Minnesota’s forests, land offer chance to cut greenhouse gases

MINNEAPOLIS — Reforestation and cover cropping should be on the front lines of Minnesota’s fight to reduce greenhouse gases and could cut up to one-fifth of the state’s heattrapping emissions, a new report says.

The climate impacts of how Minnesotans manage and work the land is front and center in “Nature and Climate Solutions for Minnesota,” released last week by The Nature Conservancy.

“It’s the type of solution that our state needs right now and that we haven’t yet capitalized on,” said lead author Sachi Graber, climate policy associate at the organization’s local chapter.

The 13 practices the study measures underscore the power of simple plant photosynthesis, which sucks carbon out of the atmosphere. A mature tree, for example, absorbs roughly 48 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

While greenhouse gases from electricity generation continue to fall as utilities retire and replace coal plants with cleaner energy sources, Minnesota has failed to meaningfully cut global warming emissions in nearly every other sector.

Not only have lawmakers not met the reductions they promised in the 2007 Next Generation Energy Act, they’ve actually allowed emissions to increase in most sectors of the state’s economy. Greenhouse gases coming from croplands and livestock have jumped by about 10%.