Thursdays, September 10 – October 29 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm ET Wildfires are becoming more frequent and more destructive. But are the solutions we’ve been told to trust actually making the problem worse? Wildfires: Fact & Fiction brings together leading scientists, ecologists, restoration practitioners, and policy experts to separate evidence from myth and explore what truly…

Saturday, July 18 | 11:00 AM–1:00 PM ET Explore how forests have shaped civilizations, what their loss can teach us, and why restoration is essential for a more resilient climate. Featuring John Perlin, author of A Forest Journey: The Story of Wood and Civilization, and Felix Finkbeiner, founder of Plant-for-the-Planet, this conversation brings together forest…

News and Insights Plankton Plays a Bigger Role in Climate Stability Than Initially Thought A new citizen-science survey of the Atlantic Ocean is revealing that the ocean’s living surface layer, produced by plankton, plays a decisive role in regulating water vapor, cloud formation, and climate stability. Read more Volunteer Efforts Save Scottish Rainforest What began…

News and Insights African Researchers Mapping Underground Water Supplies as the Climate Crisis Accelerates Africa holds an estimated 0.66 million cubic kilometres of groundwater, roughly 20 times all the freshwater stored in the continent’s lakes combined, even as 400 million Africans still lack basic drinking water access. Scientists are working to identify hotspots where about…

What insect clones itself, gives birth to live young, and sometimes already has the next generation developing inside it?

What insect clones itself, gives birth to live young, and sometimes already has the next generation developing inside it?

News and Insights Who Are the Researchers Mapping Mycorrhizal Fungal Networks? Meet the individuals doing the important work of mapping mycorrhizal fungal networks to identify areas where carbon storage is or isn’t happening and the impacts of intense land use on these vital underground networks. Read more The Return of El Niño: A Reminder That…

What insect clones itself, gives birth to live young, and sometimes already has the next generation developing inside it?

News and Insights The Mangroves Are Returning…Denser Than Ever Before After decades of decline, mangrove forests around the world are making a comeback. Mangroves absorb up to five times more carbon than land-based trees and serve as critical nurseries for marine life, making their recovery a truly encouraging sign for climate sustainability. Read more Indonesian…

Registration is now open for the 2026 Northeast Miniforest Summit: Root to Canopy: Growing the Miyawaki Method Across the Northeast and beyond, communities are planting and stewarding miniforests in schoolyards, parks, campuses, farms, urban spaces, and other underused landscapes. This year’s Summit brings together practitioners, researchers, educators, community leaders, and forest stewards to share lessons,…

What does it mean to “think like water”? In this blog post, Dr. Katie Ross, Facilitator of Bio4Climate’s Thinking Like Water Film Club and conversation series, reflects on Episode 1: “Willing to Try Things.” The piece explores Bill Zeedyk’s pioneering work in induced meandering and nature-based restoration, showing how simple, place-based techniques can slow water, reconnect floodplains, restore habitat, and help landscapes come back to life.

News and Insights One Person Really Can Make a Difference In 2009, then-Costa Rican university student and surfer Max Tattenbach was seeking shade for his then-girlfriend (now wife) to relax while he surfed, but found none. His promise to reforest that one surf spot turned into a mission to restore forests along the north Pacific…

News and Insights Looking Back to Move Forward: Why History Matters for the Future of Food Researchers are looking to historical agroecology, an interdisciplinary academic framework that studies how human societies have intentionally modified, managed, and adapted local landscapes for food production over centuries, to explore how to transform today’s food systems. By recovering the…

What creature is the largest terrestrial animal in North America, an icon of the American prairie, and has one of the great conservation success stories of modern times?

News and Insights The Paradox of a Wetter but Drier World Something strange is unfolding in the global water cycle: many regions are seeing more rainfall overall, yet landscapes are becoming drier. A recent article in USA Today highlighting a major new study in Nature using satellite-derived terrestrial water storage (TWS) data shows that climate…

News and Insights New Mexico Building a Greenhouse Large Enough to Increase Forest Seedling Production New Mexico’s wildfire burn scars need hundreds of millions of replacement trees, but the state produces only around 250,000 seedlings per year — a pace far too slow to keep up. A new multi-university greenhouse facility aims to more than…

News and Insights Meet a Pinecone Cowboy Pinecone cowboys are skilled climbers who harvest cones from threatened western trees to help reforest landscapes damaged by megafires and climate change. Learn how their work supports the genetic future of Western forests and how precarious the future of their field has become. Read more What Does It…

What animal floats upside down on the ocean's surface, feeds on one of the most venomous sea creatures, and then steals the venom to use as its own defense?

