Fewer Biofuels, More Green Space: Climate Action Researcher Calls for Urgent Shift

Growing and harvesting bioenergy crops -- corn for ethanol or trees to fuel power plants, for example -- is a poor use of land, which is a precious resource in the fight against climate change, says a University of Michigan researcher.

Untampered green areas like forests and grasslands naturally sequester carbon dioxide, and they are one of society's best hopes for quickly reducing the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, says John DeCicco, research professor at the U-M Energy Institute.

DeCicco and William Schlesinger, president emeritus of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies have authored an opinion piece in the current edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers call for policymakers, funding agencies, fellow academics and industry leaders to urgently shift their focus from bioenergy to what they call "terrestrial carbon management," or TCM.  That strategy emphasizes planting more trees and conserving more wild areas that feed on carbon dioxide.

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