Together, we can cool the planet!

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[ English | Español ]

For many years, La Vía Campesina and GRAIN have been telling the world about how the agroindustrial food system causes half of all greenhouse gas emissions. But the world’s governments are refusing to face these problems head on, and the Paris Summit in December is approaching without any effective commitment to doing so on their part.

This new video by La Vía Campesina and GRAIN gives you the information you need to understand how the agroindustrial food system is impacting our climate, and at the same time what we can do to change course and start cooling the planet. And every single one of us is part of the solution!

In the Americas, Asia, Europe and Africa, for many years, we have been criticizing false solutions to climate change like GMOs, the “green” economy, and “climate-smart” agriculture. No two ways about it: the solution to the climate crisis is in the hands of small farmers, along with consumers who choose agroecological products from local markets. This is the message we’re taking to the Paris Climate Change Conference this December. Join the campaign! Share this video!

MORE INFORMATION AT:

tv.viacampesina.org
viacampesina.org
grain.org

A Great Day: Saving the World from Catastrophic Climate Change

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[ English | Español ]

Author: Courtney White

“Dec 1, 2015, will be one of the most important days in human history. It will be seen as the tipping point when the world was saved from catastrophic climate change.” – André Leu, President of the IFOAM (Organics International)

One of the most significant events at the recent UN climate summit in Paris went largely unnoticed.

We know the headlines: In an effort to slow dangerous climate change, representatives from 197 nations concluded a two-week marathon of negotiations by signing a breakthrough agreement that commits governments to targeted reductions in greenhouse gas emissions starting in 2020.

This was justifiably big news. After 20 years of failed attempts to craft an international consensus on climate action, most spectacularly in Copenhagen in 2009, the world simply had to get its act together. It did so, to well-earned applause, on December 12, 2015.

So what happened on December 1?

That’s the day the French government launched the 4 per 1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate, a plan to fight climate change with soil carbon. The initiative’s goal is this: to increase global soil carbon stocks by 0.4 percent per year by drawing down atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) via the increased photosynthesis of regenerative farming and land use.

On the surface, that may not sound like a lot of carbon, (it amounts to 10 billion tons of carbon per year sequestered in global soils), but French scientists say it’s enough to halt human-induced annual increases in CO2 globally.

That sounds like a front page headline to me!

How will the initiative succeed? The key is regenerative agriculture. France, for example, intends to hit its 4/1000 target by employing agro-ecological practices on 50 percent of its farms by 2020.

Agro-ecological practices restore damaged land and build biologically healthy soil through the use of cover crops, perennial plants, no-till farming, and livestock grazing patterns that mimic nature. If managed properly, these nature-based practices not only increase carbon stocks in soil, they also can dramatically reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced by the use of fossil fuel in industrial agriculture, one of the biggest polluters on the planet.

Agro-ecological practices also increase resilience to climate change. In an op-ed published days after the French announcement in Paris, Michael Pollan and Deborah Barker wrote:

Regenerative farming would also increase the fertility of the land, making it more productive and better able to absorb and hold water, a critical function especially in times of climate-related floods and droughts. Carbon-rich fields require less synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and generate more productive crops, cutting farmer expenses.

Those are bold, but as we’ll see later, realistic claims. But here’s the best news: Regenerative agriculture is a shovel-ready solution to climate change.

Agro-ecological practices are practical, profitable and have been ground-tested by farmers and ranchers around the world for decades. In fact, shovel-readiness is a big reason why more than 100 nations, international NGOs and farmers’ organizations signed onto the 4/1000 Initiative–and why many more have signed on since then.

After years of neglect, soil carbon is now viewed as key to how the world manages climate change. “[It] has become a global initiative,” said French Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll. “We need to mobilize even more stakeholders in a transition to achieve both food security and climate mitigation thanks to agriculture.”

“The time for talking is finished,” said IFOAM’s André Leu. “Now is the time for doing. The technology is available to everyone. It is up to us to mobilize in time. Let’s start working to get this done and give our world a better future.”

Paying for regeneration

A critical step will be creating a viable carbon economy where regenerative farmers and ranchers can be paid to build soil carbon. This has been a difficult challenge so far, but thanks to the Paris Agreement, 197 nations now have a huge incentive to draw down their emissions to meet official targets. And regenerative agriculture can help get them there.

