Description:

Climate Week 2023

Blue Carbon and Green Coffee

Waquoit Bay Reserve, Visitor Center
Thursday 9/21/23
10:30 am - 12:00 PM

Enjoy coffee & delicious pastries with scientists at 10:30 am and learn about blue carbon 11:00 am - 11:30 am.

Join us over a cup of Cape Cod Coffee’s carbon-reducing coffee to learn about blue carbon from USGS Scientist, Dr. Meagan Eagle. Dr. Eagle will discuss how coastal wetlands take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it for extended periods in peat. The ability of wetlands to store carbon in this way provides an important natural climate solution referred to as blue carbon. This ecosystem benefit can be disrupted when wetlands are altered or degraded, such as when tidal exchange is cut off or wetland areas are changed to other land uses. Restoration of coastal wetlands is occurring across Cape Cod, returning habitat for birds and fish, providing new places for people to recreate, and returning important climate benefits.

As we think about climate change and the importance of estuaries during Climate Week, we will shine a light on this valuable role that wetlands play in the climate system and learn about research at Waquoit Bay Reserve and elsewhere that is helping to improve our understanding of the connections between wetlands, carbon, and greenhouse gases. We will also learn about how blue carbon is being integrated into greenhouse gas and climate action policies and plans and why this topic matters locally.

Bring a friend and enjoy this stimulating discussion! After audience questions, peruse the Visitor Center and see up close a core sample revealing where carbon is buried in a salt marsh.

Speaker:
Dr. Meagan Eagle, Research Scientist, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Meagan’s research on coastal ecosystems, such as estuaries and wetlands, is used to build understanding and develop new tools to address adaptation of coastal wetlands to sea level rise. In addition, her research focuses on the role coastal ecosystems play in the climate system, particularly at the nexus of management actions and greenhouse gas emissions. She combines historical ecosystem information, gleaned from analysis of wetland peat, with modern biogeochemical cycling to determine environmental drivers and constrain future ecosystem responses. Dr. Eagle works with managers and policy makers at local, state, and federal levels to provide actionable science.

Climate Week Call to Action: Put Your Money Where the Carbon is Not
Choose Solar-Roasted Coffee:
Cape Cod Coffee was awarded a grant by the USDA Rural Development Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) to implement an 85-kW solar panel system on the roof of their Route 130 location in Mashpee. They operate their coffee bar, restaurant, and roast coffee beans using solar energy to reduce their annual energy costs and carbon emissions by 57%.

Questions: contact Tonna-Marie.Surgeon-Rogers@mass.gov