Most of us have never thought about what is actually happening beneath the surface when a forest thrives without any help from us. The answer is in the soil — and it changes everything. Healthy soil is not dirt. It is a living ecosystem, and plants are at the center of it. Through photosynthesis, plants…

What creature spends its entire life underwater, yet is related to Earth's largest land animal, will approach boats and swimmers out of pure curiosity, and can sadly be individually identified by striking white scars made by boat propellers?

News and Insights Looking to the Past to Protect the Future Indigenous knowledge shaped the world we inherited but for too long, scientists treated it as folklore, rather than empirical science. That perspective is changing as more and more researchers are incorporating the lessons of the past into climate and ecosystem research. Read more Peru…

What if restoring water where you live could transform your entire landscape? Many of the challenges we see in our backyards, gardens, forests, and communities—drought, flooding, erosion, declining biodiversity—are not isolated problems. They’re connected across the whole watershed. And they can be addressed—step by step—by working with natural processes. Learn more and sign up

A five-part documentary and live conversation series.June 9 – July 14, 2026 · Weekly on Tuesdays What if restoring water where you live could transform your entire landscape? Many of the challenges we see in our backyards, gardens, forests, and communities—drought, flooding, erosion, declining biodiversity—are not isolated problems. They’re connected across the whole watershed. And…

News and Insights China Releases Horses into the Desert; They Transform and Renew the Landscape Heavy Deforestation in Africa Triggers Massive Biomass Loss Leicester University researchers found that heavy deforestation in tropical regions has led to massive biomass losses, far outweighing any gains from regrowth elsewhere.  Read more Community / Events What if restoring water…

Which creature is a land animal closely related to marine mammals, carries its own pharmacy in its skin, and is the latest social media star?

Registration Form To register for the Thinking Like Water Film and Live Conversation Series, please fill out the form below. Included in your registration: Schedule: June 9 – July 14, 2026Weekly on Tuesdays 6:00 PM ET — Optional film screening7:30 PM ET — Live discussion Pricing: PLEASE NOTE: The following registration questions help us offer more…

Biodiversity for a Livable Climate Film Series presents: Thinking Like Water : Film Club & Live Conversation Series June 9 – July 14, 2026Weekly on Tuesdays A five-part documentary and series of live conversations with the filmmaker, expert guest speakers and Bio4Climate facilitator. The Thinking Like Water docuseries reframes the climate conversation by putting water…

Grow Living Soil: The Johnson-Su Bioreactor A simple, low-cost way to rebuild the microbial life in soil — and why it matters for your garden, your neighborhood, and the climate. What is a Johnson-Su bioreactor? The Johnson-Su bioreactor is a composting system developed by soil scientists David Johnson and Hui-Chun Su Johnson at New Mexico…

Bio4Climate Build living soil, starting at home. A Johnson-Su bioreactor lets gardeners, neighborhoods, and community groups cultivate the microbial life that makes soil more resilient, water-holding, and alive. More than compost. A living inoculant. Healthy soil is not just dirt — it is a complex living community of bacteria, fungi, and organisms that support plant…

A practical climate solution you can actually build Healthy soil is not just dirt. It is a living community. In a recent Bio4Climate conversation, Char shared how Johnson-Su bioreactors can help create a living microbial inoculant that supports healthier plants, stronger soil, better water retention, and more resilient landscapes. This is not just about compost.…

News and Insights 24 Newly Discovered Species Potentially At Risk From Undersea Mining The discovery of 24 new species and an entirely new evolutionary branch deep in the central Pacific highlight the risk of an untold number of species disappearing due to seabed mining.  Read more Hawaii Shows Us How Removing Invasive Species Supports Significant…

