Reversing Global Warming, Hunger, and Poverty: Supercharging Global Grassroots

Low-tech organic farming methods used by the world’s 2 billion small farmers could not only feed the world, but sequester carbon in the soil, naturally.

Reversing Global Warming, Hunger, and Poverty: Supercharging Global Grassroots

     "It is dangerous, disempowering and irresponsible to talk about eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and dismantling the fossil fuel industry without also talking about maximizing natural carbon sequestration through agro-ecological agriculture and regenerative land use practices….Our literal survival depends upon uniting the climate, food, environmental and economic justice movements—both North and South."  More at www.organicconsumers.org

     Regenerative organic agriculture could sequester more than 100% of the excess carbon dioxide now in the air. This could be done with widely available, safe, inexpensive agroecological practices that emphasize diversity, traditional knowledge, agroforestry, landscape complexity, and cover cropping, composting and water harvesting. See the full report at rodaleinstitute.org/regenerative-organic-agriculture-and-climate-change/

     The Savory Institute aims to restore 1/5 of grassland worldwide, while sequestering carbon in the soil. Info: www.savoryinstitute.com. Dharma Lea Farm, Schoharie County, NY, will teach Savory techniques to farmers. Info: DharmaLea@gmail.com, www.facebook.com/pages/The-Agrarian-Learning-Center-SI-Northeast/709651922447879?fref=nf, or the NOFA Natural Farmer 2014-15 issue at http://tnfarchives.nofa.org/

Soil Carbon Sequestration Benefits

·         Reverse global warming by allowing soil microbes to flourish and sequester carbon for centuries.

·         Increase resilience of soils to hold moisture in drought and reduce runoff in heavy rains.

·         Increase soil fertility without petrochemical fertilizers.

·         Suppress weeds and plant diseases without toxic pesticides or genetically modified products.

·         Reverse desertification and increase fertile grasslands for grazing livestock, healthy for people and planet.

Small Scale Farmers Cool the Planet   Link to video at www.FairWorldProject.org

Carbon Farming

Research by the Marin Carbon Project scientists indicates that a single application of a half-inch layer of compost on grazed rangelands significantly increases forage production (by 40-70%), increases soil water holding capacity (to 26,000 liters per hectare), and increases soil carbon sequestration by at least 1 ton per hectare per year for 30 years without re-application. Compost decomposition provides a slow release fertilizer to the soils, which, with improved soil moisture conditions, leads to increased plant growth. More plant growth leads to more carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis, leading to increased transfer of carbon dioxide through the plant to the soil as roots, root exudates and detritus, yielding additional soil carbon and water holding capacity increases. From www.carboncycle.org

SOS: Save our Soils Dr. Christine Jones Explains the Life-Giving Link Between Carbon and Healthy Topsoil by Tracy Frisch, March 2015 Acres USA. www.amazingcarbon.com/PDF/Jones_ACRES_USA%20(March2015).pdf

Adapted from www.FairWorldProject.org   Visit the website to learn more and take action.

Factory Farm Meat: Why Vegetarians, Ranchers, and Conscious Omnivores Need to Unite

  The February 19 “eat less red and processed meat” pronouncement by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) was reported widely in mainstream media….If the DGAC had really told us the truth about America’s red meat … we’d be having a conversation about how we can get rid of factory farms ….  North American cattle ranchers, for the most part... graze their cattle free-range on grass …before they’re forced to sell [them] …to be fattened up on GMO grains and drugged up in America’s CAFOs… [where] the meat is low in Omega 3 and good “fats,” and routinely tainted by harmful bacteria, not to mention pesticide, steroid and antibiotic residues. What was once a healthy food has now become a literal poison that clogs up your veins, makes you fat, and heightens your risk of heart attack or cancer. From www.organicconsumers.org

Data collected by Sheree (Cheryl) Cammer.