Heal the Soil, Cool the Climate

Back when I first started at Green America, in 2000, I remember our president/CEO Alisa Gravitz often cautioning those of us on the editorial team against using the term “end” when it came to climate change. There simply wasn’t a solution available that would “end” or “stop” the climate crisis, she would say. The best the world could hope for was collective action that would curb the worst of its effects. We’d get excited about a set of climate solutions and write that they could help “end global warming,” and Alisa would shake her head sadly and ask us to strike the word “end” for accuracy.

Photo credit: Pexels

That’s not to say that she wasn’t optimistic about the potential of renewable energy—particularly solar—to make a dent in climate change. Or that she wasn’t hopeful that businesses could come up with some powerful innovations.

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US Could Cut Emissions More Than One-Fifth Through ‘Natural Climate Solutions’ Like Reforestation

More than one-fifth of current greenhouse gas emissions in the United States could be kept out of the atmosphere and stored in the land, according to new research.

A study led by Joseph E. Fargione, director of science at The Nature Conservancy, looks at the natural solutions that could help the US do its part to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (approximately 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the goal adopted by the 195 countries who signed the Paris Climate Agreement in December 2015.

Photo credit: Pexels

Fargione and team examined 21 natural climate solutions that increase carbon storage and help avoid the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, including conservation and restoration initiatives as well as improved management of forests, grasslands, farmlands, and wetlands. According to a study published in the journal Science Advances last week detailing their findings, the researchers’ analysis reveals that all of these natural climate strategies combined could reduce global warming emissions by an amount equivalent to about 21 percent of US net emissions in 2016.

“We found a maximum potential of 1.2 (0.9 to 1.6) Pg CO2e year−1 [petagrams of CO2 equivalent per year], the equivalent of 21% of current net annual emissions of the United States,” the researchers write in the study. “NCS would also provide air and water filtration, flood control, soil health, wildlife habitat, and climate resilience benefits.”

The majority — some 63 percent — of the climate mitigation potential of natural solutions in the US is due to increased carbon sequestration in plant biomass, with 29 percent coming from increased carbon sequestration in soil and 7 percent from avoided emissions of methane and Nitrous oxide. Of the 21 natural solutions the researchers analyzed, increased reforestation efforts had the largest carbon storage potential, equivalent to keeping 65 million passenger cars off the road.

Climate mitigation potential of 21 NCS in the United States. Credit: Fargione et al. (2018). doi:10.1126/sciadv.aat1869

“Reforestation has the single largest maximum mitigation potential (307 Tg CO2e year−1 [teragrams of CO2 equivalent per year]),” the researchers write. “The majority of this potential occurs in the northeast (35%) and south central (31%) areas of the United States. This mitigation potential increases to 381 Tg CO2e year−1 if all pastures in historically forested areas are reforested.”

Forests provide a number of other solutions with great potential, such as increasing carbon storage by allowing longer periods between timber harvests and reducing the risk of mega-fire through controlled burns and thinning of forests, the researchers found.

“One of America’s greatest assets is its land. Through changes in management, along with protecting and restoring natural lands, we demonstrated we could reduce carbon pollution and filter water, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and have better soil health to grow our food — all at the same time,” Fargione said in a statement. “Nature offers us a simple, cost-effective way to help fight global warming.”

Fargione and his co-authors note that close to a million acres of forest in the US are converted to non-forest every year, mostly as a result of suburban and exurban expansion and development, but that this source of greenhouse gas emissions could be addressed with better land use planning.

“Clearing of forests with conversion to other land uses releases their carbon to the atmosphere, and this contributes to rising temperatures,” said co-author Christopher A. Williams, an environmental scientist and associate professor at Clark University in Massachusetts. “Land owners and land managers are thinking about how they might use their land base to slow the pace of climate change, but until now they lacked the data needed to assess this potential.”

