Nature-Based Climate Solutions
Ever feel the urge to talk to or spend hours nurturing plants? Maybe view them as slightly less emotive members of the family? Odd, perhaps, to some, but this is recognition that every aspect of Earth’s ecosystems is interconnected. And when it comes to curbing the climate crisis, those plants and your nurturing just might be offering us a lifeline.
Photo by John Westrock on Unsplash
Climate change is all about too much carbon getting into our atmosphere—it warms the air and changes our weather patterns. Intense heat, cold and storms stall over land areas instead of moving through. So, we need to stop burning so much fossil fuel.
But another thing we can do employs natural climate solutions. These are best practices that include sustainably managing forests and protecting grasslands (agricultural and rangelands) and wetlands (including peatlands, seagrass and mangroves). These natural systems keep carbon out of our atmosphere.
In 2017, a team of researchers released their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggesting that better land management practices can reduce climate change-causing carbon emissions by over a third within the next decade. You can read the news story about the findings published by Nature Conservancy here.
Photo by Andrew Coates on Unsplash
Climate activists are paying attention. As seen in this video, Greta Thunberg makes an impassioned plea to include planting trees to sequester carbon in the ground.
The Menominee reservation, which is about three hours’ drive northeast of Madison, Wisconsin, is dominated by sustainably managed, dense, hardwood forest. It is an island in a sea of farmland but represents a natural climate solution. It is, however, threatened by the warming climate, as described in this 2018 Orion Magazine article.
Dane County, too, is home to a natural climate solution: Cherokee Marsh, the largest wetland in the county. It acts as a living sponge, filtering runoff and easing flooding. Fertilizer-rich storm water feeds marsh plants and helps reduce the excess from polluting lakes downstream.
If you want to try your hand at creating a natural solution to climate change, try converting some of your turf grass or pavement into a native garden next spring. In addition to being beautiful, native plants act as sponges, helping rainwater to soak into the ground, and preventing stormwater runoff from draining into our lakes, rivers and streams. Through Dane County’s PlantDane Program, you can order plants online at highly discounted prices or for free if you’re a county resident.
Yard in Madison with mature native garden plantings. Plants purchased primarily from the UW Arboretum native plant sale. The garden is registered as a native plant butterfly garden with Wild Ones.
Creeping Charlie, violets, and dandelions in April provide a carpet of blossoms for early pollinators and create a low/no mow “lawn.”
Roof runoff is directed to this low-lying garden plot, so it remains on the property.
Splash photo by John Westrock on Unsplash
Would you like to be notified by email when the latest weekly Climate Corner blog post is available?
Sign up here!
This blog is written by LWVDC’s Climate Team. If you receive blog posts by email, our system automatically inserts “by Brook Soltvedt.” Brook is the webmaster, not the author of the blog.