<p>Burning fossil fuels is one of the primary drivers of climate change, releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing changes including increased temperatures and extreme weather events here in the Midwest. </p><br/><p>But <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01801-5" class="default">recent research</a> took advantage of a 40-year ongoing experiment at the University of Minnesota’s <a href="https://cbs.umn.edu/cedarcreek">Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve</a> to study how this carbon is being stored in retired croplands.</p><br/><p>MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner spoke with <a href="https://cbs.umn.edu/directory/eric-seabloom" class="default">Eric Seabloom</a>, a professor at the University of Minnesota College of Biological Science who was an author on the research.</p>