Williams added: “We estimated how much forest is being lost each year across the U.S., and the amount of carbon that releases to the atmosphere. Turning these trends around can take a dent out of global warming, and now we know how much and where the potential is greatest.”

The researchers also estimated the emissions reductions that could be accomplished for $10, $50, and $100 per megagram of CO2 equivalent, and found that 25 percent, 76 percent, and 91 percent, respectively, of the maximum mitigation could be achieved at those prices. This is a key finding, they say, because “a price of at least USD 100 is thought to be needed to keep the 100-year average temperature from warming more than 2.5°C, and an even higher price may be needed to meet the Paris Agreement <2°C target.”

US President Donald Trump has said he plans to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, but the earliest any country can do so is 2020. The US’ Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement calls for the country to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. Reaching that goal will require the US to drastically scale back the burning of fossil fuels, but this new study shows that NCS will also have a crucial role to play.

“Reducing carbon-intensive energy consumption is necessary but insufficient to meet the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement,” the researchers write. “Comprehensive mitigation efforts that include fossil fuel emission reductions coupled with NCS hold promise for keeping warming below 2°C.”

Forest in Borderland State Park, Massachusetts. 35 percent of the climate mitigation potential of reforestation in the United States occurs in northeastern forests. Photo via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC0.

 

CITATION

• Fargione, J. E., Bassett, S., Boucher, T., Bridgham, S. D., Conant, R. T., Cook-Patton, S. C., … & Gu, H. (2018). Natural climate solutions for the United States. Science Advances, 4(11), eaat1869. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aat1869

Reposted with permission from Mongabay

From Forced Migration to Regeneration: An Open Letter to the Citizens of the Global North

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De la Migration Forcée à la Régénération: Lettre Ouverte aux Citoyennes et Citoyens des Pays du Nord

Nous sommes actuellement 82 millions de personnes migrantes, originaires des pays du Sud pour la plupart, vivant en Europe et aux Etats-Unis.Malgré ce que disent les médias, migrer est toujours l’ultime recours. Le dépouillement, la violence des gouvernements, la corruption et l’impunité structurelle, la pauvreté, la guerre, et le réchauffement climatique nous ont forcés à abandonner nos maisons et nos terres dans nos pays d’origine.

Nous en avons assez d’être traité(e)s comme des citoyen(ne)s de seconde classe, comme des menaces à la sécurité des pays riches. Nous en avons assez des politicien(ne)s corrompu(e)s et des médias qui nous criminalisent.

Soyons clairs, une bonne fois pour toutes: nous soutenons le droit des personnes à la migration volontaire, et croyons en la valeur des communautés diverses, mais l’écrasante majorité d’entre-nous préfèrerait ne pas risquer sa vie aux frontières, ni dans les mers ou sur les routes, où nous sommes les proies du crime organisé complices des agents migratoires, des polices et des gouvernements; nous ne souhaitons pas nous heurter à la discrimination et à la maltraitance lorsque nous arrivons dans des endroits où nous essayons de survivre avec nos familles.

Cependant la dure réalité est là: Nous ne serons pas en mesure de rentrer chez nous -et la grande majorité devra continuer de partir- tant que les conditions sociales, climatiques, politiques et économiques ne seront pas réunies pour que nous puissions vivre une vie sans violence et insécurité, dépourvue de faim et de malnutrition, avec des opportunités de travail et d’éducation capables de pourvoir le bien-être de nos familles et de nos communautés.

Qui doit créer ces conditions? Et comment?

L’économie extractiviste basée sur l’industrie a engendré trop de pression sur les terres desquelles nous dépendions jadis pour nous nourrir. Nos sols et écosystèmes ont été tellement dégradés qu’ils ont perdu toute capacité de résilience face aux phénomènes climatiques extrêmes.

Sans aliments, sans espoir, nous sommes forcés de partir.

Les pays du Nord et leur modèle économique sont responsables d’une grande partie des émissions de gaz à effet de serre qui nous ont conduits à la crise climatique actuelle, expression de la crise systémique qui affecte gravement la survie de millions d’êtres humains, et met en péril la vie sur notre planète.

