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Posted on June 24, 2019 @ 06:53:00 AM by Paul Meagher
Last year I invested in some remote vacant land and posted 3 blogs on the topic of remote land investing
(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
Today I want to discuss one other benefit of investing in remote land, namely, that payments to this network were used to purchase 130 acres of remote land that is helping to offset my own CO2 usage and the CO2 usage of those who paid any fees.
I certainly use fossil fuels in my farming activities, but I'm not running larger tractors that often. String trimmers, lawn tractors, lawn mowers and wood chippers are the main consumers of fossil fuels.
I use a small truck that burns fossil fuels to gather supplies, run errands and travel back to my remote land.
I haven't taken a flight in years because me and my wife are too busy and there is no place I would rather be in spring, summer, fall.
Even though I am not an angel when it comes to burning fossil fuels, I believe that the 130 acres of land purchased with funds raised from this network, are offsetting my own usage and the usage of entrepreneurs who pay fees to this network. The land is sequestering carbon in new forest growth, in fields that are not plowed or mowed, and through a type of farming (managing wild blueberries) that does not require heavy use of fossil fuels.
To get to my remote property, you need to travel along a road called Melrose Hill Road. This takes you to a turn off onto my property alongside Beverly Hills Road. Here is what it looks like as you travel through Beverly Hills.
The ground is white with lichen, an indicator of high air quality. A close up of the trees reveals the growing tips that are taking carbon out of the atmosphere to create new growth.
If one were to take samples of the soil in some of the abandoned fields, I would expect to see the amount of soil organic matter increasing over time as the grass and weeds grow and die back each year contributing to the amount of carbon sequestered into the soil.
When I purchased this land, it was not done with the intention of storing carbon but that is a very real benefit that often comes with remote land investing. The funds used to purchase that land came from entrepreneurs who paid my fees last year and from entrepreneurs in the future who are helping me to pay down the remaining loan that was used to purchase the land. Your funds are making a difference in the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
Is this a green network? I think so and while I don't use all the funds from the network to pay for carbon offsetting land, a significant amount was and that land is converting atmospheric carbon into new tree growth and soil organic matter. I can't tell you how much carbon is being sequestered as I haven't tried to do the math. A book that might have some answers is The Carbon Farming Solution (2016) by Eric Toensmeier.
This weekend I started construction on a modest 8ft x 8ft outpost in a wild blueberry field (Vaccinium Angustifolium) where I hope to better observe the land and perhaps do some calculations on how much carbon is being offset.
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