From the carbon emitter’s perspective, offsetting carbon dioxide emissions with verifiable increases in soil carbon, validated now by the French government’s 4/1000 Initiative, will likely stimulate other nations to create market-based mechanisms which, in turn, will encourage farmers and ranchers to adopt regenerative practices, round and round. From society’s perspective, all this is great news!

Creating carbon markets isn’t a new idea. Over the past twenty years, a variety of efforts have been made to energize a voluntary carbon credit trading system, including programs in Europe, Australia, New England, California, and Vancouver, British Columbia, each with varying degrees of success. In New Mexico, where I live, the state legislature considered a bill in 2015 that would have created a policy framework for enacting a carbon credit system–a first for the state.

New Mexico attempted to established a carbon credit as a contract right and to create a five-member board to review and audit the credits as potential offsets for carbon emitters. The board specifically identified the removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and its accumulation within plants, soils and geologic formations as a legitimate means by which a credit can be created–also a first (specifically, one carbon credit equaled one metric ton of CO2 or its equivalent).

Unfortunately, the bill didn’t become law, and it’s not the only model for paying for regeneration. But the bill represents an important step toward stimulating market-based responses to climate change.

Serious concerns about the shortcomings of carbon offset markets (sometimes called cap-and-trade) have been raised. This is especially true for organic, regenerative and family-scale agriculture, which could easily be pushed aside by large industrial producers. Here’s a useful primer on how climate-friendly agriculture can be treated fairly in a carbon economy.

The bottom line is this: We need state and federal policies that make the polluters pay, create publicly-controlled pools of money, and pay regenerative farmers and ranchers for building carbon stocks in their soils.

Science is on our side

Markets and their regulators will require sound science and hard numbers–credible and verifiable–to work effectively. This is a challenge, however, because understanding soil carbon involves chemistry, biology, ecology, hydrology, and agronomy—which means the science can get complex quickly, for researchers and laypeople alike. Fortunately, there has been a veritable explosion of soil carbon science recently, creating a clearer portrait of carbon’s potentials.

One researcher whose work has shed exciting light on regenerative agriculture is Dr. David Johnson, a molecular biologist at New Mexico State University. Johnson believes that “getting the biology right” is critical to creating significant increases in soil carbon stocks.

It’s essentially a two-step process, according to Johnson: (1) get life back into soils that have been stripped of their biological fertility by industrial agriculture; and (2) employ practices that bring about a shift in the soil from bacteria-dominated to fungi-dominated communities. The latter is important because fungi are the “carbon brokers” between plant roots and soil microbes. This process also improves soil structure which improves its ability to resist erosion–equally crucial to long-term carbon storage.

Of course, all of this soil rebuilding can be undone by the plow, which exposes microbes to the killing effect of heat and light. That’s why not turning the soil over is a key component of regenerative agriculture.

Johnson’s research also shows that “getting the biology right” reduces the amount of carbon that is “burped” back into the atmosphere (as CO2) by microbes as a waste product. This is important because the viability of long-term carbon storage in soils–and thus the size of monetary payments to farmers and ranchers from markets–depend on there being more carbon flowing into the soil system than flowing back out.

It’s not just about money. Additional carbon improves plant productivity, improves water infiltration and soil water-holding capacity, reduces the use of synthetic amendments, and promotes a healthy environment for pollinators and other beneficial insects.

A win-win for the land and ourselves!

Johnson notes that nature is three to four times more productive than any agricultural system yet devised by humans. And nature achieves that productivity without pesticides, synthetic amendments, irrigation or monocropping.

“Shouldn’t we be asking what we’re doing wrong?” Johnson said in an interview. “Plus, nature had the capacity to increase soil carbon in the past. Our task is to find out how it was done and mimic it in our current practices.”

Improved soil fertility, better food, more efficient use of water, reduced pollution, fewer energy requirements, better animal health, increased biodiversity, and keeping global warming in check–all possible for as little as 4 per 1000 a year!

For more information see:

Carbon Sequestration Potential on Agricultural Land by Daniel Kane, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Soil Carbon Restoration: Can Biology Do the Job? by Jack Kittredge, Northeast Organic Farming Association

***

Courtney White, co-founder and former executive director of the Quivira Coalition, is the author of multiple essays and books, including “Grass, Soil, Hope: A Journey Through Carbon Country” and “The Age of Consequences.”  

Soils for food security and the climate

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Thanks to plants and living organisms, soils contain two to three times more carbon than the atmosphere.  Carbon-rich soil organic matter is essential: it retains the water, nitrogen and phosphorus that are indispensable to agriculture. But alternating phases of drought and intense rainfall accentuate erosive phenomena.  In the long term, almost 30 million hectares of arable land could be lost every ten years.