Cependant, c’est dans les pays du Sud que nous supportons le poids de la crise, et de l’incapacité du monde à l’aborder. Nous sommes les principales victimes du changement climatique, mais si nous en avions les moyens, nous serions également le plus grand espoir pour y mettre fin.

Des études scientifiques montrent que les sols et forêts des pays du Sud, gérés de manière adéquate, ont un potentiel énorme, capable de réabsorber l’excès de CO2.

Nous pouvons retourner travailler nos terres en harmonie avec la nature, stabiliser le climat mondial et faire de nos foyers des lieux habitables, mais nous avons besoin de votre aide.

Nos pères et mères, grand-pères et grand-mères, et ancêtres, savaient comment se nourrir tout en assurant l’équilibre naturel entre le CO2 dans l’atmosphère et le carbone dans les sols et forêts.

Ils savaient comment maintenir un environnement biologiquement sain et divers, et produire des aliments nutritifs de façon abondante.

Ils effectuaient tout cela sans utiliser de produits chimiques déstabilisant le climat, ni de graines génétiquement modifiées ou de monocultures.

En accédant a ces connaissances, et en les complétant avec les découvertes scientifiques modernes, nous sommes capables de régénérer nos sols et de les transformer en puits collectif de carbone, le plus grand du monde. C’est seulement ainsi que nous pourrons rentrer chez nous, et y vivre une vie digne auprès de nos communautés.

Nous savons qu’il y a des milliers de millions de dollars destinés à aborder la crise climatique globale.

Nous lançons un appel aux personnes et gouvernements des pays du Nord dans le but de libérer ces fonds, pour la plupart retenus par des gouvernements corrompus et des agences bureaucratiques.

Nous exigeons que ces fonds puissent circuler directement entre les personnes prêtes à régénérer nos terres, nos fermes, et nos communautés, pour notre bénéfice présent ainsi que pour les générations futures.

Nous ne demandons pas la charité. Nous vous demandons d’assumer la responsabilité des conséquences de vos actes et styles de vie. Nous vous invitons à coopérer, à travailler ensemble.

Les pays du Nord n’ont aucune chance de résoudre la crise climatique s’ils n’abordent pas la vaste dégradation des terres dans les pays du Sud.

Et nous, millions de migrant(e)s, qui jadis dépendions de l’agriculture pour nos aliments et nos modes de vie, ne pouvons retourner ni rester chez nous tant que nos sols et nos forêts ne seront pas assez sains pour nous alimenter.

Il est temps de s’engager dans une campagne de coopération d’un point de vue global afin de régénérer la Terre, et ainsi régénérer notre bien-être social, économique et physique sur le plan mondial.

Merci bien.

Pedro Mariano Gómez Pérez
Patricia Pérez Gómez
Abraham Gómez Paciencia
Diego López Aguilar

Coalition Indigène des Migrant(e)s du Chiapas


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De la Migración Forzada a la Regeneración: Carta Abierta a las y los Ciudadanos del Norte Global

Somos ya 82 millones de personas migrantes, en su mayoría del Sur Global, las que hoy vivimos en Europa y en los Estados Unidos.

A pesar de lo que lees en los medios, migrar es muchas veces nuestro último recurso. El despojo, la violencia de los gobiernos, la corrupción e impunidad estructural, la pobreza, la guerra y el cambio climático nos han forzado a dejar nuestras casas y nuestras tierras en los países de origen.

Estamos cansados de ser tratadas como ciudadanos de segunda clase, como amenazas a la seguridad de los países ricos. Estamos cansados de políticos corruptos y de los medios de comunicación que nos criminalizan.

