We love dirt, our dogs love dirt…and now there’s another reason to love dirt — it’s really good at soaking up atmospheric carbon. Except when you disturb it and get it angry…Check out this story and the five other green links you absolutely must click on today: 

• Down and Dirty: Soil — the hidden carbon sink? The Green Grok says absolutely — and our continuous agriculture cultivation is reducing that sinking capacity by 50 percent.  

• We Have a Loser: UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who professes great concern about climate change, had the biggest carbon footprint of any European leader last year, says Terra Eco. (Hat tip and English interpretation: Green Inc.)

• This iPod Was Handed Down By Great-Grandpa: EcoGeek reports on a discussion at last week’s Greener Gadgets Conference on what it would take to create an heirloom culture in which things were made to last and we passed them down to our children.

• Small But Loud: Yesterday’s DC protest against coal power drew only 2,500 people — but it was darn cold here in the Washington area. Still, that’s almost as many people as the number of lobbyists hired to influence climate change policy since the beginning of the year, reports The Climate Change Lobby.

• Fish Fry: A Lake Erie coal-fired power plant kills up to 46 million fish annually in its intake pipes, reports the Detroit News. (Hat tip: Treehugger.)

• James Bond Alert: A car claimed to be the world’s fastest hybrid vehicle is being unveiled today in Geneva. Named the Namir, it tops out at 187mph and will go 1,200 miles without a charge. (We will sign up as soon as the first flying pig is sighted.)

(Image: Large circular field partly planted in cotton showing mix of soil and
wetlands, southwestern Georgia. Credit: Mark Godfrey/TNC.)

Tags: car, carbon footprint, carbon sink, Climate Change, coal, Detroit News, EcoGeek, Gordon Brown, Green Inc., Greener Gadgets Conference, hybrid car, ipod, lobbyist, soil, The Climate Change Lobby, The Green Grok, Treehugger