The solution: carbon storage

If the carbon stocks in the top 40 centimetres of soil could be increased by 4 per 1000 each year, this could theoretically help to stop the current rise in the quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere, on condition that deforestation is halted.

The methods: 5 ways to develop soil management and agroecology

  1. Avoid leaving the soil bare in order to limit carbon losses
  2. Restore degraded crops, grasslands and forests
  3. Plant trees and legumes which fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil
  4. Feed the soil with manure and composts
  5. Conserve and collect water at the feet of plants to favour plant growth

Applied to the surface horizon of the world’s soils, or a stock of around 860 billion tonnes of carbon, the 4‰ target would result in the annual storage of 3.4 billion tonnes of soil carbon, thus counterbalancing the rise in atmospheric CO2. This measure would be extended beyond agricultural soils to most soils and their uses, including forests.

570 million farms in the world and more than 3 billion people living in rural areas could implement these practices.

The cost for crops, 20 to 40 USD per tonne of CO2. For grasslands and forests, 50 or 80 USD per tonne of CO2. Carbon would continue to accumulate in soils for twenty to thirty years after the introduction of good practices, if they are sustained.

Keep Reading on INRA

On World Soil Day, OCA, IFOAM Laud French Government’s Initiative to Address Climate Change via Carbon Sequestration in Organic Soil

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 5, 2015

CONTACT:  Organic Consumers Association, Katherine Paul, 207-653-3090, katherine@organicconsumers.org

On World Soil Day, OCA, IFOAM Laud French Government’s Initiative to Address Climate Change via Carbon Sequestration in Organic Soil

December 5 marks end of International Year of the Soils, beginning of work to replace degenerative industrial ag with organic regenerative strategies that can reverse global warming

PARIS – As the International Year of the Soils officially ended on December 5, World Soil Day, Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and IFOAM Organics International (IFOAM) praised the French Government’s 4 per 1000 Initiative as the most important climate strategy to come out of the COP21 Paris Climate Talks.

“This is the most exciting news to come out of COP21,” said Andre Leu, president of IFOAM Organics International. “By launching this Initiative, the French Government has validated the work of scientists and farmers and ranchers who have demonstrated the power of organic regenerative agriculture to restore the soil’s natural ability to draw down and sequester carbon.

“It is imperative that world the decarbonizes the atmosphere from 400 ppm to far less than 350 ppm to stop catastrophic climate change. The combination of renewable energy to stop further emissions and drawing down excess CO2 into the soil is most achievable way to do this and it is readily available to us now.”

“What better way to celebrate World Soil Day than to recognize that healthy soil is our most available, most promising solution to global warming,” said Ronnie Cummins, OCA’s international director. “As we celebrate this important Initiative and also mark the end of the International Year of the Soils, we look forward to what is arguably the most important work our organizations and our governments face—reversing global warming before it’s too late.”

OCA and IFOAM Organics International are among the 100 partners who were signed on at the launch of the “4 per 1000” Initiative. Partners include developed and developing states, international organizations, private foundations, international funds, NGOs and farmers’ organizations.

The partners have agreed to reinforce their actions on appropriate soil management, recognizing the importance of soil health for the transition towards productive, highly resilient agriculture.

The “4/1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate” aims to protect and increase carbon stocks in soils.  According to the French Agriculture Ministry, a 0.4-percent annual growth rate in soil carbon content would make it possible to stop the present increase in atmospheric CO2 and achieve the long-term objective of limiting the average global temperature increase to the 1.5°C to 2°C threshold beyond which the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says would lead to a climate disaster.

The initiative consists of a voluntary action plan under the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA), backed by an ambitious research program.

The United Nations officially declared 2015 the International Year of the Soils, beginning on December 5, 2014, and ending on World Soil Day, December 5, 2015. The official closure took place at FAO headquarters on December 4.

IFOAM – Organics International is the worldwide umbrella organization for the organic agriculture movement, which represents close to 800 member organizations  in about 125 countries.

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)(3) public interest organization representing 2 million U.S. consumers campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The Organic Consumers Fund is a 501(c)4 allied organization of the Organic Consumers Association, focused on grassroots lobbying and legislative action.

IFOAM – Organics International Joins “4 per 1000” Initiative: Soils for food security and climate

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IFOAM – Organics International has joined the “4 per 1000” Initiative (link is external), which aims to improve the organic matter content and promote carbon sequestration in soils through the application of agricultural practices adapted to local situations both economically, environmentally and socially, such as agro-ecology, agroforestry, conservation agriculture and landscape management.