Dejémoslo claro, aquí y ahora: Apoyamos el derecho de las personas a la migración voluntaria, y creemos en el valor de las comunidades diversas, pero la gran mayoría de nosotros preferiría no arriesgar su vida en los cruces fronterizos, ni en los mares ni a lo largo de rutas donde somos presas del crimen organizado coludido con agentes migratorios, policías y gobiernos; quisiéramos no enfrentar la discriminación y el maltrato cuando llegamos a lugares donde intentamos sobrevivir con nuestras familias.

Sin embargo, la dura realidad es ésta: No podemos regresar a casa –y la gran mayoría tendremos que seguir saliendo–, hasta que haya condiciones sociales, ambientales, políticas y económicas necesarias para que vivamos libres de violencia e inseguridad, hambre y desnutrición, con opciones de trabajo y educación para sustentar y lograr el bienestar de nuestras familias y comunidades.

¿Quién debería crear esas condiciones?, ¿Y cómo?

La economía extractivista basada en la industria ha causado demasiada presión sobre las tierras de las que antes dependíamos para alimentarnos. Nuestros suelos y ecosistemas han sido degradados a tal punto que han perdido su capacidad de resiliencia ante eventos climáticos extremos. Sin alimentos, sin esperanza, sin una economía al servicio de la vida, se nos fuerza a irnos.

El Norte Global y su modelo económico, es responsable de gran parte de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero que nos han llevado a la actual crisis climática, expresión de la crisis sistémica que afecta gravemente la sobrevivencia de millones de seres humanos, y pone en riesgo la vida en nuestro planeta.

Sin embargo, en el Sur Global estamos soportando el peso de la crisis, y de la incapacidad del mundo para abordarla. Somos las principales víctimas del cambio climático, pero si tuviéramos las herramientas necesarias también seríamos la mayor esperanza para revertirlo.

Estudios científicos demuestran que los suelos y bosques del Sur Global, manejados adecuadamente, tienen un enorme potencial para reabsorber el exceso de CO2.

Podemos regresar a trabajar en nuestras tierras en armonía con la naturaleza, reestabilizar el clima mundial y hacer de nuestros hogares lugares habitables – pero necesitamos de su cooperación.

Nuestros padres y madres, abuelos, abuelas y ancestros sabían cómo alimentarse manteniendo el equilibrio natural entre el CO2 de la atmósfera y el carbono en el suelo y los bosques.

Sabían cómo mantener un ambiente biológicamente sano y diverso y producir alimentos abundantes y nutritivos.
Hacían todo ésto sin usar químicos que desestabilizan el clima, sin usar semillas genéticamente modificadas y monocultivos.

Al acceder a este conocimiento, y al complementarlo con descubrimientos científicos modernos, podemos regenerar nuestros suelos– y transformarlos en el sumidero colectivo de carbono más grande del mundo.
Sólo así podremos regresar a casa y tener una vida digna junto a nuestras comunidades.

Sabemos que hay miles de millones de dólares disponibles para abordar la crisis climática global.

Hacemos un llamado a las personas y gobiernos del Norte Global para liberar esos fondos, la mayoría de los cuales están amarrados en gobiernos corruptos y agencias burocráticas.

Exigimos que se permita que esos fondos fluyan directamente a aquellos que estamos listos para regenerar nuestras tierras, nuestras granjas y nuestras comunidades – para el beneficio presente y para las futuras generaciones.

No estamos pidiendo caridad.Les estamos pidiendo que se hagan responsables de las consecuencias de sus acciones y estilos de vida. Les pedimos que cooperen con nosotros, que trabajemos juntos.

El Norte Global no tiene esperanza alguna de resolver la crisis climática sin abordar la vasta degradación de la tierra en el Sur Global.

Y nosotras(os), millones de migrantes que alguna vez dependimos de la agricultura para obtener nuestros alimentos y sustento, no podemos regresar o quedarnos en casa hasta que nuestros ecosistemas estén lo suficientemente sanos para mantenernos.

Es hora de comprometerse en unacampaña cooperativa a nivel global para regenerar la Tierra, y al hacerlo, regenerar nuestro bienestar social, económico y físico a nivel mundial.