Regenerating Life: Film & Guide Explore how biodiversity and ecosystems regulate climate Regenerating Life Regenerating Life explores how living systems regulate the climate through interconnected cycles: photosynthesis and the carbon cycle, the water cycle, the dung cycle, and the vast underground networks of soil organisms, fungi, and plant roots. The Guide An Earthling’s Guide to Planetary…

News and Insights From reshaping water systems to supporting fish, birds, amphibians, and even helping to fight wildfires, beavers don’t just build dams, they transform entire landscapes. In honor of April 7’s International Beaver Day, we take you to visit the world’s largest beaver dam, a structure so big it can be seen from space. …

News and Insights Is Nature Restoration More Effective When It’s Community-Led?  A global study by climate researchers found that the success of restoration efforts hinges on the involvement of local communities. From England to India to Africa and beyond, they determined that restoration can more effectively reverse degradation, address root causes, and benefit local people…

Saturdays: 10:00 am – 12:00 pm ETSeries Starts April 18 Earth’s most powerful climate solutions already exist. By protecting our existing, biodiverse ecosystems, we preserve and promote climate stability and cool temperatures. Through ecosystem restoration, water cycles are revived, soils rebuilt, and temperatures cooled at scale. Bio4Climate’s 2026 Mini-Conference Series brings together leading scientists, practitioners,…

What creature looks like a cartoon elephant, lives nearly four miles beneath the ocean’s surface, and moves by “flying” through the water?

Celebration of Life March 14, 2026 Program The complete program is below. Not all remarks are available. Prelude Hilary Hahn – Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Welcome Christina Dominique-Pierre Keeping Quiet, by Pablo Neruda Now we will count to twelveand we will all keep stillfor once on the face of the earth,let’s not speak in any…

What animal’s nose doubles as a megaphone and a built-in water recycler?

Comment to NEPA Project Number DOI-BLM-ORWA-0000-2026-0001-RMP-EIS Fellow Citizens: I write as someone whose career, like yours, was in public service as a government employee (administrative law judge). I know you know that you are required to read every comment you receive and give it due consideration before taking further action on this matter. In retirement,…

News and Insights 15 Biodiversity Conservation Issues Scientists are Watching in 2026 Each year, a panel of scientists, practitioners, and policymakers from institutions across the UK, Europe, North America, Australia, and South America identifies emerging issues not yet well understood in the conservation community. Led by Cambridge University ecologist William Sutherland and running annually since…

Register for the second session A Platform for the World’s Leading Restoration Thinkers What if the most effective ways to cool the planet are already in motion — and you could learn directly from the people leading them how you can make an impact? Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (Bio4Climate) is launching a new mini-conference…

News and Insights Beyond Tree Cover: Vertical Canopy Structure Is Associated with the Cooling Impact of Pocket Parks in Mediterranean Cities Some studies use tree canopy cover alone as an indicator of cooling potential, but this paper asks a different question: Does the structure of vegetation, especially the vertical layering of plants, affect how much…

Root to Canopy: Growing the Miyawaki Method In 2025, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate organized and hosted the inaugural Northeast Miniforest Summit, bringing together more than a dozen speakers across two virtual half-days and an in-person bus tour. Practitioners, researchers, and leaders from diverse fields gathered to explore the Miyawaki method of afforestation from root…

Root to Canopy: Growing the Miyawaki Method In 2025, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate organized and hosted the inaugural Northeast Miniforest Summit, bringing together more than a dozen speakers across two virtual half-days and an in-person bus tour. Practitioners, researchers, and leaders from diverse fields gathered to explore the Miyawaki method of afforestation from root…

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…

What tree isn't really a tree at all, has no annual growth rings, no taproot, and no branches — yet can outlast almost everything around it in hurricane-force winds?

