"Repairing the country’s extensive peatlands could help the world mitigate climate change. It could also make a fast-fashion billionaire even richer."
"On a gusty February morning in the Scottish Highlands, Thomas MacDonell padded across a terrain that looked like nature’s version of a Persian rug. The surface was a kaleidoscope of reds, whites and greens produced by overlapping tufts of grass, heather and sphagnum moss. He knelt on a moist patch of turf beside a series of dark gashes that ran a foot or two deep in nearly parallel lines.
“See all those black areas?” he asked, pointing to the craters running through the ground. “That’s an example of damaged peatland. The mossy-type cover is no longer there — and without that seal over it, the peat dries and rots, and as it rots it gives off carbon dioxide.”
Pensive, with spiky gray hair, Mr. MacDonell, 57, is a self-described “landscape detective,” reading the earth the way actual detectives read crime scenes. To him, damaged peat presents both a problem and an opportunity. The problem is that the carbon emitted when peat dries out contributes to climate change; the opportunity comes from repairing the damage, which may just be a multimillion-dollar business. "
David Segal reports for the New York Times with photography by Catherine Hyland May 5, 2022.
SEE ALSO:
"How Do We Track the Fortunes of the World’s Peatlands?" (New York Times)
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