Gracias.

Pedro Mariano Gómez Pérez
Patricia Pérez Gómez
Abraham Gómez Paciencia
Diego López Aguilar

Coalición Indígena de Migrantes de Chiapas


There are now 82 million migrants, mostly from the Global South, living in Europe and the United States.

Despite what you read in the media, for most us, migration is a last resort. We have been forced—by dispossession, poverty, war, climate change and government corruption—to leave our homes and land in our home countries.

We are tired of being treated as second-class citizens, as threats to the security of wealthy countries. We are tired of corrupt politicians and media that criminalize us.

Let us state clearly, here and now: We support the right of people to voluntarily migrate, and we believe in the value of diverse communities. But the vast majority of us would rather not risk our lives crossing borders, either over dangerous seas or along land routes where we are easy prey for agents of organized crime, often working in collusion with migration agents, police or governments. We would rather avoid discrimination and abuse when we arrive in foreign places, just trying to survive with our families.

However, the harsh reality is this: We can’t return home—and many more of us will have to keep leaving—until the social, environmental, political and economic conditions exist for us to live free of violence and insecurity, free of hunger and malnutrition, and until the employment and education conditions improve so that we can provide for our families and communities.

Who should create these conditions? And how?

The Global North, with its industrial-based, extractive economy, is responsible for most of the greenhouse gas emissions that have led us to this climate crisis which is threatening the survival of millions of people, and even life on Earth as we know it.

This economic model has put great pressure on the lands we used to depend on to feed ourselves. Our soils and ecosystems have been degraded to a point where they have lost their resilience in the face of severe climate events.

Without food, without hope, without an economy in service of life, we are forced to leave.

We in the Global South are bearing the burden of this crisis, and of the failure of the world to address it.

Yet, though we are the greatest victims of climate change, with the right tools, we are also the world’s greatest hope for reversing this crisis.

Scientific studies prove that the soils and forests of the Global South, managed appropriately, have the greatest potential to sequester excess CO2.

We can return to managing our lands in harmony with nature, so that we can re-stabilize the global climate and make our homes livable again—but we need your cooperation.

Our parents and grandparents and ancestors knew how to feed themselves while at the same time maintaining the natural balance between CO2 in the atmosphere and carbon in the soil and forests.

They knew how to maintain a biologically healthy and diverse environment while at the same time producing abundant, nutritious food.

They did all this without the use of climate-destabilizing chemicals and genetically engineered seeds and mono-cropping.

By tapping into this knowledge, and complementing it with modern scientific findings, we can regenerate our lands—and transform them into the largest collective carbon sink in the world

Only then can we can return home, and live prosperous, dignified lives as we did in the past.

We hear that there are billions of dollars available to address the global climate crisis.

We call on the people and governments of the Global North to unleash those funds, the majority of which are tied up in corrupt governments and bureaucratic agencies.

We ask that those funds be allowed to flow directly to the people who are ready to regenerate our lands, our farms, and our communities—for the benefit of all of us now, and for future generations.

We are not asking for charity. We are asking for the Global North to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions and lifestyles.

We ask them to cooperate with us, to work together with us.

Global North has no hope of resolving the climate crisis without tackling the vast land degradation in the Global South.

And we, millions of migrants who once depended on agriculture to sustain us, cannot return—or stay—home until our ecosystems are healthy enough to sustain us.

It is time to commit to a massive global cooperative campaign to regenerate Earth, and by doing so, regenerate our collective global social, economic and physical well-being.

Thank you.

