A video posted online this month shot by a man cruising in a motor boat showed a stretch of canal in the Okefenokee Swamp with dozens and dozens of alligators — likely concentrated in that area because of low water levels.
But, as scary as alligators, especially a mass of them, are to some people, something even scarier could be lurking in the Okefenokee, at least if a proposed mineral mine is approved.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Some 7,000 years ago, the Okefenokee Swamp was nothing more than a dry savanna in a saucer-shaped depression left behind by a receding ocean thousands of years before. Organic material began collecting in drainages and holding water. Layer after layer, year after year, the wetland grew, giving birth to what is now the largest blackwater wetland ecosystem in the United States.
Today, a small portion of those thousands of years of accumulated organic matter are regularly pushed to the swamp’s surface creating what’s known in the swamp as “batteries” — floating islands of carbon-rich peat. It’s from these unstable islands that the swamp got its name. Okefenokee is thought to be a Native American word that means “trembling earth.”
Those batteries represent an essential part of the swamp ecosystem, and, as it turns out, a critical tool in deterring global climate change. That’s because peatlands store huge amounts of carbon. Globally, peatlands cover less than 3% of the Earth’s surface, but they store 44% of the carbon contained in the Earth’s soil. That’s twice as much carbon as is stored in all the world’s forest biomass.
Mess with peatlands, and greenhouse gases go soaring into the atmosphere. July already saw the hottest day ever recorded on Earth. There is no time to waste in reducing — or preventing — global greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2022, the United Nations Environment Program reported that drained and degraded peatlands contribute around 4% of annual global human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
If state leaders permit a proposed heavy mineral sands mine to begin operation in Charlton County, the unmolested Okefenokee Swamp, heretofore not a contributor to such emissions, could become a major donor to our global climate crisis.
That’s because the swamp, with all its peat and trembling earth, is a massive carbon sink. In some places, the peat is 15 feet thick. Recent studies show that in addition to being home to thousands of alligators, the swamp stores an estimated 120 million metric tons of carbon — the equivalent of more than 500 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas.
Expert hydrologists have warned that the proposed mine will lower water levels in the swamp, causing the swamp’s peat soils to dry and oxidize deeper within the layers. As a result, there would be higher potential for more frequent, long-lasting and devastating wildfires, releasing massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
If the top four feet of peat within the swamp’s southeast water basin closest to the proposed mine is compromised by oxidation and/or fire, 28 million metric tons of carbon dioxide could be released. That amounts to a quarter of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2020.
The video of alligators congregating in a waterway within the Okefenokee Swamp illustrates how decreased water levels forces animals into more confined spaces, resulting in greater competition and higher stress levels. Temperatures rise and oxygen levels decrease, putting added stress on the fisheries and aquatic life. Extended low water levels that are expected if Twin Pines mines Trail Ridge will increase the stress on the entire ecosystem besides releasing carbon into the atmosphere.
Elsewhere, millions of dollars are being spent to restore damaged peatlands in efforts to roll back the march of global climate change. In Georgia we have the opportunity to do our part to stem climate change by protecting the Okefenokee Swamp. Not a dime needs to be spent. We simply need to say no to an unnecessary mine whose products can be obtained more safely elsewhere.
The Okefenokee Swamp is one of our nation’s largest carbon sinks. We know that the swamp itself — and the tourism economy it supports — is worthy of protection. Its role as a hedge against the existential threat of global climate change is yet another reason our state leaders should act now to protect this irreplaceable place.
Rena Ann Peck, an Atlanta native, is the executive director of Georgia River Network.
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