Reply to Loisel et al.: Soil in climate mitigation and adaptation

Abstract

We thank Loisel et al. (1) for their response to our article (2), which questions the ability of soil C sequestration to be the negative emissions strategy that has been widely advocated (ref. 3 and https://www.4p1000.org/). Loisel et al. acknowledge this but suggest we did not adequately articulate additional benefits. While this was not our focus, we did indeed acknowledge soil management as a climate adaptation strategy. Loisel et al.’s letter (1) illuminates the chasm that exists between scientific conceptions of problems and the paths to their solutions (if they have one). Soil scientists have rolled both climate mitigation and adaption into a call for soil C sequestration. These … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: earthy{at}berkeley.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1