Whendee Silver

Scientist

My research seeks to determine the biogeochemical effects of climate change and human impacts on the environment, and the potential for mitigating these effects. My current research program has three primary foci: (1) tropical forest dynamics, (2) the effects of land-use practices on carbon losses, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas dynamics, and biogeochemical cycling, (3) retention and loss of carbon and nitrogen under variable redox conditions.

I am passionate about slowing climate change using working lands and the food systems. I am also passionate about recapturing wasted carbon and nutrients to feed a growing global population while lowering greenhouse gas emissions and sequestering carbon in soils. I am passionate about rigorous science, even if it tells us something we don't want to hear.

Nutrient and Carbon Recapture and Utilization for Carbon Negative Agriculture: Current practices waste up to 40% of the embedded carbon and nutrients in food and feed production and are a large source of greenhouse gases annually. The concentration of these wasted resources is also a significant source of land, air, and water pollution, and depletes soils. Nutrient depletion has led to the dependence on synthetic fertilizers, resulting in large fossil fuel emissions from fertilizer production and soil emissions as nitrous oxide. We are designing, testing, and implementing programs for organic waste capture and repurposing to save up to 5 GT CO2e of waste-related emissions annually. New downscaled waste-to-energy biodigestion, pyrolysis, and composting systems can efficiently produce low carbon fuels for on- and off-farm use saving an additional 4 GT of CO2e. The bioproducts of these waste processing approaches have the potential to yield valuable soil amendments rich in nutrients and carbon. New soil amendments from repurposed waste could eliminate the need for inorganic fertilizers saving an additional 3 GT of CO2e from fertilizer manufacturing and in-field emissions. Research at U.C. Berkeley has shown that these amendments can also sequester significant carbon in soils. Berkeley scientists are testing and deploying a diverse suite of next generation soil amendments created from waste reprocessing to store soil carbon at a rate of up to 5 GT of CO2e per year. This combination of activities will simultaneously sequester carbon in soil and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions removing up to 17 GT CO2e annually. Co-benefits include reduction of fertilizer costs, lowering the amount of toxic nitrogen inputs to waterways, reductions in air pollution, providing alternative biofuels and contributing to soil health and agricultural productivity.

Baking and doing edible chemistry in the kitchen.