With the passing of Earth Day last week, and the hype over the signing of the COP21 Paris Agreement, there has been a lot of discussion about the targets countries have set in order to decrease our impact on the Earth and limit global warming. Targets include, for many countries, decreasing carbon emissions. Many of these solutions include developing technology that reduce emissions, but the issue is, how do we take CO₂ out of the air once we’ve put it in? We need carbon sinks. The simplest solution is nature. E.O. Wilson put it quite simply, maybe a little too simply, in his new book, proposing that we set aside half of the Earth for nature. Perhaps a bit optimistic, but why do we struggle so, to live in harmony with the planet? Change in land use management, protecting existing habitat, and restoring areas that have been degraded, have received little attention from the media, but “the land use sector is the only sector that can switch from being a net source of carbon to a net sink within as little as a decade.” (Justin Adams). This is where land trusts come in! Continue reading →