COLUMBUS, Ohio – Industry stakeholders and scholars from across the nation will discuss current and emerging issues of urbanization and how to better manage environmental, ecological, social, economic and land-use inputs during a carbon sequestration symposium on April 14.
"Carbon Sequestration in Urban Ecosystems" will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Ohio State University's Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road, Columbus. The event is sponsored by the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. Registration is $100 per person and includes lunch, refreshments and program materials.
"The symposium will be the place where industry, legislators and scientists can come together to work out a plan on how to best use the landscape in such a way as to enhance those benefits," said Rattan Lal, an Ohio State University soil scientist and director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center. "Increased urban areas means more land use for homeownership, recreation, urban forestation and food production. These will become increasingly important issues."
The symposium is separated into five topic areas: benchmarking soil carbon sequestration; urban lawns; urban forests; economics; and political and social attributes.
Speakers will share information on what carbon sequestration is, the current knowledge on carbon sequestration in urban soils, the view of governmental policy and position, the role of carbon exchange from an economic perspective, green space contributions to the climate debate, the role of sustainable landscapes in urban environments, and the effects of capturing carbon dioxide within the urban ecosystems.
The following experts will speak at the event:
• Rattan Lal, Ohio State University Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, "Global Carbon Flow and Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration."
• Bob Schindelbeck, Cornell Soil Health Program, Cornell University, "Indicators of Soil Quality in Urban Landscapes."
• Elizabeth Guertal, Agronomy and Soils, Auburn University, "Influence of Soil Carbon on Soil Properties."
• Wei Shi and Daniel Bowman, departments of Soil Science and Crop Science, North Carolina State University, "Microbial Interactions with Organic Matter Buildup in Turfgrass Soils."
• Ian Yesilonis, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, "Soil Carbon Pools and Fluxes in Urban Forest Patches."
• Bryant Scharenbroch, The Morton Aboretum, Illinois, "Urban Tree Species for Carbon Sequestration."
• Nick Basta, Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources, "Restoration of Urban Degraded Land in Calumet, Ill., by Using Biosolids, Biochar, and Other Soil Amendments."
• Brent Sohngen, Ohio State University Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, "Forest and Other Land Based Carbon Offsets; Costs and Benefits."
• Frank Rossi, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, and Bruce Augustin, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, Marysville, Ohio, "Potential Urban Carbon Sequestration by Landscapes."
• Kevin Coyle, National Wildlife Federation, "The Value of Carbon Sequestration in Backyard Habitats."
• Nancy Somerville, American Society of Landscape Architects, "Designing Sustainable Landscapes to Sequester Carbon and Address Climate Change."
• Darla Munroe, Department of Geography, Ohio State University, "Land Use and Climate Change: Designing Policy That Works."
• Joseph Shultz, legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, "The Role of Urban Green Space in the Congressional Climate."
• Yaling Qian, Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Colorado State University, "Dynamics of Carbon Cycling in Lawn Ecosystems."
• Lawrence Band, Department of Geography, University of North Carolina, "Impact of Terrestrial Carbon Management on Water Quality."
• Craig Cogger, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, "Soil Carbon Sequestration Potential in Urban Soils."
Full agenda and registration information can be found at http://www.regonline.com/carbonecosystems.