If you are a homeowner you are probably experiencing an onslaught of weeds.  Summer rains bring more than cooler temperatures, green mountain sides, high humidity and mosquitoes, they also help all kinds of weeds to grow profusely.

I personally have lost track of the number of hours I have spent over the years pulling weeds.   I try not to pollute the environment with dangerous chemicals so pulling them seems to be the best way forward.   But now I am questioning as to whether I am actually doing more harm than good.  Are the weeds in my yard capturing carbon dioxide and helping to lower my carbon footprint and therefore hurting efforts to combat climate change?

Climate change is becoming more real to more people around the world every day.   Many of us are planting trees to help capture carbon in the atmosphere, but what about weeds?   Are we doing more harm than good by pulling them?

According to Garden and Health, a wellness website, carbon-sucking weeds actually are a force of good, helping to save the planet by combating climate change.  But what about the other side of the coin?   Keeping weeds under control helps many of the plants that we want in our yards including vegetables and native plants that compete with weeds for water, light and nutrients. Some weeds also harbor pests or diseases.

What should we do, pull every weed or leave some of them alone?   Perhaps looking at the science of carbon capture will help us decide.  The faster a plant grows like fast growing weeds, the more carbon dioxide it will use up. However, fast-growing plants tend not to live long and when a plant dies, all the carbon in the plant is broken down by insects, fungi and microbes and released as CO₂ again.  So, the plants that are considered the most adept at locking away carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are the longest-living ones like trees. But even trees will eventually die and return all the carbon dioxide they have captured back into the atmosphere. 

All around the world carbon sinks are being lost as forests are cleared for large scale agriculture.   More plants are needed to absorb increasing amounts of carbon released into the atmosphere from burning fossils fuels. Like we often tell ourselves about some of the foods we eat, do everything in moderation.  When it comes to all the weeds in my yard I think I am going to keep pulling them, but will try not to go overboard and remove every one.

Rick LoBello, Education Curator

Photos
by Rick LoBello

Cover – Jim Bauer, Wikimedia Creative Commons