In what meaningful ways do the combined efforts of millions of backyard gardens benefit the environment?

Question

I was a bit discouraged to hear that the CO2 the plants remove is ultimately rereleased into the atmosphere when the plant decomposes. So I’m wondering what positive impacts I’m making with my backyard garden, if any.

Also, with millions of gardens, would they really be totally useless for CO2 removal? Or is there some small amount that gets captured by the plant and then *not* rereleased into the atmosphere, in other words, permanently removed from the air?

In: 4

Answer 1

> the CO2 the plants remove is ultimately rereleased into the atmosphere when the plant decomposes.

Well, you got your own answer in there: just plant something that will last long enough until more people plant more stuff that last long enough until we all die.

One big tree could potentially store 50% of it’s mass as carbon, if said tree’s lifespan is about 100 years that means you have 100 years to plant another two trees that will absord all the carbon from the initial tree plus a little more. Just keep repeating this and you will end up with a “carbon forest” that could potentially store tons of co2 for years and when you die that will be someone else’s problem 😉