Lead authors:

Pedro Mariano Gómez Pérez
Patricia Pérez Gómez
Abraham Gómez Paciencia
Diego López Aguilar

On behalf of the Chiapas Indigenous Migrant Coalition (Coalición Indígena de Migrantes de Chiapas)

Signees:

Viridiana Alcántara Cervantes—Iniciative 4 por 1000 Bonn
Miguel Concha Malo—Centro de Derechos humanos “Fray Francisco de Vitoria, O.P., A.C.—Distrito Federal
Arturo Vera Tenorio—Mercado Alternativo de Tlalpan Ciudad de México
Carlos Villablanca—Ecobarrio 4 Alamos Santiago
Guadalupe Meza Docente—Universitaria Guanajuato
Sara Román—Red Nacional Género y Economía (REDGE)—Benito Juarez
Rocío Miranda—Ciudad de México
Luz Maria Munoz de Cote—Mitoteras por Guanajuato—Guanajuato
Rocío Servin—Guanajuato
Pedro Luis del Ángel Rodríguez—Guanajuato
Rosario Patricia Rodríguez— R Ninguna—León
Paco Ayala—La Cuadra A.C. Huerto Roma Verde—Ciudad de México
Tania Salazar—Mexico
María Soledad Del Rocío Suárez López—Delegación Miguel Hidalgo—Mexico, D. F.
Eveline Woitrin—Rescatando los Picachos—Guanajuato
Ercilia Sahores—Regeneration International—Mexico City
Peter Mokaya—Organic Consumers Alliance(OCA)—Nairobi Kenya
Maina Azimio Azima—Wellness Consultants—Nairobi Kenya
Omoke Brian—Think Organic—Nairobi Keyna
Julie Ngigi—Spur Africa LTD Nairobi—Nairobi
Sulemana Abudulai—African Biodiversity Network—Tamale
Anne Mugo—Teacher—Nairobi
Boniface Njoroge—Bonafied Organic Ventures—Nairobi
Luse Kakunta—Unza—Lusaka
Emanuel Chibesakunda—Plant A Million Zambia—Lusaka
Fortunate Nyakanda—Zimbabwe Organic Producers and Promoters Trust—Harare
Alfred Lakwo—AFARD Nebbi—West Nile
Innocent Lawoko Muno—UNHCR Yumbe—West Nile
Ronnie Cummins—Via Organica—San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato
Roger Jones—RasX—San Miguel de Allende, GTO
Christiaan Verdegaal—Amsterdam
Fouad Yammine—Beirut
Temor Al-karawi—Eitorf
Alejandro Calvillo El—Poder del Consumidor A.C.—Ciudad de México
Adelita San Vicente Tello—Semillas de Vida—México
Azucena Mastache—Cuernavaca Morelos
Fray Gonzalo Ituarte OP—Vicaría de Justicia y Paz—San Cristobal de Las Casas
Alfredo Rubin—Red Semillas de Libertad—Buenos Aires
Barbara Icaza—Ciudad de México
Natasha Uren—Coalición de Migrantes Mexicanos—CDMX
Angélica Schenerock—Agua y Vida: Mujeres, Derechos y Ambiente AC—San Cristóbal de Las Casas
Joel Tovar—AccionMasVerde—Ciudad de México
Ellen Farmer—Collaborative Ventures—Santa Cruz
Amber Rappe—OCA—Finland
Meg—San Francisco
Ashleigh Brown—Ecosystem Restoration Camps—UK
Stefan Meyer—OCA AgroEcology Center—Finland
Kristine Bartyzel—Santa Fe
Florence Reed—Sustainable Harvest International—USA
Daniela Howell—Savory
Claudia Flisfisch—Regeneración Internacional—San Cristóbal de Las Casas
Michaela Fohmann—Schliengen
Richman Mutono—African Centre for Migration and Society—Wits University Johannesburg
Eirian Sahinkaya—Cologne
Carlos Flores—Mexico
Laura Izela Loredo Ruelas—Mexico City
Alicia Silva—Mexico
Angélica Gómez—Fondo Semillas—Ciudad de México
Wiliams Alonso Landaverry—Organización Democrática Mundial Copan—Honduras
Isabel de la Lastra—Taramundi—Asturias
Dana Stockar—Organizacion Walung Curarrehue—Araucanía—Chile
Oscar Gerardo Vargas López—IMDEC, AC—Guadalajara, Jalisco
Mariana Ortega Ramírez—Agromás S.C.—Cuautepec de Hinojosa—Hidalgo
Aurelia Nashru—Red Xotlac Amecameca—México
Natalia Lopez—Cooperativas Sin Fronteras—San Pedro—San José
Lena Bartula—Ser Mujer—San Miguel de Allende—Mexico
Laia Borges—Barcelona—Spain
Pilar Quintanilla—San Miguel de Allende—México
Fintan Lethert—Organic Consumers Association—Minneapolis—Minnesota
Henry Anton Peller—Ohio State University—Punta Gorda—Belize
Stephanie Bourdin—Paris—France
Monica Baxter—Olympia—USA
Sallie Latch—Center for Global Justice—Mexico
Judith D Schwartz—Vermont—United States
Deborah Richmond—Rewilding our Planet—England
Kathleen Arbonne—Spokane—United States
Rachel Kastner—San Miguel De Allende—Mexico
Ben Radler—Würzburg—Germany
Bernd Müller—Global Ecology Institute—Portugal
Nat B Life—Antwerp—Belgium
Pedro Leal—Portugal
Andres Balzo—Santiago de Chile—Chile
Aurora Paisim—San Pedro de Atacama—Antofagasta—Chile
Alexis Baden-Mayer—Citizens Regeneration Lobby—Washington DC
Eirian Sahinkaya—Cologne—Germany
Rebecca Bailet—Albuquerque—United States
Mia Smith—Honolulu—United States
Mathilde Berguerand Aucune—Limans—France
Ianka Mosimann—Undervelier—Suisse

