In the News, Education and Outreach

Conversation in the Vault with Ning -- an open forum on Wood Harvesting and Storage (WHS) for carbon dioxide removal(CDR) and climate. Second Tuesday of each month, 4-5:30pm US Eastern time; attend via zoom.

Ning Zeng appointed as co-lead of the Third Decadal U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan, Nov 2023

Biomass Storage and Burial for Carbon Removal: a BiCRS/WHS Workshop, organized by DOE/UMD/Berkeley/YaleCCL/USDA/USEA, November 15-17, 2023

Carbon Removal Podcast with Nori: Progress on Woody Biomass Burial with Ning Zeng and Dan Sanchez, hosted by Radhika Moolgavkar, Dec 12, 2023

Greenbiz.com: A deceptively simple technology for carbon removal by Jesse Klein, March 13, 2023

MIT Technology Review: A stealth effort to bury wood for carbon removal has just raised millions by James Temple, December 2022

Scrubbing the Skies webinar, featuring Dan Sanchez (Carbon Direct), Ning Zeng (UMD) and Marianne Tikkanen (Puro.Earth), Institute for Carbon Removal and Policy. Feb. 9, 2023

The Carbon Removal Imperative behind Biomass Burial features some thinkers and practioners of WHS, by Janina Motter, Oct 18, 2022

Another Kind of Tree Planting Puts UMD Team in Hunt for $100M Climate Victory Maryland Today

Wood Vault: burying woody biomass to fight climate change - a simple idea that may actually work: Presentation given at Science on Tap, College Park, March 7, 2022 (1hr). Newest engineering, science and economic analysis are found in this comprehensive paper Zeng and Hausmann (2022).

OpenAir/This Is CDR Episode 24, Feb 22, 2022: "The Carbon Lockdown Project with Dr. Ning Zeng "

    A 20min summary update on WHS and the vision of CLP, followed by a stimulating Q&A session


The AirMiners Event Series: Biomass Harvesting and Storage, Oct 1, 2021: Video on AirMiners Youtube channel

Ning Zeng listed on the Hot List of top climate scientists by Reuters Apr. 2021

Los Angeles Times: Op-Ed by Elizabeth Kolbert (and book 'Under the White Sky'), 2021: "
Driving across Iceland to visit my carbon emissions"

    The Pulitzer Prize winning author's facsinating book on human attempts to 'conqure' Nature mentions the 'aboreal method', i.e., WHS. She vividly describes the vast space needed for wood burial using number of Olympic-size pools. Actually, the land footprint of Wood Vault is quite small relative to the carbon stored, with 1000 times higher density per unit area compared to standing biomass in a forest. After enclosure, the surface of a Wood Vault can be utilized for grazing, agriculture, recreation, even solar farm. A new paper (Zeng and Hausmann, 2022) dives into the practicalities of engineering and the latest science.


CNN: Opinion by Jonah Bader, 2021: "Plant trees, sure. But to save the climate, we should also cut them down"

    Despite of the provactive title, the article gives a pretty balanced view. A key to success is to ensure the sustainability of wood sourcing.


A 7-min talk on WHS at the North American Carbon Program Open Science Meeting, March 26, 2021

National Academy Report on Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration, 2019: "(WHS)could be viable approaches to increasing carbon removal. "

Ning Zeng named 2018 Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate/Web of Science

Seminar on carbon sequestration via wood harvest and storage (WHS) at the Eni Foundation, July 2016
FEEM website [pdf of the 45min talk with updates]

Green Revolution Changes Breathing of the Biosphere and the Global Carbon Cycle  
    Nature commentary by MacBean and Peylin
    National Science Foundation News
    Climate Central
    UMD Right Now
    Christian Science Monitor
    Video of a talk given by Ning Zeng at 2013 NCAR Advanced Study Program summer colloquim CARBON-CLIMATE CONNECTIONS IN THE EARTH SYSTEM (~60min)
The Polar Times, 2011, "Antarctic Peninsula Journal"
Nature Reports Climate Change, September 2009, "Expanding Sands"
LICOR, 2010, "Antarctic Research Examines Ancient Organic Carbon Deposits"
PBS Newshour The News, 2009, "El Nino and Its Impact on the World"
Discovery News, August 2009, "Deserts Expand Faster as Earth Brightens"
New Scientist, Feature by Richard Lovett, May 2008, "Burying biomass to fight climate change" pdf
The New Republic, by Bradford Plumer, "Burying Trees: Brilliant or Crazy? " (Zeng notes on Feb 23, 2022: Just read this commentary again, impressed by the author's foresight that still sounds more or less correct today, except that he made the caveats sound a little too severe, which we now know are quite manageable.)
Globalwarmingisreal.org, "How To Curb Forests’ CO2 Emissions"
Science News, May 2008, "Down with Carbon"
The San Diego Union-Tribune, August 2008, "Leaves of gas"
ABC, 1999, "
North African drought may have natural cause
SciDev Net/ENN, 2008, "Aid needed to help China make carbon cuts"