From Hillary Shaw, University of Leeds
Could we not actively encourage the use of landfill sites for high-carbon
wastes, such as much household refuse? Can the scientific community work out
ways to stop groundwater contamination and the eventual return of the carbon to
the atmosphere?
If so, we could plant fast-growing trees with the intention of harvesting
them for burial—effectively recreating the coal deposits we have spent the
last 200 years burning into the atmosphere. A possible use for that scourge of
English suburbia, the Leylandii, perhaps.
Third World countries could grow and bury such trees and receive carbon
payments from, say, the World Bank, who could organise carbon fees from
countries like Britain and the US who would be net carbon emitters.
If nature found a way to bury such trees and lock away their carbon, surely
we can do the same?
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