Top 15 Regenerative Agriculture Blogs, Websites and Newsletters to Follow in 2018

Congratulations to every blogger that has made this Top Regenerative Agriculture Blogs list! This is the most comprehensive list of best Regenerative Agriculture blogs on the internet and I’m honoured to have you as part of this! I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world.

Photo credit: Pixabay

1 Regeneration International
2 Kiss The Ground | Regenerative Agriculture
3 Propagate, Discover Regeneration | Agriculture & Environment Blog
4 PastureMap Blog
5 The Druid’s Garden
6 Abundant Design
7 SOIL Haiti Blog
8 Food Forest Farm Blog
9 Frank Holzman Blog
10 Mazi Farm Blog
11 Farmer Angus
12 Regenerative Landscapes Australia Blog
13 Frock & Wellies | Regenerative Garden Blog

KEEP READING ON ONLINE MBA SCHOOLS

Chance Encounter Leads to Tropical Ag Conference and Long-Term Commitment to Regenerating Belize

On November 13 – 15, Regeneration Belize and Regeneration International (RI) will co-host the Tropical Agriculture Conference in Belmopan.

The event, which will take place at the National Agriculture & Trade Show grounds, will feature a combination of international speakers and local experts on everything from regenerative poultry production and beekeeping to edible landscaping and greenhouse management.

Photo credit: Regeneration International

Regeneration Belize, an official RI Alliance, aims to transform Belize into a leading producer of nutrient-rich agricultural products and a showcase for carbon sequestration through soil regenerative practices.

A relatively new nonprofit, Regeneration Belize grew out of a casual encounter about a year ago (December 2017), at the ACRES USA Annual Eco-Ag Conference in Ohio. It was there that Ina Sanchez, director of research for the Belize Ministry of Agriculture, and Beth Roberson, of The Belize Ag Report, first met RI’s international director, Andre Leu.

Leu, who spoke at the conference along with Ronnie Cummins and Vandana Shiva—both founding members of RI—explained RI’s mission and how the international nonprofit was working to fulfill that mission, on a global scale. Intrigued, Sanchez and Roberson invited Leu to Belize.

Before long, Leu had offered to come to Belize in 2018 and present a three-day farmers’ workshop.

