Since all that carbon in the ground below our feet originated in the atmosphere, the potential exists for soils to ‘soak up’ lots and lots of the excess CO2 contributing to global warming. In fact, degraded and carbon-depleted soils – which describe the majority of agricultural lands in America – could be ‘recarbonized’ to their original, pre-tilled levels which could have a huge impact on climate change.
Entregado por el miembro del Comité Directivo de Regeneration International, Precious Phiri, en nombre de la Delegación Chilena de Regeneration International a la COP25, en el Día Oficial de la Iniciativa 4p1000 en la COP25 en Madrid.
Contacto:
América Latina: Ercilia Sahores, ercilia@regenerationinternational.org,… Read more here
Biodiversity is a key factor in the earth’s provision of ecosystem services — including biomass production, nutrient and water cycling, and soil formation and retention — but the ongoing, mounting losses to biodiversity are not simply an environmental issue; current negative trends in biodiversity and ecosystems will undermine progress towards 80% of the Sustainable Development Goals, related to poverty, hunger, health, water, cities, climate, oceans and land.
Pollution and destructive agricultural practices are devastating the ecosystem and influencing our global weather patterns. Adding biochar to soil and building materials of all kinds is a simple and inexpensive strategy that can remediate much of this damage.
Agriculture is also an important—in fact a necessary—partner in fighting climate change. The science is clear: We cannot stay beneath the most dangerous climate thresholds without sequestering a significant amount of carbon in our soils.
Cotton production in the United States is historically exploitative, and the crop’s regional relationships have proven taxing to California communities in the past. What we see now is an opportunity to pair global climate stabilization goals with statewide strides to improve water quality and efficiency, toward a local fiber economy invested in regenerating human and ecological health. It starts with exploring the practices, from soil to skin, that can change the course, and the flow of carbon, in California cotton fields.
A coalition of ranchers, environmentalists and Osage Nation landowners are working together to save the grasslands.
When land is disturbed or degraded, however, much of that carbon leaves the soil and enters the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. f undisturbed or restored to health, however, soils not only continue to hold their carbon but can ‘soak up’ even more from the atmosphere (originating as carbon dioxide) which is very good news for fighting global warming.
The last great hope of avoiding catastrophic climate change may lie in a substance so commonplace that we typically ignore it or else walk all over it: the soil beneath our feet.
The ability of farmers to store carbon dioxide in their soil is the most optimistic opportunity that we know about with regards to climate change. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it should be our only focus: We must reduce emissions and invest in other ways of pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, such as planting and preserving forests. Ultimately, the combination of these activities has the potential to not only reduce the damage that we are causing to our environment, but to reverse it.