation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10066 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidjbeerling canplantshelpusavoidseedingahumanmadeclimatecatastrophe |