Should I be effraid about biomasse spillage?

Question

It is seldom mention about the waste of the biomasse: it is often mention about replanting the trees, but how forest's trees can grow up if nothing is put back to replace the loss of biomasse? When bio stuff is put in garbage can, and that the garbage is put underground, this bio stuff may be lost for life ecology. Are we going to a dramatic lack of matter to support/restore life on our earth?

Answer 1

you are right but not totally right - it is not biomass, what can be missing. biomass is part water part it comes from carbon dioxide.

- its mainly the minerals, the salts , mainly their cations, that the plants suck from soil and these dont get back in soil when biomass is removed - K, Mg, Ca...

you know normally the plant would die and rot -carbon dioxide would be released in air and cations would be released in soil during the decomposition of organic matter. if you keep removing vegetable matter from a site, the soil turns more acidic as the cations are depleted far faster then anions. if you burn biomass, the ashes are basic - because that is where the minerals are

it is similar like when you grow crops and the soil gets depleted of some particular substance

!!! modern days landfills are designed so that they cannot leach, so their contents DONT "get back into biosphere". and indeed it is worrying that ash or biomass ends there , while new fertilizers are dug, manufactured and used- nature should work in a cycle and this IS breaking the nutrient circle for sure. (just like you wash your hands, clean water goes down the drain uselessly and then you go water your lawn with good drinkiing water and you pay for both- that is crazy when you think of it - sure are we inteligent creatures?)

Answer 2

You shouldn't even be a-fraid. The Biomass buried in garbage fills decompose and eventually make their way back in to the biosphere. Greenhouse warming and population growth is a much bigger danger to the Biosphere than sanitary land fills. The land fills are minor in comparison.

Answer 3

No, but you better watch out for that next spelling quiz.