Presidential aspirant Sen. Cory Booker proposed a climate change program on Thursday on the scale of FDR’s New Deal to underwrite voluntary soil and water conservation on more than 100 million acres of farmland and the planting of 15 billion trees across the country. The climate stewardship work on farmland would aim to reduce or offset one-third of greenhouse gas emissions produced by agriculture by 2025.
“This legislation will not only reduce emissions and substantially increase carbon sequestration, but will also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, enhance biodiversity by restoring tens of millions of acres of habitat, and make our farms more resilient and competitive,” said Booker, a New Jersey Democrat. At present, soils, forests, and wetlands sequester 11 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. A broad federal effort could substantially increase the figure, says Booker’s office. If 15 billion trees were planted, they would “sequester over 13 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide — equivalent to more than two years of current total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.”
Under the Booker plan, the government would provide tens of billions of dollars for working lands conservation on farms through steps such as rotational grazing, cover crops and the more efficient use of fertilizer. The package would restore or protect two million acres of coastal wetlands and reestablish the Civilian Conservation Corps. More than 60 environmental, conservation, and farm groups supported the plan, said a Booker release.