News and Insights New Satellite Observations Show How and Where Earth’s Vegetation is Changing Scientists from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), and Leipzig University have created a new method to help us better understand how the living surface of our planet is reorganizing in a…

Proforestation Beyond the Human:Forests, Climate Emergency, and the Undoing of Mastery Author: Pavan Muntha Abstract This article develops a philosophical and ecological argument for proforestation, understood as allowing existing forests to grow into their full ecological complexity, as a response to the climate emergency. It critiques the dominant human-centred framing in proforestation and forest–climate debates, in…

News and Insights Grassroots Climate Action Returning Habitats and Coastal Defenses to Louisiana Coastlines Significantly Impacted by Extreme Weather  For the past four years, volunteers and conservation groups have been working together to restore wetlands that once acted as nature’s buffer against storm surge and erosion by planting 30,000 native trees along the Gulf Coast…

News and Insights Forests in Warm Conditions Capture More Methane as Temperatures Rise While today’s carbon markets see forests primarily as a collection of carbon sticks (trees), Bio4Climate knows that forests are climate regulating ecosystems from the fungi to the canopy. New appreciation for the soil biome comes from  research which shows that in certain…

What animal is covered in scales made from the same material as our hair and nails, can extend its tongue as much as 16 inches (40 cm), and is sadly, the most trafficked in the world?

Honoring the Legacy of Our Founding Executive Director Adam David Sacks, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (bio4climate.org) until his retirement in 2023, passed away on February 1st, 2026, at the age of eighty. We are incredibly grateful to Adam for his vision, fortitude, sacrifice, and indefatigable tenacity. Read Adam’s Obituary…

News and Insights New Study Links Miyawaki Forests to Early Soil Recovery Since 2021, Bio4Climate has supported eight miniforests across Massachusetts, where restoring degraded soil is a central goal alongside planting diverse native species. We’re excited to see new research—The Root of Urban Renewal: Linking Miyawaki Afforestation to Soil Recovery—examining early soil health changes in…

Play. Learn. Restore. “What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” Jane GoodallPrimatologist: Someone who loves chimps and studies them Start Here Become a Climate Apprentice Bee in A Bonnet Ready to start the buzz-tastic adventure? Fly as a busy little bee through a…

News and Insights Proposed Clean Water Act Revision Would Narrow Tribes’ Authority Over Water Quality Bio4Climate values indigenous knowledge and supports Indigenous decision making. We encourage encourage you to submit public comments against the proposed rule change by February 17.  Despite widespread opposition among tribes to these changes, the EPA has moved forward with a…

What animal travels over 100 miles for food and, due to warming temperatures, is suffering from insomnia?

On October 4, Bio4Climate and the Miyawaki Forest Action Belmont (MFAB) community came together to plant a 3,000-square-foot Miyawaki Forest — 1,140 native trees and shrubs across 32 species — in front of Belmont High School. Around 275 local Belmont residents of all ages joined at some point throughout the day! Our eighth miniforest is especially meaningful—a true intergenerational effort shaped by persevering collective action from early planning to planting day and beyond.

What creature has a lifespan of over 250 years and catches prey by suction?

News and Insights Miniforests Are Popping Up in Big Cities As leaders in the East Coast Miyawaki forest revolution, we are excited to see coverage of this miniforest outside Los Angeles go mainstream on NPR. Learn how scientist use spider webs to track biodiversity and how park visitors become part of the citizen science team…

February 5 – March 26, 2026Thursdays — 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…

News and Insights Stingless Bees From the Amazon Become First Insects with Legal Rights Bees native to the Amazon are now internationally recognized as an endangered species, a first for insects of any kind. Stingless bees are the oldest bee species in the world, and they are key pollinators in the Amazon, responsible for the…

This event is a five-part documentary and live conversation series. Thinking Like Water reframes the climate conversation by putting water back at the center of climate action, ecological repair and community life. Follow ecological restoration pioneer Bill Zeedyk and collaborators as they assess landscapes, observe how water flows on the land, and then implement simple…

News and Insights Group of “Water Guardians” In Hungary Seeks to Restore Land After years of severe drought across the Great Hungarian Plain, farmers are taking steps to bring water back to their land. Through a partnership with a local thermal spa, overflow water is being used to flood various fields in an attempt to…

Biodiversity for a Livable Climate Film Series presents: Thinking Like Water A five-part documentary and live conversation series. January 20 – February 17, 2026 Thinking Like Water reframes the climate conversation by putting water back at the center of climate action, ecological repair and community life. Follow ecological restoration pioneer Bill Zeedyk and collaborators as…

