Brian Burt

“Our findings show that beavers don’t just change landscapes: they fundamentally shif

“Our findings show that beavers don’t just change landscapes: they fundamentally shift how carbon dioxide moves through them," said study lead author Joshua Larsen, of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, in a statement.

By slowing water, trapping sediments, and expanding wetlands, the beavers turn streams into powerful carbon "sinks," which are a key part of the planet's carbon cycle. Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas most responsible for human-caused global warming.

In 2024, the journal Nature published a study on the effects the Gonghe Photovoltaic Park in Qinghai, China (the largest solar farm in the country) was having on the local desert. According to the paper, the installation had a "positive effect on desert area ecology and the environment." How, you ask? Since the solar panels suck up so much solar radiation, the soil underneath retains more moisture due to a lack of evaporation. Add a steady supply of water runoff due to monthly solar panel cleanings, and you have the perfect scenario to promote the growth of plants and microbes in a desert.

According to the study, the ecological changes are somewhat self-sustaining ... so long as the solar farms are maintained. Solar energy farms provide cheap, clean energy while also solving economic problems, such as unemployment rates (local residents can be hired to maintain the solar farms). And the micro-oases the solar panels create provide grazing land for nearby animals while also promoting ecological regulation. The more these solar farms are used, the more benefits they provide, and the more benefits they provide, the more money will be set aside for the maintenance and development of solar farms going forward. It's a positive feedback loop on multiple fronts.

The idea is technical, but has sparked enthusiasm across Bryant and Ann Arbor: a new city-created Sustainable Energy Utility, known colloquially as the SEU. Rather than replacing the privately-owned utility that serves Ann Arbor, the plan is for this city agency to run in tandem, offering a supplemental service that residents can opt into.

If they do, they’ll stay connected to the regular grid, but will be outfitted with solar panels, battery backup systems, or other infrastructure, drawing on that power for their home use and opening up the prospect of selling any excess. The city, meanwhile, would pay for the installation and maintenance of these systems, which Ann Arbor would continue to own — a vision of energy generation and storage distributed across the city.

They lock away carbon. We’re still figuring out how much. Nearly all plants store some carbon, making them invaluable allies in the fight against climate change. Towering forests and hyper-efficient tidal wetlands are powerhouses on that front. But seagrasses, especially perennial ones like Posidonia in the Mediterranean, have shown promise as well.

“They develop these really thick rhizome mats that are basically just like old roots, so they're full of carbon,” Duffy said. But carbon storage for other species, like the eelgrass common throughout the Northern hemisphere, can vary widely based on where they are, Duffy added. Scientists are working to nail down more precise numbers.