Why 'Blue Carbon' Can Help Save The Great South Bay: Word of The Week

BABYLON, NY — The key to capturing harmful emissions lie within the beauty of the Great South Bay.

Blue carbon — carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere and stored in sediments by coastal ecosystems — Save the Great South Bay's Word of the Week this Wednesday.

The gases are held in marshlands and marshlands and seagrass meadows, which helps mitigate climate change and acts like a "carbon sink."

For instance, one acre of seagrass is capable of absorbing and storing up to 740 pounds of carbon per year, the amount of carbon emitted by a car driving 3,860 miles per year.

"Salt marshes pack a punch environmentally by storing up to five times more carbon per acre than tropical forests, according to our colleagues at the South Shore Estuary Reserve," said Robyn Silvestri, Executive Director of Save the Great South Bay.

The non-profit organization dedicates efforts to the revitalization of Long Island's Great South Bay.

When these systems are damaged, an enormous amount of carbon is emitted back into the atmosphere, where it can then contribute to climate change, according to the National Ocean Service.

To learn more about how to protect these systems, check out Save the Great South Bay's website here.