Three new studies of how the world works show that seabird excrement plays an unexpected role, as do polar algae and rotting trees.
Three new studies of how the world works show that seabird excrement plays an unexpected role, as do polar algae and rotting trees.
After centuries of bad stewardship, communities are at last starting to see the benefits of forests.
China plans to plant forests the size of Ireland. Latin American countries have pledged to restore 20m hectares of degraded forest and African countries more than 100m hectares. India is to plant 13m hectares, and on a single day last year 1.5 million people planted 66m trees in Madhya Pradesh alone.
Much of Europe is physically greener than it was just a few years ago. England is to plant 50m trees in a new coast-to-coast forest and newly planted saplings now cover tens of thousands of hectares of former farmland in Ireland, Norway and France. From Costa Rica to Nepal and Peru to Mongolia, tree planting has become a political, economic and ecological cause, and a universal symbol of restoration, regrowth and faith in the future. More than 120 countries promised in 2015 to plant and restore large areas of forest as a response to the climate crisis, and the UN has set a target to restore 350m hectares by 2030 – an area bigger than India.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/13/worlds-lost-forests-returning-trees
People yearn for alternatives to industrial agriculture, but they are worried. They see large-scale operations relying on corporate-supplied chemical inputs as the only high-productivity farming model. Another approach might be kinder to the environment and less risky for consumers, but, they assume, it would not be up to the task of providing all the food needed by our still-growing global population.
Contrary to such assumptions, there is ample evidence that an alternative approach—organic agriculture, or more broadly “agroecology”—is actually the only way to ensure that all people have access to sufficient, healthful food. Inefficiency and ecological destruction are built into the industrial model.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/01/12/farming-small-planet
Many East Coasters will be returning to work today in bitter cold conditions after the second-coldest New Year on record.
The low temperatures over the festive period did not go unnoticed by President Donald Trump who tweeted in late December:
“In the East, it could be the COLDEST New Year’s Eve on record. Perhaps we could use a little bit of that good old Global Warming that our Country, but not other countries, was going to pay TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to protect against. Bundle up!
The utter ignorance and stupidity underlying this tweet is staggering for someone with so much power. As the New York Times noted in response: “Trump’s tweet made the common mistake of looking at local weather and making broader assumptions about the climate at large.”
The paper added: “To use an analogy Mr. Trump might appreciate, weather is how much money you have in your pocket today, whereas climate is your net worth. A billionaire who has forgotten his wallet one day is not poor, anymore than a poor person who lands a windfall of several hundred dollars is suddenly rich. What matters is what happens over the long term.”
http://priceofoil.org/2018/01/02/as-trumps-climate-denial-continues-experts-take-flight-to-france/
In 2013 the United Nations declared Dec. 5 to be World Soil Day, a recognition of the significance of healthy soil in both improving food security and nutrition, and mitigating the effects of climate change, including drought, flood, soil erosion and sea level rise. This year the U.N. held a conference at its New York headquarters on the theme of “caring for the planet starts from the ground.”
Didi Pershouse, founder of the Center for Sustainable Medicine in Thetford and author of The Ecology of Care, and the downloadable PDF which was released online in August, was one of five panelists invited to speak at this year’s conference.
http://www.vnews.com/Soil-expert-Didi-Pershouse-speaks-at-UN-conference-14410464
and
didipershouse.com
Crops are in across the U.S. farm belt, with record harvests filling farmers’ silos with grain and their hearts with pride. Yet persistent and punishingly low prices for those crops leave them no better off for their efforts. Net farm income this year is about half what it was in 2013.
U.S. farmers are not alone. The world is experiencing what Reuters called a “global grain glut,” with many staple food crops filling silos from Brazil to the Ukraine. Crop prices have fallen dramatically, with serious repercussions for farmers, particularly poor farmers in developing countries.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/12/10/wto-summit-ignore-price-crisis-agricultural-dumping-0
The earth possesses five major pools of carbon. Of those pools, the atmosphere is already overloaded with the stuff; the oceans are turning acidic as they become saturated with it; the forests are diminishing; and underground fossil fuel reserves are being emptied. That leaves soil as the most likely repository for immense quantities of carbon.
Now scientists are documenting how sequestering carbon in soil can produce a double dividend: It reduces climate change by extracting carbon from the atmosphere, and it restores the health of degraded soil and increases agricultural yields. Many scientists and farmers believe the emerging understanding of soil’s role in climate stability and agricultural productivity will prompt a paradigm shift in agriculture, triggering the abandonment of conventional practices like tillage, crop residue removal, mono-cropping, excessive grazing and blanket use of chemical fertilizer and pesticide. Even cattle, usually considered climate change culprits because they belch at least 25 gallons of methane a day, are being studied as a potential part of the climate change solution because of their role in naturally fertilizing soil and cycling nutrients.
A new cereal grain more than 40 years in the making is finding its way into the marketplace in several forms, including a new product from food giant General Mills. Some believe it carries the promise of a whole new type of staple crop — one that requires minimal plowing, fertilizers or pesticides — that also could become a weapon in the battle against climate change.
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/could-perennial-grains-be-next-climate-saving-superstars
the potential for the world’s soils to suck up some of the excess carbon that’s currently making mischief in the atmosphere shines as a genuine ray of hope.
The various approaches and technologies that might be used to return carbon to the planet’s soils (from no-till agriculture; through compost- and biochar-application; to agro-forestry and innovative livestock rotation practices) also promise a wide range of further benefits – from improved soil health through to better water management, via a significant boost to biodiversity.
https://thefuturescentre.org/articles/213529/regenerative-agriculture-essential-our-sustainability-goals
