TACC

We all know that trees release oxygen. Most of us have been taught that from a young age. But what isn’t shared in those simple science lessons is how crucial that is. Plants and trees do so much more than create our oxygen. They take carbon out of the atmosphere, store it in the soil, and then create oxygen. To see even more about how they do this, take a look at this link. The dark purple and red colors are the concentrated carbon dioxide. As you watch the video pay close attention to the dates. During the winter, the red and purple are barely visible. As the dates get closer to the time when most farmers till their soil to plant crops, the levels of red and purple skyrocket. This is due to the fact that when we till soil, we release a lot of the carbon that was held there. As the video shows the vegetative growth time of crops and other plants, the purple and red greatly diminish. Blue and green swirl in the image. These are the colors we want to see. The plants are responsible for that transformation.

The solve this problem, farmers need to decrease their tilling. In addition, we need to cut our fossil fuel usage and our carbon emissions. To capture the extra carbon in our atmosphere we need to keep planting more perennial plants with large root biomass.