Failing Carbon Sinks, Insufficient Climate Policies, and NFL Stadium Rooftop Farm

🌊 Natural Carbon Sinks are Failing

A recent study by an international team of researchers found that the amount of carbon absorbed by land has temporarily collapsed as of 2023. Forests, plants, and soil as a net category absorbed almost no carbon. Along with oceans, the aforementioned natural processes typically help to regulate the Earth’s climate and absorb about half of all human emissions each year, which reached a record 37.4 billion tons in 2023. A sudden collapse of carbon sinks such as this was not factored into climate models, and could rapidly accelerate global heating. Only one major tropical rainforest - the Congo basin - remains a strong carbon sink and removes more than it releases into the atmosphere. As temperatures warm and glaciers melt faster than expected, ocean currents are disrupted and the rate at which they absorb carbon slows as a result. Soils are the second-largest active carbon store after oceans, and emissions from soil are expected to increase by up to 40% as soils become drier.

Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian

🌡️ Global Warming of More than 3C Possible by 2100

A recent report by the United Nations says that current climate policies will result in global warming of more than 3 degrees Celsius by 2100. That is more than twice the rise that was agreed to nearly a decade ago. In 2015, governments signed the Paris Agreement, which aimed to cap warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius to prevent a cascade of dangerous impacts. Global greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1.3% between 2022 and 2023, to a new high of 57.1 gigatons of CO2 equivalent. Next month, nations will gather at the annual UN climate summit (COP29), where they will work to inform each country’s updated emissions-cutting strategies and build on an agreement last year to transition away from fossil fuels. The report suggests that nations must collectively commit to and implement a cut of 42% on yearly greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and reach 57% by 2035 for any hope of preventing warming beyond 1.5C, which is now a target that is likely out of reach.

Gloria Dickie, Reuters

🏈 NFL Stadium’s Sustainable Rooftop Farm

Levi’s Stadium, home to the National Football League’s San Francisco 49ers, has implemented a strategy to address the warming planet from 9 stories high. The stadium’s rooftop houses an organic farm known as the Faithful Farm, where nearly 40 rotational crops and herbs are sustainably grown and served on the premises. The rooftop farm grows thousands of pounds of food each year. Most of the produce is grown in soil that is only 9 inches deep, and uses drip-irrigation with recycled water. It has also become a habitat for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other migratory birds. When the stadium has extra produce, they donate it to Second Harvest Food Bank in Silicon Valley.

Anne Makovec and Molly McCrea, CBS News