The best place to store carbon is beneath our feet.

The Earth’s soils contain about 2,500 gigatons of carbon—that’s more than three times the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and four times the amount stored in all living plants and animals.

In this feature we'll look at three things; how it got there, how it gets out and how we can put it back - with the help of farming.

Before we start why does carbon, in its various gaseous forms, cause our atmosphere to heat up?

Carbon is an element, the amount of carbon on earth is finite so we're not making new carbon or destroying existing. There are approximately 1.85 billion, billion tonnes of carbon present on planet Earth – and only a tiny fraction of that is found in the air we breathe.

The vast majority (more than 99%) of it is actually stored within the Earth’s crust. However, this is locked in and combined with other elements and is generally stable.This carbon takes between 100-200 million years to move between rocks, soil, ocean, and the atmosphere in the carbon cycle - this is referred to as the 'slow carbon cycle' for obvious reasons - the cycle we need to be concerned about turns slightly faster!

A quote from NASA:

"The time it takes carbon to move through the fast carbon cycle is measured in a lifespan. The fast carbon cycle is largely the movement of carbon through life forms on Earth, or the biosphere. Between 1015 and 1017 grams (1,000 to 100,000 million metric tons) of carbon move through the fast carbon cycle every year.

Carbon plays an essential role in biology because of its ability to form many bonds—up to four per atom—in a seemingly endless variety of complex organic molecules. Many organic molecules contain carbon atoms that have formed strong bonds to other carbon atoms, combining into long chains and rings. Such carbon chains and rings are the basis of living cells. For instance, DNA is made of two intertwined molecules built around a carbon chain."

We are carbon based lifeforms and so is the majority of plant and animal matter we consume.

So how does carbon warm the atmosphere?

Again, from NASA:

"Oxygen and nitrogen don’t interfere with infrared waves in the atmosphere. That’s because molecules are picky about the range of wavelengths that they interact with. For example, oxygen and nitrogen absorb energy that has tightly packed wavelengths of around 200 nanometers or less, whereas infrared energy travels at wider and lazier wavelengths of 700 to 1,000,000 nanometers. Those ranges don’t overlap, so too oxygen and nitrogen, it’s as if the infrared waves don’t even exist; they let the waves (and heat) pass freely through the atmosphere."

How did carbon end up beneath our feet?

"The early phase of soil formation starts by disintegrating the rock under the influence of climate and by climate we need liquid water. Rainwater will dissolve rock elements, temperature fluctuations will cause cracks and fissures in the rocks. Freezing and thawing of water captured in the rock will widen existing cracks and cavities. Pioneer vegetation, at first lichens, will settle and their roots will further loosen the rock. Moreover, decaying plant debris will produce organic acids, which further disintegrates the rock. Organic matter will start to accumulate and be mixed with the mineral material provided by the rock.

Over time, rock minerals will be dissolved or transformed. Elements released from the rock will precipitate and new minerals may be formed. For example, iron will be oxidised and precipitate as iron oxides or hydroxides, giving the soil reddish or yellowish-brownish colours. Soil fauna will settle and mix (‘homogenize’) the soil. The soil will grow in depth through newly formed soil material at the bottom. The soil matures.

Given sufficient time under stable environmental conditions, soils will reach a steady state, whereby soil build-up matches their breakdown. Production of humus from decaying vegetation debris will equal its consumption by soil microbes, fauna and flora. Transformation of rock minerals into soil minerals will keep pace with the removal of earlier formed soil minerals. Slow surface wash of topsoil is matched by new formation of soil material from the bedrock. The soil has aged.

The environmental conditions that influence soil the physical, chemical and biological processes that are involved in soil formation are commonly known as the five soil forming factors: Climate, Organisms (flora and fauna, including human activity), relief or terrain, parent material and time."

So back to soil...

Too repeat - "the Earth’s soils contain about 2,500 gigatons of carbon—that’s more than three times the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and four times the amount stored in all living plants and animals." 

Carbon is sequestered in soil by plants through photosynthesis and can be stored as soil organic carbon. Soil can also store carbon as carbonates. Such carbonates are created over thousands of years when carbon dioxide dissolves in water and percolates the soil, combining with calcium and magnesium minerals, forming “caliche” in desert and arid soil.

Carbonates are inorganic and have the ability to store carbon for more than 70,000 years, while soil organic matter typically stores carbon for several decades before it is cycled back.

Regenerative farming and carbon sequestration.

The Ethical Butcher champions regenerative farming – a kinder way of farming that aims to mimic natural cycles and give more back to the land than it has taken away.

We prioritise sourcing meat from farms that adopt regenerative farming systems, practice holistic land management and use rotational grazing techniques.

This type of land management encourages new, more diverse plant growth, sequesters carbon and improves soil health, improves biodiversity, and allows animals to live and roam in more natural instinctive ways. 

The Ethical Butcher works with farms who are actively improving the environment by using their animals to rebuild complex ecosystems and restore nutrition to the soil, locking carbon into the ground.

In the best cases these systems can lock away more carbon than the animals release making this carbon negative production, a real game changer in how we perceive the impact of meat.

Support regenerative.

View our regenerative beef collection HERE