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"America, the beautiful carbon sink"
by Peter W. Huber, Forbes, April 5, 1999

It is common knowledge that Americans burn more fossil fuels than anyone.  We release 1.6 billion metric tons each year into the air.  What isn't widely recognized is that we recapture approximately 1.7 billion metric tons per year.  How is this possible?

• Regrowth on abandoned farmland and previously logged forests.
• Fertilizers in agriculture enhance plant growth
• Greenhouse gases, themselves, promote faster plant growth (negative feedback).

I won't get into the ethics of our "once in a billion years fire sale on carbon fuels." However, Peter Huber is always interesting and usually controversial.

His data are from a "A Large Terrestrial Carbon Sink in North America Implied by Atmospheric and Oceanic Carbon Dioxide Data and Models," Science, Oct. 16, 1998. He argues that perhaps the rest of the world owes the U.S. a carbon credit, since we appear to extract more carbon from the air than we release.

This is the same guy who suggested that perhaps the Surgeon General should have tobacco companies print a "thank you" message on each pack of cigarettes, because smokers die early and quickly and thus are less of a burden on the health care system.

Peter Huber's and Forbes' links have changed.  I found the above-referenced article at::
http://www.forbes.com/global/1999/0405/0207087a.html   (as of 11-Apr-2010)

More of Peter Huber on Carbon (links as of 11-Apr-2010):

The Carbon Con Game
Peter Huber, 10.15.09, 10:20 PM EDT
And  http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1102/opinions-china-carbon-greenhouse-gas-insights.html
 
Saving Earth from Environmentalists
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnists/freeman/ncjf57.htm
 
Capturing Carbon is Our Only Option
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/miarticle.htm?id=4534
 
The Carbon Curtain
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/miarticle.htm?id=4416
 

I highly recommend that you browse these for humor and interesting information.   He has also written several books, of which I have read two.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/huber.htm

—John Schuyler, December 2000. Links updated 11-Apr-10

Copyright © 2000-2010 by John R. Schuyler. All rights reserved. Permission to copy with reproduction of this notice.