The official launch of the initiative took place 01 December 2015 at the COP21 Climate Conference with keynote speeches given by Tabaré  Aguerre,  Minister for livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay as well as Christian Schmidt, Minister for Food and Agriculture of Germany.

Both José Graziano Da Silva, Director-general of FAO and Stéphane  Le Foll, Minister for Agriculture, Food Processing Industry and Forestry of France agreed that farmers need more access to knowledge in order to farm successfully with better soil management practices.

Commenting on the event, Gábor Figeczky, Advocacy Manager at IFOAM – Organics International was pleased to note that Agroecology is at the heart of the “4 per 1000” Initiative. Read more about the initiative.

View the Original Article on IFOAM Organics International

Hope in a Changing Climate

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Hope in a Changing Climate optimistically reframes the debate on global warming. Illustrating that large, decimated ecosystems can be restored, the BBC World documentary reveals success stories from Ethiopia, Rwanda and China which prove that bringing large areas back from environmental ruin is possible, and key to stabilising the earth’s climate, eradicating poverty and making sustainable agriculture a reality.

View More Resources on John D Liu’s Page on Academia

How ‘Natural Geoengineering’ Can Help Slow Global Warming

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Author: Oswald J. Schmitz

As natural wonders go, perhaps the most awe-inspiring is the annual migration of 1.2 million wildebeest flowing across East Africa’s vast Serengeti grassland. It would be a tragedy to lose these animals. But we almost did in the mid-20th century when, decimated by disease and poaching, their numbers crashed to 300,000.

The consequences of that collapse were profound. Much of the Serengeti ecosystem remained ungrazed. The accumulating dead and dried grass in turn became fuel for massive wildfires, which annually burned up to 80 percent of the area, making the Serengeti an important regional source of carbon dioxide emissions.

Then, conservation programs to eradicate disease and crack down on poaching led to the recovery of the wildebeest, restoring the grazing system and reversing the extent of the large-scale wildfires. Grazing now causes much of the carbon in grass to be released as animal dung, which is in turn incorporated by insects into soil reservoirs that are not prone to burning. The Serengeti ecosystem has now reverted to a carbon dioxide sink so large that it is estimated to offset all of East Africa’s current annual fossil fuel carbon emissions.

The wildebeest decline and recovery taught a valuable lesson, not only in how easy it is to loose an iconic animal species, but, more importantly, how the loss of a single species can have far-reaching ramifications for ecosystems — and the climate. Mounting evidence from ecological science is showing that one or a few animal species can help determine the amount of carbon that is exchanged between ecosystems and the atmosphere. It’s not that any single animal species by itself has a huge direct effect on the carbon budget. Rather, as the wildebeest case shows, by being an integral part of a larger food chain the species may trigger knock-on effects that grow through the chain to drive significant amounts of carbon into long-term storage on land or in the ocean.

Keep Reading in Yale Environment 360

Think…Small?

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Think you, personally, can’t do much about global warming? Think the solution(s) will all have to come from genius scientists, engineers or entrepreneurs? And involve all manner of Big Ideas and complex technologies?

two_percent_solutionsThink again.

Courtney White, author, archaeologist and activist, wants you to think small. Because, he says, thinking big can have a paralyzing effect on taking action.

Whites’ latest book, “Two Percent Solutions for the Planet,” is chock full of engaging, inspirational stories, stories that point the way for how all of us can do something to help regenerate our soils, our souls and life on this planet.

If you’ve never read one of White’s books, maybe now’s the time?

Order Courtney White’s Book

A Message of Hope: Regeneration International at COP21 in Paris

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When we invited activists, authors, farmers, filmmakers and scientists from 16 countries to camp out with us at a hostel in Paris for the 2015 COP21 Climate Summit, we weren’t sure who would show up, or how things would go.

It turned out even better than we imagined. About 80 people, from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Switzerland, Spain, the U.S, and Zimbabwe joined us, for all or part of the two-week COP21, at St. Christopher’s Inn Canal, sister hostel of the Place to B. The hostel, and a nearby rented apartment, turned out to be great venues for formal, organized workshops, plus a lot of informal networking and ad hoc meetings.

