Using North Carolina’s Peat Bogs to Help Fight Climate Change

Curtis Richardson, director of the Duke University Wetland Center, discusses controlling climate through North Carolina's peatlands.

Curtis Richardson, director of the Duke University Wetland Center at the Nicholas School of the Environment, has been studying pocosin in eastern North Carolina for decades. These wetlands of sandy soils and peat are heavy hitters when it comes to carbon storage – taking carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it underground.

Rewetting coastal peatlands that were once drained to create farmland could help remove significant amounts of global CO2 and help control climate change. Conversely, letting the pocosin dry out would lead to greater CO2 emissions. 

Read more about the Duke University Wetland Center on its website.

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This story aligns with the Duke Climate Commitment, which unites the university’s education, research, operations and public service missions to address the climate crisis.