3 ms·

> How does harvesting peat release CO2 into the athmosphere? Peat forms in bogs and the plant matter within is decomposing under specific anearobic conditions.

by el_oni 6y ago

> How does harvesting peat release CO2 into the athmosphere? Peat forms in bogs and the plant matter within is decomposing under specific anearobic conditions. When harvested the microorganisms contained within go from anaerobic to aerobic conditions. Under aerobic conditions the continued decomposition of the plant matter releases CO2. Addressing the comment below, just exposing something to the air doesnt make it evaporate into CO2, but add bacteria and fungi and it will be metabolised by them, releasing CO2

DiabloD3 6y ago
Yeah, but the problem is, thats what bacteria and fungi do, and they do it for all plant matter. Then, afterwards, CO2 goes back into the plants, which they deposit in the soil as carbon, either through their roots, or through dying off. Life on Earth produces CO2, and eats CO2. Without this cycle, it'd the Oxygen Holocaust again. CO2 levels vary over vast time periods naturally, and peat, and its analogs through time, don't really play a big role here. What anti-peat people do is make you forget one important thing: we can renew peat as fast as we harvest, which means it continually sinks carbon into the bog as the industry goes through harvest cycles. What doesn't happen is an instant CO2 release... most of the CO2 remains locked up in the peat for years or maybe even decades, while the peat bogs themselves renew it faster than it decomposes further in our gardens and containers. What you really want to bitch about is coal and oil. The peat industry is nothing compared to the amount of CO2 production by those fucks.
- el_oni 6y ago
  Yes thats what aerobic decomposition does. But peat bogs are a carbon sink. Unless we dig it up that carbon stays locked away. Future coal. I also never said anything about the peat industry as a whole, all I said was how digging it up releases CO2.
- aliswe 6y ago
  Not criticising what you said. But isn't that very close to saying that composting is releasing CO2? Thing is I don't really get why peat is so extremely unproportionally badly angled compared to other mechanisms similar to that what you have just said. To me, there seems to be a hidden bias somewhere.
  - el_oni 6y ago
    Composting does release CO2 if done aerobically, which is ideal. It releases methane if it is allowed to go anearobic. And methane is a more potent GHG. If composting at home you are bringing the carbon cycle close to home. The difference between composting and harvesting peat is that one is a way of using the decomposed remains of your own plants, vegetables, wood and other waste, to enrich your soil. The other is harvesting a natural carbon sink which is at risk of being destroyed. As the poster before mentioned, there are sutainable peat sources. But there are also peatbogs being drained and burned [0]. Changing landuse is one of the drivers of climate change, and its not just forests that need to be managed, wetlands and swamps do too. As a species we are pumping a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere maybe we should think about leaving some carbon in the ground for once. [0] https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/as-fires-strangle-national-parks-indonesia-struggles-to-restore-peatlands/ https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/as-fires-strangle-national...

by el_oni 6y ago

DiabloD3 6y ago

Yeah, but the problem is, thats what bacteria and fungi do, and they do it for all plant matter. Then, afterwards, CO2 goes back into the plants, which they deposit in the soil as carbon, either through their roots, or through dying off. Life on Earth produces CO2, and eats CO2. Without this cycle, it'd the Oxygen Holocaust again. CO2 levels vary over vast time periods naturally, and peat, and its analogs through time, don't really play a big role here. What anti-peat people do is make you forget one important thing: we can renew peat as fast as we harvest, which means it continually sinks carbon into the bog as the industry goes through harvest cycles. What doesn't happen is an instant CO2 release... most of the CO2 remains locked up in the peat for years or maybe even decades, while the peat bogs themselves renew it faster than it decomposes further in our gardens and containers. What you really want to bitch about is coal and oil. The peat industry is nothing compared to the amount of CO2 production by those fucks.

el_oni 6y ago
Yes thats what aerobic decomposition does. But peat bogs are a carbon sink. Unless we dig it up that carbon stays locked away. Future coal. I also never said anything about the peat industry as a whole, all I said was how digging it up releases CO2.
aliswe 6y ago
Not criticising what you said. But isn't that very close to saying that composting is releasing CO2? Thing is I don't really get why peat is so extremely unproportionally badly angled compared to other mechanisms similar to that what you have just said. To me, there seems to be a hidden bias somewhere.
- el_oni 6y ago
  Composting does release CO2 if done aerobically, which is ideal. It releases methane if it is allowed to go anearobic. And methane is a more potent GHG. If composting at home you are bringing the carbon cycle close to home. The difference between composting and harvesting peat is that one is a way of using the decomposed remains of your own plants, vegetables, wood and other waste, to enrich your soil. The other is harvesting a natural carbon sink which is at risk of being destroyed. As the poster before mentioned, there are sutainable peat sources. But there are also peatbogs being drained and burned [0]. Changing landuse is one of the drivers of climate change, and its not just forests that need to be managed, wetlands and swamps do too. As a species we are pumping a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere maybe we should think about leaving some carbon in the ground for once. [0] https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/as-fires-strangle-national-parks-indonesia-struggles-to-restore-peatlands/ https://news.mongabay.com/2020/06/as-fires-strangle-national...