In this age of climate change, we naturally train our attention on all the fossil fuels being combusted for human use — but scientists have long known that what’s happening is also all about the land.
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| A map showing actual biomass stock estimates presented in grams of carbon per square meter, based on a land-use data set derived from past studies and reflecting national-level numbers from the global Forest Resource Assessment. |
Just as buried fossil fuels are filled with carbon from ancient plant and animal life, so too are living trees and vegetation on Earth’s surface today. Razing forests or plowing grasslands puts carbon in the atmosphere just like burning fossil fuels does.
Now, new research provides a surprisingly large estimate of just how consequential our treatment of land surfaces and vegetation has been for the planet and its atmosphere. If true, it’s a finding that could shape not only our response to climate change, but our understanding of ourselves as agents of planetary transformation.
Read The Washington Post story by Chris Mooney - “Scientists just presented a sweeping new estimate of how much humans have transformed the planet.”
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