Film Screenings Join us for in-person and online film screenings. Stay Tuned

News and Insights Birds Exhibited Changes In Beaks Due To COVID-19 A new study from the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) details the changes in birds living in urban areas, such as college campuses, during the COVID-19 pandemic. As food scraps and other sources of food became scarce due to the lockdowns, urban birds’ beaks…

News and Insights How Exposing Children to the Outdoors Could Improve Health Outcomes It’s no secret that biodiversity has positive effects on all aspects of life, and Finland is leading the charge on increasing children’s exposure to the outdoors. Outdoor playtime is a daily occurrence, and sections of the forest floor are dedicated to growing…

News and Insights Australia Recognized by United Nations for Reef Restoration Along Australia’s southern coast, shellfish reefs were nearly extinct by the time efforts to restore them were underway. The plan to rebuild the lost reefs has now been recognized by the United Nations as one of three World Restoration Flagships. Through these flagship projects,…

Peabody Elementary School Miniforest On Saturday, May 3, 2025, the City of Cambridge and Biodiversity for a Livable Climate planted our third Miyawaki miniforest, just outside Peabody Elementary School on Rindge Avenue. The 2,000-square-foot forest includes more than 40 native species chosen to cultivate biodiversity, improve soil health, and build long-term climate resilience. We’re thrilled…

News and Insights The Power of Restoring Ponds to Boost Britain’s Climate Resilience When we think of bodies of water, ponds are not often thought of as the most “important.” Though small and oft-overlooked, ponds are crucial to storing water and supporting biodiversity. Ponds act as buffers during floods and periods of drought in ways…

News and Insights Bringing Awareness to the World’s Most Forgotten Rainforest Can you name the three largest rainforests in the world? The average person may only be able to name the largest: The Amazon. The Congo and Mekong basins garner much less global attention than the Amazon, but they are just as important and worthy…

What stands like a kangaroo, has stripes like a tiger, and is found everywhere in art but nowhere in nature? Meet the Thylacine! A Unique Creature with a Truly Unique Biology I was first introduced to the thylacine at a young age while watching a wildlife documentary. This one, focused on the wildlife of Australia,…

News and Insights COP30 Creates Finance Program for Forest Preservation At the COP30 Leader’s Summit, in Belém, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) was officially launched with leaders of more than thirty countries to create a global financial incentive to protect standing tropical forests, rather than destroying them. We were encouraged by these remarks from…

What animal is the "Superhero of the Desert," reshaping entire ecosystems simply by eating, roaming, and . . . pooping?

News and Insights Nature’s Memory: How Soil Microbes Help Shape the Climate A new study from the University of Kansas published in Nature Microbiology reveals that soil microbes can “remember” drought  and that this memory helps plants survive. These tiny organisms, which have evolved alongside native plants for thousands of years, store information from past…

Bill Gates recently made headlines with his advice for world leaders ahead of this week’s COP30 Climate meeting. The post was widely denounced for suggesting that climate change is a future problem while today’s priority should be immediate human suffering.  Gates implies we must choose between addressing climate change and easing human suffering, which misses…

What small owl blends perfectly into tree bark, has a song that trembles through the night like a soft trill, and thrives everywhere from Texas forests to New York City parks?

News and Insights Biodiversity is Crucial to Human Health Scientists are now acknowledging the direct connection between the loss of biodiversity and impacts on human health. Despite this growing recognition, the loss of biodiversity is not getting the same attention that climate change is among health care professionals. This might be due to the dramatic effects…

“Bring a Friend” Registration Form – Balancing Our Climate Learn more about this special mini-course:  What if we can balance our climate quickly, naturally, safely?. To register for the “Bring A Friend” Discount, please fill out the form below. If you would prefer to send us a check, make it payable to “Biodiversity for a Livable Climate”…

News and Insights Organic vs Chemical Land ManagementBeyond Pesticides Differentiating two approaches, this cost comparison by our friends at Beyond Pesticides breaks down the hidden ecological and social costs of poor or unsafe land management strategies. This guide was shared as an essential resource by Sara Grantham and Rika Gopinath during Bio4Climate’s Wildlife and Climate course this…

What creature is nicknamed the “river wolf?"

