Re: Peat

**"* <m*@comcast.net>**

Jeff, by your definition old growth forests are also renewable. But it
wasn't the renewability that I was addressing. It's the fact that in a peat
bog is sequestered carbon--carbon that is tied up in complex molecules below
ground in conditions that prevent it from participating in the greenhouse
gas scenario. By mining it we expose it to oxygen and vastly speed up the
process of CO2 being produced. The introduction of carbon dioxide/greenhouse
gases into the atmosphere is what we are being told we need to slow
down--that's why people are driving Priuses.

I'm arguing that we should leave the carbon in the peat sink, or at least
have excellent reasons to disturb it. Gardening convenience falls far short
of that measure. Especially when there are other products available that
will release their carbon, with or without our intervention, that can be
used for gardening purposes. I have in mind finely ground recycled wooden
building material; short wood fiber leftovers from paper plants; composted
sludge from waste-water treatment plants. All of these products are being
used in various parts of the US to create 'soil'--or at least viable growth
medium.

Lastly a bog is defined by its chemistry and hydrology, not by whether
Sphagnum is present. But species of Sphagnum are in fact present in English
bogs. I think the RHS opted to make changes in order to preserve habitat.
I'm suggesting that their behavior carries added bonuses.

Another last point: acres of tropical jungle are not being destroyed to
plant cocoanut palms. And the coir from cocoanuts is a byproduct of the
production of other cocoanut edibles. In other words, it's a carbon bearing
product that is already out there and should be recycled--rather than
freeing new carbon from old peat bogs.

Maryann

Maryann Whitman, Journal Editor
Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes

www.for-wild.org

Wild Ones: Native Plants, Natural Landscapes promotes environmentally sound
practices to encourage biodiversity through the preservation, restoration
and establishment of native plant communities. Wild Ones is a
not-for-profit, environmental, educational, and advocacy organization.

-----Original Message-----
From: gardenwriters-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[g*@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of MaryannWhitman
Sent: Sunday, April 01, 2007 10:20 AM
To: 'Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum'
Subject: Re: [GWL] Peat

I see mining peat much like mining coal: sequestered carbon is
being...unsequestered. It's being opened to the oxygen in the atmosphere.
It's being exposed to the process of oxidation to become CO2, a green house
gas (involved in climate change and the melting of the icebergs and
glaciers). In the case of peat there is very little reason to do it--I say
'very little' though I cannot think of one reason . This at a time when we
are working very hard to come up with ways to put liquid CO2 into ocean
trenches and defunct mines. Not to mention actually 'modifying our
agricultural and grazing practices' (Holy cow!!!) in order to leave more
'fixed' carbon in the soil.

Maryann  

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