Dateline - 2050
 
       The twins, Tommy and Jane, loved visiting Grandma and Grandpa on the 4th of July.  The small-town parade, band concert and fireworks were a summer highlight.  While most of the grownups were enjoying an afternoon snooze, they crept up to the attic hoping to discover ancient treasures; they weren’t disappointed.

       Under a dusty pile of books Jane spotted something wrapped in an old t-shirt.  “Look Tommy!” Jane exclaimed.  “I think I found Great-grandpa’s Magic Vessel!”

        The twins had heard many stories about a strange craze people went through 40-50 years earlier.  Instead of drinking water from the tap, many people paid for a drink of water in a plastic bottle and then threw the bottle away!  Just imagine; in the U.S. in 2019, 1,500 plastic bottles were discarded EVERY SECOND!  That added up to 38 billion bottles each year.  It made the twins’ heads spin to think people could be so foolish.

       At that time only about 30% of those bottles got recycled, or more exactly, downcycled – made into some other plastic product, not another bottle.  The rest ended up in landfills or littered around the countryside and in bodies of water.   There the plastic would slowly biodegrade into tiny microplastic fragments and be ingested by all sorts of creatures eventually moving up the food chain and on to people’s dinner plates.  Estimates were that there was as much microplastic in the ocean as in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of trash twice the size of the state of Texas!

       Scratching his head Tommy held up the container. “So you think this is Great-gramps’ magic vessel.  But it looks like a plain old water bottle to me,” he protested.  “That’s just it,” Jane explained.  “By using this aluminum bottle over the years, Great-grandpa avoided using thousands of plastic bottles.  It was like making those unneeded bottles vanish before they were even made, so he called it his magic vessel.”

       Carefully re-wrapping the bottle, they noticed a second container, a thermal mug and lid.  Of course!  Great-gramps’ magic coffee container.  Tommy and Jane smiled knowing thousands more Styrofoam and insulated cups had NOT littered the planet.

        You and I can also enjoy the magic of beverage consumption in reusable containers.  Especially during summer travels, it’s one small step in protecting the only home we’ll ever know.  Right here, where we’re all forever… Earthbound.

        A large potful of dirt and another smaller one with a freshly sprouted seedling were perched prominently on the lab table. “Carbon Cycle” was written in large block letters behind them.  Last class, Ima Teechur had suggested to her students that one way to understand the growing excess of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is to picture a bathtub with an open faucet and an open drain.  The amounts of carbon-in and carbon-out have been relatively balanced for thousands of years.  But humankind’s practice of digging up and burning buried carbon in the form of coal, natural gas and oil has thrown that out of whack.

       “Since the start of the Industrial Revolution we’ve opened the tap further so additional atmospheric carbon is pouring into the tub while the drain size has remained the same.  To re-gain balance we need to either turn down the tap, widen the drain, or do both,” Ima explained.  “Turning down the tap is the easiest and least expensive option.  Everyone can help by using less fossil fuel energy.  Right now Congress is considering the bipartisan Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act that would make it easier to do just that.” 

       “But what about all that excess carbon that’s already in the atmosphere?” Jess Juan-Durring wondered aloud. “We gotta make the drain bigger, don’t we?” he asked.

       “Indeed we do!  And that’s where dirt and trees come in,” Ima said pointing to the lab table.  She went on to explain how both trees (and all plants to some degree) and the soil act as “carbon sinks” to sequester or lock-up carbon.  Trees take in CO2 from the air and incorporate it into their structure.  Besides that, their roots transfer carbon back into the soil.

       Then she went on to explain how many folks in the agriculture community are re-thinking the industrial model of farming that relies heavily on artificial fertilizers.  They’re finding that planting cover crops, minimizing soil disruption, and regular rotations of nitrogen-fixing crops builds soil-based carbon.  Carbon-rich soil is healthier and more productive, and the CO2 in that atmospheric bathtub is reduced.

       “Technologically, Carbon Capture and Storage as well as Direct Air Capture techniques are being developed.  We’ll learn about them another time,” Ima promised.  “For now, get your fingers in the dirt and plant a tree.  You can help re-balance this planetary home where we’re forever… Earthbound.”