We went to Paris with a message of hope: Regenerative food, farming and land use can cool the planet and feed the world. Our intention was to change the climate conversation because to date, the conversation has focused almost exclusively on emissions reduction. We absolutely must reduce fossil fuel emissions. But emissions reduction is only a 50-percent solution. Even if we were to cut all human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions today, the globe would continue to warm for decades or even centuries to come.

However, there is hope. There is growing scientific evidence that regenerative agriculture can reverse climate change by drawing carbon into the soil through the natural process of photosynthesis, while at the same time delivering other essential ecological, economic and health benefits.

Ronnie Cummins, international director of the Organic Consumers Association and Via Organica, and a member of the RI Steering Committee, told one gathering:soil story eiffel

“A growing number of us here in Paris are determined to change the prevailing gloom and doom conversation on climate, and instead focus on practical solutions, Global regeneration requires a revolution, not only in our thinking, but in our heretofore tunnel vision. We need to move beyond mere mitigation or sustainability concepts that simply depress or demobilize people to a bold new global strategy of regeneration,” he added.

Success! The climate conversation evolves!

We accomplished our goal in Paris. We helped change the conversation. For the first time, the international community now recognizes the potential for healthy soils to reverse climate change.

On December 1, 2015, France launched a global initiative endorsed by 100 partners, including 25 countries. The “4 per 1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security and Climate” consists of a voluntary action plan under the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA) that aims to show that food security and combating climate change are complementary. The initiative also positions farmers as the pioneering climate heroes of our generation.

Commenting on the French 4 per 1000 Initiative, André Leu, president of IFOAM Organics International, said:

“We know we can put carbon in the soil. The world has accepted it. Now we have to talk about how to scale this up. What we are about to do now is change agriculture forever. It is the biggest paradigm shift in the history of the climate change movement. On December 1-2, agriculture finally made it into the climate talks. It went from being ignored to being central to climate change. This is huge. The time for talking is finished. Now is the time for doing. The technology is available to everyone. It is up to us to mobilize in time. Let’s start working to get this done and give our world a better future.”

The words “agriculture” and “soil carbon” do not explicitly appear in the official UNFCCC agreement. But that’s okay!  Here’s why. Each country is required to provide something called an Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), a document in which they outline their plan for climate mitigation and adaptation. According to an analysis conducted by CGIAR of the first 150 country INDCs submitted ahead of the UN climate talks, 80 percent of commitments included agriculture in mitigation targets, and 64 percent included agriculture in their adaptation strategies.” Under the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, these INDCs will be reviewed every five years and do not begin until 2020.

“It is important to understand that there is plenty of scope to have farming and soil carbon included in the INDCs between now and 2020,” Leu said.

Demonstrations, press conferences, workshops and more!

In addition to attending the formal COP21 negotiations, the RI delegation participated in and hosted a variety of alternative events, workshops and demonstrations.

Here’s a list of some notable events RI members either organized, sponsored or participated in:

  • On November 29, we joined tens of thousands of activists who took to the streets to peacefully defy the French government’s ban on street demonstrations. A delegation of North and Latin American regeneration activists joined the protest, holding hands in a human chain stretching for miles. We lined up at the corner of Boulevard Voltaire and Allée du Philosophe. Our section of the animated chain, designated “solutions,” was punctuated with colorful homemade signs, T-shirts and banners. We were a boisterous group, whose most popular chant, repeated over and over again in Spanish, English and French, drew smiles and thumbs-up reactions from Parisians passing by:“El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido” or “The people united will never be defeated”.
  • On December 3, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), IFOAM International Organics, Navdanya, Regeneration International (RI), and Millions Against Monsanto, joined by dozens of global food, farming and environmental justice groups, held a press conference to  announce that they will organize a citizens tribunal to hold Monsanto accountable for crimes against nature and humanity, and ecocide. The tribunal will take place next year, The Hague, Netherlands, beginning October 12 and ending on World Food Day, October 16, 2016.
  • Also on December 3, 2015, Kiss the Ground, Project Drawdown, and RI hosted a workshop on regenerative agriculture and land use which brought together soil and carbon enthusiasts. Participants exchanged skills and knowledge on regenerative agriculture and land use, soil carbon sequestration, climate change mitigation. Some, like Pedro Diniz, also shared ecosystem restoration success stories. Pedro and his team shared the inspiring story of how they restored Fazenda da Toca. Today, this large-scale family-owned organic farm in Brazil’s São Paulo state is changing the future of ecological agriculture.
  • On World Soil Day, December 5, 2015, which coincided with COP21, artists, environmental and spiritual leaders, seed defenders, community supported agriculture networks, and concerned citizens gathered at La Villette in Paris and planted a ‘Garden of Hope’.  We launched a Pact with the Earth and with each other to defend our commons—our seeds, soil, water, biodiversity, air and climate systems—essential to building climate resilience. We reaffirmed that in regenerative agriculture and local food systems lie the answers to the food, nutrition and health crises, water and climate crises, and the refugee crisis caused by climate instability.
  • On December 6, we hosted a workshop at the People’s Climate Summit where panelists and participants discussed a 2016 action plan for global regeneration. Precious Phiri (EarthWisdom Consulting) highlighted the importance of eating regeneratively. “Education in Southern Africa is key. I get rejection from the educated in Zimbabwe because there is dependency. People think that we need GMOs, we need industrial agriculture to survive,” she said. Laura Lengnick, author of “Resilient Agriculture,” called for the transformation of the food system: “The way we eat has a lot to do with how our communities are organized,” she said.
  • On December 7, over 100 people gathered at La REcyclerie, an urban farm in the heart of Paris and also considered a DESTINATION COP21, to hear a series of short talks and engage in discussions around the theme “Cool the Planet, Feed the World: The Power of Regenerative Food and Farming to Save the Planet.”  La REcyclerie’s mission leading up to COP21 was to educate citizens about the fight against climate change.