Events and Community Online | The Goldilocks Strategy: Getting Our Relationship with Bears and Lions Just Right Bio4Climate’s GBH conversation series returns! Join South African novelist and photographer Tony Eprile from his home in Vermont in conversation with CLAWS Botswana director, Dr. Andrew Stein, and biologist/tracker, Meghan Walla-Murphy, as they share their adventures and insights from working with animals…

A Miniforest Grows in Belmont Belmont, Mass. | Belmont High School Miniforest Words and images by Alexandra Ionescu,Director of Regenerative Projects On October 4th, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate and the Miyawaki Forest Action Belmont (MFAB) community came together to plant a 3,000 sq ft Miyawaki forest — 1,140 native trees and shrubs across 32 species at the Belmont…

Registration Form Please fill out the form below to register for this special mini-course: What if we can balance our climate quickly, naturally, safely? If you would prefer to send us a check, make it payable to “Biodiversity for a Livable Climate” and send it to us at 56 Broad Street, #89587, Boston, MA 02109.…

What ubiquitous little parasite purposely changes the behavior of its host, through some method researchers can't even agree on?

What animal was revered and worshipped by ancient American civilizations, whose name means “he who kills with one leap”, and who has the strongest bite force relative to size among the big cats?

What river-dwelling goddess could navigate by sound alone, survived twenty million years of environmental change, yet disappeared within a few decades of human industrial expansion?

Events and Community Celebrating Allan Savory This week we joined many around the world to celebrate the 90th birthday of regenerative farmer and champion of all things alive, Allan Savory.  Bio4Climate’s Jim Laurie first met Allan Savory in Houston in the 1990s, learning holistic management alongside Texas ranchers and driving hundreds of miles for workshops.…

News and Insights Shaping a Vocabulary for Ecological Design – Stir World If the point of science might be to understand and inform how we live and coexist, then design shapes the very choices we make in response. More than Human is an exhibition at the Design Museum in London that reimagines how we might…

On September 9, 2025, Bio4Climate participated in the first-ever Massachusetts Sustainability Day at the State House in Boston, which drew over 350 participants including legislators, organizations, and members of the public. With nearly 40 exhibitors, a municipal climate leadership panel, and a keynote by Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer, the event showcased practical solutions and bold leadership for a sustainable future. Bio4Climate highlighted its mission of placing biodiversity and ecosystem restoration at the heart of climate action, reminding participants that healthy ecosystems are essential climate infrastructure.

News and Insights Rethinking Biodiversity Loss:Why Climate Change Isn’t the Whole StoryDr. Poulomi Chakravarty with Hart Hagan Conserving biodiversity is not only about saving species for their own sake, it is also a powerful climate strategy. Ecosystems like forests, savannahs, and wetlands actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, regulate water cycles, and buffer against climate extremes (Caro…

In Biodiversity as Climate Infrastructure, Poulomi Chakravarty explores micrometeorology—the science of small-scale exchanges of heat, water, and gases between land, plants, and air. It shows how forests, wetlands, and even animals influence evaporation, rainfall, and temperature through hidden processes that quietly stabilize our climate. The article opens a window into this overlooked science, inviting us to see biodiversity not just as life on Earth, but as the machinery that regulates the atmosphere itself.

In September, Poulomi Chakravarty reflected on Water Is Love during Bio4Climate’s community screening in Cambridge. More than just a film showing, the event became a space for connection, learning, and inspiration—where neighbors shared food, ideas, and stories about restoring water cycles. The screening highlighted how decentralized, community-led action can turn water into a source of resilience and hope, underscoring the role of gatherings like these in building a livable climate.

News and Insights The blind conservationist fighting to save nature’s soundscapesCNN Juan Pablo Culasso is capturing the voices of Cundinamarca’s diverse landscapes and ecosystems in Colombia, preserving them before they fade, and opening new ways for people to connect with nature. “Soundscapes are used in science to tell you how healthy is an ecosystem. The…

What species is an expert diver and well known for its haunting wail?

How Trees & Forests Shape Our Climate How trees and forests interact with wind, water, wildlife and carbon to cool our climate and bring rain February 5 – March 26, 2026 Thursdays — 12:00 Noon ET Featured Guest Speakers Anastassia Makarieva, PhD – February 5 Judith D. Schwartz – February 12 John Feldman – February…

Celebrate World Water Week with Bio4Climate in Cambridge, MA. Join us in person on Wednesday, August 27 from 6:45 to 8:30pm for a screening of the inspiring film, Water is Love, with brief discussion and snacks at the Cambridge Library Main Branch, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02138. Water is Love follows a group of youth facing climate change challenges leading to a journey around the world with…

Courses Join us this fall for two new courses to explore how rewilding our thinking, about rivers, wildlife, and entire ecosystems, can reshape our climate future. Is a River Alive? Can rivers, forests, and other ecosystems be recognized as living beings with rights? Jim Laurie leads a new 10-week journey guided by the questions and travels…

Courses Are Causes of Sharp Wildlife Decline Also Driving Climate Instability? Wildlife & Climate, the new course from Bio4Climate taught by Hart Hagan and an exciting roster of guest experts, explores the actual connections between wildlife and climate change and gives us a real and viable framework for living with nature, restoring habitat and addressing climate change…

Which creature is one of the largest snakes in the world, a popular exotic pet, and an unwanted addition to the Florida Everglades ecosystem?

Biodiversity 13: Rivers, Forests, and the Rights of Nature A 10-week course with Jim Laurie September 24 – December 3, 2025 Registration is now closed.Sign up here to receive invitations toour upcoming courses. In this 10-week journey, we will explore the profound question raised by Robert Macfarlane in his new book Is a River Alive? (2025)—can rivers, forests,…

Courses Is wildlife simply at the mercy of climate chaos, or could its survival hold the key to restoring balance? Wildlife & Climate, the new course from Bio4Climate taught by Hart Hagan, explores the actual connections between wildlife and climate change and gives us a real and viable framework for living with nature, restoring habitat and addressing…

News and Insights Events and Community

“Bring a Friend” Registration Form – Wildlife & Climate Learn more about this special mini-course: Wildlife & Climate. To register for the “Bring A Friend” Discount, please fill out the form below. If you would prefer to send us a check, make it payable to “Biodiversity for a Livable Climate” and send it to us…

Scholarship Registration – Wildlife & Climate Please fill out the form below to register free of charge for our special mini-course Wildlife & Climate . Looking forward to seeing you in class! Please note that by registering, you will be added to our mailing list. You can unsubscribe or manage your email preferences at any…

Course Registration Form – Wildlife & Climate Please fill out the form below to register for this special mini-course Wildlife & Climate. If you would prefer to send us a check, make it payable to “Biodiversity for a Livable Climate” and send it to us at P.O. Box 390469, Cambridge, MA 02139. Please include a…

Courses News and Insights Events and Community

What charismatic seabird is known for its aerial agility and illusion of water-walking prowess? 

News and Insights Events and Community

What species fights climate change, creates "surface-active groups," and shares a home with the Maine lobster?

Courses News and Insights Events and Community

I flicker and float in warm evening air, Like nature’s own fireworks, more care than scare. No sound, just light as I drift and play What glowing insect lights up your way?

Events and Community News and Insights Courses

In June, Bio4Climate Science Communications Intern Adrianna Drindak attended a congressional briefing in Washington, D.C., by The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Federation of American Scientists about how federal policies can bolster resilience to extreme heat at the state and community level, centered on the Federation of American Scientists’ 2025 Heat Policy Agenda.

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. – Beck Mordini, Executive Director of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate issued the following statement on the White House’s decision to declare “open-season” on 58 million acres of native forests, paving the way for road and development construction. “Just as tens of millions of Americans are experiencing a lethal, record-breaking heat wave, the…

Courses News and Insights Events and Community

What species is the tallest tree in the world, produces fog, and provides habitat for many organisms?

Courses News and Insights Events and Community

Courses News and Insights Events and Community

As I wiggle through dirt I don’t make a sound, But I help all the plants grow out of the ground. Who am I?