One thing led to another, and in February 2018, RI’s Latin America director, Ercilia Sahores, and RI network member Ricardo Romero traveled to Belize for discussions with about 20 people, including Belizean farmers, consumers, business leaders and NGO members, about how to spread the word in Belize about regenerative agriculture. Also attending was Belizean Senator Osmany Salas, who represents all NGOs in the legislature, and now serves on Regeneration Belize’s Advisory Group.

Sahores, Romero and others met with officials of Belize’s Ministry of Agriculture, including CEO Jose Alpuche, CAO Andrew Harrison, and Belarmino Esquivel, head of Extension Services. During those meetings, the ministry offered the use of the National Agriculture and Trade Show Grounds in the capital city Belmopan for an agriculture conference later in 2018. The conference planners agreed to have to include information for every type of Belizean farmer—small and large, conventional and organic. They also agreed to no admission fees, so that costs wouldn’t prevent interested parties from attending.

Originally, there was no vision to form a separate NGO for Belize. But it was later decided that a nonprofit would provide a vehicle for raising funds for future work, including the conference. Now as an NGO, Regeneration Belize can host an annual conference, in addition to ongoing workshops and other events useful to the agricultural sector.

For Regeneration Belize’s premier conference, RI has provided six international speakers, who will share proven methods and practices for the tropics. The speakers and their topics are: Andre Leu on topsoils; Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on regenerative poultry; Dr. Alvaro Zapata of Fundación Cipav on integrated livestock with silvopastoral systems; Elder Adrian Calderon on regenerative beekeeping; and Ronnie Cummins on regenerative food, farming and land use as the next stages of organic and agricultural ecology.

Regeneration Belize selected 11 local experts to round out the two days of presentations, 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., at 5 different pavilions. Local experts will present on: medicinal plant gardening; native crops; biofertilizers; watershed management; biochar, turmeric & vanilla production; edible landscaping; greenhouse management and agroforestry. Wednesday sessions will be in English and Kekchi Maya. Thursday’s presentations will include some in English and others in Spanish

 

Learn more about the conference presentations here and here.

 

Beth Roberson and Dottie Feucht are founding members of Regeneration Belize.

For more information about Regeneration Belize and Regeneration International (RI), sign up RI’s newsletter.

 

 

Dirt Rich: Healthy Soil Movement Gains Ground in Farm Country

Jesse Hall is sold on regenerative agriculture.

“It crumbles, and it looks like chocolate cake,” Hall said. “Once it’s got the consistency of chocolate cake, and it’s spongy, that’s what you want.”

And it’s got more life in it, too, from invisible bacteria to earthworms.

Photo credit: Pexels

“I can’t even dig up an inch without digging up an earthworm,” Hall said. “I feel bad, because I don’t want to hurt the poor guys. I always try to pack ’em back in the ground, try to cover them up — you know, like I’m tucking them in.”

Hall has embraced regenerative agriculture, the approach to farming built around four basic rules: Never till the soil; use cover crops so soil is never bare; grow a more diverse mix of plants and graze livestock on fields after harvest or before planting.

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Soil and Seaweed: Farming Our Way to a Climate Solution

Scientists have issued a dire warning: to maintain a habitable planet we must dramatically reduce atmospheric carbon in the next decade. Nature has been warning us too, lately in the forms of climate change–intensified Hurricanes Florence and Michael. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is freezing fuel-efficiency standards, propping up the coal industry, trying to roll back the Clean Power Plan and disbanding the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific advisory boards.

Photo credit: Pixabay

In the absence of U.S. federal leadership on climate, what state, local, community or corporate solutions can be rapidly scaled? As a farmer and a marine biologist, and as mother and daughter, we have had two decades of dinner table conversations about the connections between agriculture and the ocean and about the alarming trends in soil health, ocean health and climate change. These discussions have converged on an underappreciated solution: regenerative farming of both land and sea.

 

KEEP READING ON SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN