Meet Peat
Not long ago, I saw a BBC Four documentary called 'Deep Down & Dirty: The Science of Soil.'
It may not be everyone's cup of tea when it comes to entertainment, but I can't deny that documentaries are just one of those things in life that make me appreciate the world better. This one however, left me fearing for the future of the world I'd learned to love.
This documentary explained to us just how the 'dirt' we wash away, wipe off and complain about creates the essential home for plant life and thus, all other life upon this earth.
One particularly valuable type of soil today is known as peat. The International Peatland Society defines peat as a "mixture of more or less decomposed plant (humus) material that has accumulated in a water-saturated environment and in the absence of oxygen."
These conditions mean that the organisms that would normally decompose plant material, much like in your garden compost, simply can't do it. Nonetheless some vegetation continues to grow, and eventually die, on top of these conditions meaning that over time layers of this dead vegetation build higher and higher instead of being broken down.
You may think that this is a problem as the nutrients that the vegetation take in are not returned to the soil but, certain plants have found their way.
If you're a keen gardener who buys compost down at the local garden centre, no doubt you would have seen labels saying 'peat-free' and perhaps on a thoughtful morning said to yourself "what's the deal with this peat?"
To understand, you must think back to the benefits of having plants on our earth. One of their main functions is to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and provide us with oxygen. They also start off our food chain by converting the carbon dioxide they absorb into sugar stores. Important, aren't they?!
In the anaerobic (lack of oxygen) conditions, vegetation cannot breakdown. Therefore, the stores of carbon build up, whereas if they were decomposed, all their carbon would be released in the form of carbon dioxide through a process called respiration performed by microorganisms in the soil.
These peat bogs are vital carbon stores that 'lock-up' carbon from our atmosphere for hundreds of years. Similar to how fossil fuels in the ground release carbon dioxide if they are tampered with or burnt, peat releases shocking amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
If a peat soil has a thickness of 10 m, then the carbon stock in it is likely to be around 3000–7000 t/ha (Agus and Subiksa 2008). That's 3000-7000 metric tons of carbon in every hectare.
According to the website http://www.yousustain.com/footprint/howmuchco2?co2=3000+tons 3000 tons of carbon is the equivalent released by an average house for 231 years. A 747 plane would release this flying non-stop for 3.95 days. Not sure? Check out the link and decide for yourself if this sourc is reliable or not.
Peat soil reserves are vital if we want to keep our climate stable and allow such amazing biodiversity to fluorish. Unfortunately, their great energy storage ability and infertility with regards to agriculture means that peatlands are destroyed and masses of carbon is released.
In 'Deep Down & Dirty: The Science of Soil,' they introduced a case to me which was mesmerising:
The Fens, located in East Anglia, was drained between 1845 and finished in 1851 to make way for farming practices.
The precious soil began to waste away and all seemed to go our way, until people began to notice that the land was sinking.
Shrinkage was taking place and one land owner, William Wells with a group of locals, embarked on installing a way of measuring how much the soil was sinking each year by having a timber post pushed way beneath the soil and was cut off at the surface. Later on this was replaced with an iron one.
This 'Holme Fen Post' replacement, among with a few others, can still be seen today and, here comes the nasty truth, this is what you can see now when you visit it.
Yep, the top of that post was, almost 200 years ago, where you would be standing. From this angle, all you would see is peat.
The Fens now contains some of the lowest lying areas in Britain meaning that astonishing amounts of carbon have been released and yet another habitat lost.
This did happen generations ago, that much is true but, that does not mean there is no significance of such a case today:
As our population continues to expand indefinitely, the importance of buying sustainable goods and environmentally friendly foodstuffs grows ever more important to ensure that more of these habitats are saved from destruction. For our sake, other species' sake and the planet's sake.
We can get behind charity work and campaigns that protect the range of biodiversity in these environments and actually do something good.
There are many simple ways to help, just planting a tree can help offset the increasing carbon emissions. There's a correlation here; as more and more destruction takes place by us humans, we are hearing more and more devastating reports of natural disasters and global problems between wildlife and humans.
We are breaking such a delicate balance so now we must prove that we are worthy of living off the food and drink that all these ecosystems provide. It is our duty. Our one role as humans in this world and so far, we are failing.
The time to change has never been so clear so no matter what the next few years throw at us, let's make our own choices to do our best for this world.
It is our one role as humans.
H _ M
:)
Bibliography:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040y925
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Fenlandpeatassessment_tcm9-236041.pdf
http://www.peatsociety.org/peatlands-and-peat/what-peat
http://www.holmehistory.org/holme-fen-drainage
http://www.greatfen.org.uk/holme-fen-posts
http://www.worldagroforestry.org/downloads/Publications/PDFS/MN17335.PDF
http://www.yousustain.com/footprint/howmuchco2
It may not be everyone's cup of tea when it comes to entertainment, but I can't deny that documentaries are just one of those things in life that make me appreciate the world better. This one however, left me fearing for the future of the world I'd learned to love.
This documentary explained to us just how the 'dirt' we wash away, wipe off and complain about creates the essential home for plant life and thus, all other life upon this earth.
One particularly valuable type of soil today is known as peat. The International Peatland Society defines peat as a "mixture of more or less decomposed plant (humus) material that has accumulated in a water-saturated environment and in the absence of oxygen."
These conditions mean that the organisms that would normally decompose plant material, much like in your garden compost, simply can't do it. Nonetheless some vegetation continues to grow, and eventually die, on top of these conditions meaning that over time layers of this dead vegetation build higher and higher instead of being broken down.
You may think that this is a problem as the nutrients that the vegetation take in are not returned to the soil but, certain plants have found their way.
 |
| Peat is cut for fuel. In Scotland and Ireland it is used in power stations http://wildshots.photoshelter.com/image/I0000ivNcIbMg8Vs |
To understand, you must think back to the benefits of having plants on our earth. One of their main functions is to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and provide us with oxygen. They also start off our food chain by converting the carbon dioxide they absorb into sugar stores. Important, aren't they?!
In the anaerobic (lack of oxygen) conditions, vegetation cannot breakdown. Therefore, the stores of carbon build up, whereas if they were decomposed, all their carbon would be released in the form of carbon dioxide through a process called respiration performed by microorganisms in the soil.
These peat bogs are vital carbon stores that 'lock-up' carbon from our atmosphere for hundreds of years. Similar to how fossil fuels in the ground release carbon dioxide if they are tampered with or burnt, peat releases shocking amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
If a peat soil has a thickness of 10 m, then the carbon stock in it is likely to be around 3000–7000 t/ha (Agus and Subiksa 2008). That's 3000-7000 metric tons of carbon in every hectare.
According to the website http://www.yousustain.com/footprint/howmuchco2?co2=3000+tons 3000 tons of carbon is the equivalent released by an average house for 231 years. A 747 plane would release this flying non-stop for 3.95 days. Not sure? Check out the link and decide for yourself if this sourc is reliable or not.
Peat soil reserves are vital if we want to keep our climate stable and allow such amazing biodiversity to fluorish. Unfortunately, their great energy storage ability and infertility with regards to agriculture means that peatlands are destroyed and masses of carbon is released.
In 'Deep Down & Dirty: The Science of Soil,' they introduced a case to me which was mesmerising:
The Fens, located in East Anglia, was drained between 1845 and finished in 1851 to make way for farming practices.
The precious soil began to waste away and all seemed to go our way, until people began to notice that the land was sinking.
Shrinkage was taking place and one land owner, William Wells with a group of locals, embarked on installing a way of measuring how much the soil was sinking each year by having a timber post pushed way beneath the soil and was cut off at the surface. Later on this was replaced with an iron one.
This 'Holme Fen Post' replacement, among with a few others, can still be seen today and, here comes the nasty truth, this is what you can see now when you visit it.
 |
| https://adriancolston.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/fenland-water-and-carbon/ |
The Fens now contains some of the lowest lying areas in Britain meaning that astonishing amounts of carbon have been released and yet another habitat lost.
This did happen generations ago, that much is true but, that does not mean there is no significance of such a case today:
As our population continues to expand indefinitely, the importance of buying sustainable goods and environmentally friendly foodstuffs grows ever more important to ensure that more of these habitats are saved from destruction. For our sake, other species' sake and the planet's sake.
We can get behind charity work and campaigns that protect the range of biodiversity in these environments and actually do something good.
There are many simple ways to help, just planting a tree can help offset the increasing carbon emissions. There's a correlation here; as more and more destruction takes place by us humans, we are hearing more and more devastating reports of natural disasters and global problems between wildlife and humans.
We are breaking such a delicate balance so now we must prove that we are worthy of living off the food and drink that all these ecosystems provide. It is our duty. Our one role as humans in this world and so far, we are failing.
The time to change has never been so clear so no matter what the next few years throw at us, let's make our own choices to do our best for this world.
It is our one role as humans.
H _ M
:)
Bibliography:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040y925
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/Fenlandpeatassessment_tcm9-236041.pdf
http://www.peatsociety.org/peatlands-and-peat/what-peat
http://www.holmehistory.org/holme-fen-drainage
http://www.greatfen.org.uk/holme-fen-posts
http://www.worldagroforestry.org/downloads/Publications/PDFS/MN17335.PDF
http://www.yousustain.com/footprint/howmuchco2
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