What can you do?

(1) Change the climate conversation in your local community or in your local organization from doom and gloom to one of positive solutions, based upon the regeneration perspective. Join Regeneration International’s Facebook page. Publicize and share strategic articles, videos and best practices. If you need to study up on how soil sequestration works, read and re-read this pamphlet and go through the major articles in our annotated bibliography.

(2) Join or help organize a local or regional regeneration working group. If you’re ready to become a Regeneration International organizer send an email to info@regenerationinternational.org.

(3) Boycott the industrial food system. Regenerate your health and your diet. Get ready to join OCA and Regeneration International’s soon-to-be-announced global campaign and boycott against Monsanto, factory farms, GMO animal feeds, biofuels and so-called “Climate-Smart Agriculture.” One of the most important things you can do today and every day is to buy and consume organic, grass-fed, locally produced, climate friendly foods.

(4) Help organize and plan regeneration conferences and meetings. Make your plans now to attend our Regeneration International global climate and biodiversity summit in Mexico City December. 1-3, 2016.

5 Ways to Reverse Climate Change Right Now

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Author: Maria Rodale

The Paris Climate Conference (known as COP21) is finally taking place, bringing with it that strange mix of hope mingled with despair. Everyone seems to have his or her own personal agenda (including me) for how the conference should play out—and how we can save ourselves from a climate disaster.

Organizations from all over the globe are bringing to Paris their diverse messages about what should be done: from renewable energy to nuclear; from eating no meat to eating less meat; from super-high-tech solutions to going back to simpler ways. Unfortunately, many leaders are still thinking 20 years out when it comes to climate change—as if we have all the time in the world. And while each of the solutions proposed at COP21 might be essential in the long run, none of them alone is enough RIGHT NOW to make a difference.

However, there is one thing that we can do RIGHT NOW that can not only reverse climate change, but also let all the players pursue their own agendas in peace. We must and can immediately restore the soil’s ability to store carbon. It’s pretty simple, actually. And it’s proven to work.

Here are 5 ways to make that happen right now:

1. Transition all agriculture to organic regenerative agriculture. Numerous studies have shown that organic agriculture restores the ability of the soil to store carbon. Not only is organic agriculture both productive and profitable, but it’s also healthier for everyone, and it doesn’t use petroleum-based fertilizers and chemicals. Note, keeping the soil covered in plant life at all times is essential to carbon storage. That means cover crops! Oh, and bonus: People around the world are demanding organic, so there’s a giant market for what organic regenerative agriculture produces that is just waiting to be filled. (By the way, that means raising animals organically and using as much high tech as you want.)

2. Protect and preserve all wilderness areas, especially forests. Nature knows what to do—forests naturally store tons of carbon. Forests model what agriculture is learning: that nature knows how to protect itself and us if we protect the patterns enabling plants, trees, insects, fungus, birds, and animals to do the work to store carbon.

3. Plant more trees, forests, and gardens. No space should be left bare. Every open space is an opportunity to store carbon in the form of plants, trees, gardens, and healthy soil. Be it by planting a garden or by letting something go wild and “back to nature,” the important thing is to allow the soil to build and grow and do its work.

Keep Reading in Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen