Nature Is Climate
At Bio4Climate, we contribute to planetary regeneration through research, education, collaboration and action to restore essential global biodiversity . . . and create a new climate story.
Biodiversity loss is not just the result of climate change, it is a primary driver of climate change. Only solutions that prioritize this web of life will create a truly livable climate for all.
Upcoming Events and Courses
Emergent Intelligence of Trees: How Symbiosis Shapes Living Systems
March 18 – May 20
Wednesdays at 12:00 pm ET and 7:00 pm ET
Trees are architects of Earth’s climate and habiability. Through transpiration, carbon chemistry, soil formation, and symbiotic partnerships with fungi and microbes, forests regulate rainfall, stabilize atmospheric systems, and cool entire regions.
Jim Laurie’s Spring 2026 Course – Emergent Intelligence of Trees explores how ecological intelligence emerges through cooperation across living systems—and how restoration can help rehydrate landscapes and rebuild resilience.
Free Introductory Webinar – March 11
10-week course begins March 18
Registration is now open! Reduced rates and scholarships are available.
How Trees & Forests Shape Our Climate
February 5 – March 26, 2026
Thursdays — 12:00 Noon ET
Recently, Brazilian forest advocate Antonio Nobre wrote: “Deforestation is climate action’s blind spot.”
In this course, you will examine the ways in which trees and forests benefit our climate, while preventing flooding and drought and also providing habitat for a myriad of wildlife species. Hart brings his unique perspective and values to an exploration of the false notions, narratives and mythologies that are used to justify cutting down trees.
You will also engage with a range of highly qualified experts, and we will ask and answer questions like these:
- What are the mechanisms within forests that cool our climate—through shade, water evaporation, water cycling, and sponge-like absorption that prevents floods, droughts, wildfires and extreme heat?
- What role do microbes, fungi and wild species play in the climate-regulating mechanisms of a forest?
- What is the difference between a forest and a tree plantation?
- What is the extent of logging in North America?
- How do we choose between a forest and a solar array?
and many others…
Restore Nature – Cool the Planet
Only nature has the ability to both cool the planet and lower greenhouse gas levels. Our planet is already too hot and too dry to maintain a stable climate and support life. These 4 Climate Keys are interlocking pieces of the cycles we must repair to quickly stop warming and start cooling the planet.
Cool
Healthy ecosystems full of biodiversity create direct cooling effects for our hot planet. More Nature = Less Heat.
Hydrate
Keeping water in the ground supports plants, crops and people. Beavers, insects and microbes are part of the Infiltration Team
Plant
Planting for biodiversity creates healthy ecosystems. Forests sequester carbon and use water vapor to move heat away from the Earth
protect
Indigenous leadership and wisdom can help us. Stop deforestation, industrial ag, mining, and pollution that kill off biodiversity.
Replace with regenerative practices
Q:
What about atmospheric carbon dioxide – you know – the greenhouse effect?
A:
It’s an important part of the story, but not the whole story. Learn more.
Who We Are
Bio4Climate Tells the Hidden Stories
For nearly a decade we have looked behind, around, and under the prevailing climate narratives for the missing pieces of the puzzle. We continue to bring you authors, ecorestoration specialists, and scientists from around the world who explore the interlocking systems that create a livable climate.
Stay on Top of the
Climate Conversation
Through education, policy and outreach, we promote the great potential of inexpensive, low-tech and powerful nature solutions to the biodiversity and climate crises, and work to inspire urgent action and widespread implementation of many regenerative practices.
This Week
News and Insights
Sharing Land With Trees: An Essay on Global Climatic Implications of Forest-Human Coexistence
We talk a lot about what forests give us. But what if they’re actually running the water cycle that makes life on land possible in the first place? Anastassia Makarieva, Andrei Nefiodov, and Ugo Bardi make the case that trees don’t just absorb rain; they summon it, drawing moisture in from the oceans through a process called the biotic pump.
Forests as Climate Infrastructure, not Just Carbon Storage
Forests shade the ground, drive evapotranspiration, stabilize local rainfall, and buffer communities against the heat extremes that are already killing people, and losing them does the opposite, fast. A landmark new review in Science says we’ve been underselling forests.
Events and Community
Courses
How tall can a tree grow and what happens when life follows it upward?
In Tasmania, the Swamp Gum (Eucalyptus regnans) reaches more than 300 feet, rivaling redwoods. The tallest known specimen, the Centurion, rises 329 feet (100 meters), making it the tallest flowering plant on Earth. Yet its height is only part of the story. High in its canopy, natural hollows collect rainwater, forming suspended pond ecosystems where frogs and insects live in entire communities, thriving above the forest floor.
This striking example, highlighted in Trees, An Illustrated Celebration by Kelsey Oseid, invites a deeper realization – trees are living systems that actively build the world around them. They move water from soil to sky, influence rainfall patterns, regulate temperature through evapotranspiration, and create vertical habitats that sustain life from the microscopic communities in the soil to water-filled hollows high in the canopy. A single mature tree is not just an organism, it is a climate moderator, a hydrological partner, and a layered ecosystem in its own right.
Join us for our upcoming spring course Emergent Intelligence of Trees, hosted by Jim Laurie, where we’ll explore these awe-inspiring traits and mechanisms of trees and the forests they live in. Course starts March 18; Free Introductory Webinar on March 11.
Community
Join the 2026 Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T)
We’re excited to share an invitation from Mike Yeomans, President of Greater Boston Trout Unlimited, to attend the 2026 Fly Fishing Film Tour, a celebration of conservation, community, and the art of fly fishing.
The Greater Boston Chapter of Trout Unlimited will host this year’s event at the historic Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville, MA, on Saturday, March 14, doors open at 1:00 pm, film starts at 2:00 pm.
This highly anticipated event brings together anglers, environmental advocates, filmmakers, and outdoor enthusiasts for an inspiring evening of storytelling and stewardship. The Fly Fishing Film Tour showcases compelling films that highlight river restoration, wild fisheries, and the people working to protect them.
Proceeds help support conservation efforts across the region. Attendees are eligible to win over $1,000 worth of door prizes and tour wide prizes including trips to Argentina, Iceland, Chile and more.
Your Weekend Read
If you are looking to deepen your appreciation for the quiet intelligence and grandeur of trees and forests, then Trees: An Illustrated Celebration by Kelsey Oseid is a remarkable place to begin.
This beautifully illustrated volume blends art and science to reveal why trees are among the most essential life forms on Earth. From the oldest living organisms to vast forest biomes that cover one-third of the planet, Oseid invites readers to see trees not merely as background scenery, but as dynamic ecological partners. She highlights their role in producing oxygen, storing carbon, supporting biodiversity, and even communicating through underground fungal networks.
What makes this book especially compelling is its balance of elegance and insight. Striking naturalistic artwork accompanies engaging scientific facts from the microscopic scale of root hairs to the cosmic stories encoded in tree rings. Mangroves, redwoods, baobabs, and dragon trees all come alive in vivid detail.
Accessible yet substantive, this book is both a visual celebration and a scientific introduction, ideal for anyone seeking to better understand the living architecture of our planet.
This is one of two books that will be used in Jim Laurie’s upcoming course Emergent Intelligence of Trees
By purchasing this title through the link provided above, you’ll continue to support Bio4Climate. We are an affiliate partner of Bookshop.org and receive a portion of the sales price at no additional cost to you. View the Bio4Climate Bookshop for more books.
The 2025 Northeast Miniforest Summit featured more than a dozen speakers across two virtual half-days and an in-person bus tour, bringing together practitioners, researchers, and leaders from diverse fields to unpack the Miyawaki Method from root to canopy.
Recordings Are Now Live! Learn more and stay connected at miniforests.bio4climate.org
Tell nature’s climate story, the story of connection and life.
― Beck Mordini
Transformation in Mexico
Eco Restoration Works
Watch what happens! A degraded landscape in Mexico is transformed by regenerative management. It took only two years (the arrow points to the same tree).