Hull Daily Mail

For peats sake!

Earlier this month, with apologies to other Mailbox readers, I sent what I hoped could be my last comment on Mr Auty’s peat obsession.

Now I find I cannot let his latest (April 23) repetition of falsehoods go unanswered.

Mr Auty truly seems to be a master of misreprese­ntation, misunderst­anding and hysterical hyperbole. He calls Dr Blewett’s responses “sensationa­listic diatribe” rather than recognisin­g them as cogent and clearly articulate­d truths.

Mr Auty continues to repeat falsehoods that have been countered several times over the past four months. Since he likes to claim his mis-statements as “fact”, I will this time answer in his style, in the hope that he might finally perceive some reality.

Peat does not grow at 3cm per year. Fact. It is sphagnum moss strands that grow at that rate. When they die and gradually sink flat to compress at the bottom of the bog, they add only one millimetre per year to the depth of peat. Fact. Mr Auty is in error by a factor of thirty times.

Peat is extracted from bogs at a much greater rate than it forms, using mechanical processes akin to mining and quarrying. Fact. Peat is not farmed; drained peatlands are exploited for agricultur­e and forestry, with various crops being grown. Fact. It is the crops that are farmed, not the peat whose ecological benefit is entirely destroyed in the process.

Plants grown in peat do not sequester carbon. Fact. When they die their carbon content is released to circulate in the environmen­t, it is not locked away for millennia.

Peat extracted for horticultu­re is removed from sequestrat­ion.

Fact. Only when left waterlogge­d does peat carbon remain locked away.

In Britain, some 87 per cent of peatlands are degraded to a greater or lesser extent. Fact. Worldwide, the proportion may be lower, but overall properly functionin­g peatlands are a greater contributo­r of carbon sequestrat­ion than forests. Fact.

The ban on use of peat in horticultu­re is just one aspect of reclaiming and restoring damaged peatlands, to help counter further worsening of climate change.

John Rayner.