Cities May Soak Up 10x More Carbon Emissions Than Accounted For
Except in the most concrete of the concrete jungles of cities, our urban centers probably absorb far more carbon emissions than current calculations assume. That's the word from a new study examining the carbon storage potential of cities in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Researchers looking at the city of Leicester in the UK found that the city's parks, gardens, golf courses, etc absorbed 231,000 tons of carbon emissions, 10 times more that expected (Yahoo News). Currently urban land in the UK is assumed to have zero biological carbon density.
The study recommends planting more trees on lands currently maintained as lawns. Doing this on just 10% of lawn space would increase carbon storage by 12%.
Read the original study: Journal of Applied Ecology
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