Courses News and Insights Events and Community

What animal was named after an Aztec god, maintains a youthful appearance for its entire life, and can regrow limbs, organs, and even parts of its central nervous system without scarring?

Courses News and Insights Events and Community

Courses Events and Community

What if there’s a powerful solution we’ve been overlooking—one that could actually help cool the planet, starting right where you live? The untold story begins with water. Water is the most overlooked climate regulator. Through the cycling of water—plants, clouds, grasslands, wetlands and forests help stabilize Earth’s temperatures. When these systems are healthy, they cool…

Climate disruption is increasing and with it so is polarization, both within the US as well as among nation states. Now more than ever it is incumbent upon us to highlight successful efforts to create a more sustainable, just, and peaceful world. Important initiatives in regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, soil restoration, and related practices are making…

Courses News and Insights Events and Community

News and Insights Events and Community

What animal, despite having the same number of vertebrae, has a neck longer than the average human, has spot patterns as unique between individuals as our fingerprints, and despite their gentle appearance, can kill lions with a karate-style kick!?

News and Insights Events and Community

News and Insights Events and Community

News and Insights Events and Community

News and Insights Events and Community

What species sang part of a Mozart concerto and got its own musical tribute in return?

This spring, Bio4Climate is sharing select excerpts from the late Jan Lambert’s book, Water, Land and Climate, The Critical Connection: How We Can Rehydrate Landscapes Locally To Renew Climates Globally. First published by The Valley Green Journal in 2015, Water, Land, and Climate introduces the transformative ideas of the New Water Paradigm—showing how retaining, rather than draining, rainwater can restore local water cycles, renew ecosystems, and even help stabilize the global climate.

I’m smaller than dust, yet ancient and wise, I thrive in the harshest of lows and highest of highs. No mate, no death, no fear of the cold, I borrow new genes when my own get too old.

Wildfires Fact & Fiction:How to Prevent Wildfires by Rehydrating Our Land;How to Protect Homes and People Without Harming Our Forests May 1, 8, 15 & 22 Thursdays — 12:00 noon & 7:00 pm ET Featuring 2 Expert Guest Speakers: George Wuerthner — May 8 – 7:00 pm ET Chad Hanson, PhD — May 15 – 7:00…

What creature is able to control blood flow to their extremities, has eyes adapted for underwater vision, and spends 75% of its life at sea?

What plant thrives in the harshest landscapes, conserving water like a desert camel, and produces a sweet yet spiky fruit enjoyed for centuries? The Prickly Pear Cactus!

How does life shape our planet? Join Jim Laurie, Restoration Biologist & Futurist, for Biodiversity 12: Earth Alive – Exploring Our Home, a 12-week course running from February 26 – May 14, 2025. Explore how ecosystems—from wetlands to grasslands—create the conditions for life, and learn how biodiversity plays a crucial role in regulating climate, soil,…

BHS Mini-Forest at Belmont High School  Sign up to join the community planting the BHS Mini-Forest on October 4, 2025! Join Us As a Volunteer Donate to Support Our Forest If it rains, planting day will move to October 5. Sign up for updates on any changes. In Fall 2025, the Miyawaki Forest Action Belmont…

With leaves shaped like a spade, what plant is known to invade and refuses to fade? 

How your food is grown and raised can determine the quality of your water, the health of your forests, the stability of your climate, and the nutrients you rely on for optimal health. Farming impacts everything—and you have the power to change it. Join us for this Free Introductory Class to uncover 10 Powerful Ways You Can Change Our…

Are you ready to make a difference in the future of food, our ecosystems and our health? Most farming practices today are driving up carbon emissions, worsening flooding and droughts, and harming water, wildlife, and our economy. These challenges affect you, your family and community—but your actions can spark change. What if you could help…

What insect spends years hidden underground, preparing for a brief but spectacular emergence into the sunlight, filling the air with the deafening, iconic song of summer?

What animal swims upright and is one of the few where males carry the pregnancy?

What plant can also be used as a soap, but without a certain insect, simply could not cope? 

Food & Farming:How Farming Impacts Our Water, Wildlife, Climate, Health & EconomyFebruary 6 – March 27, 2025 12 noon  -or-  7 pm ET Plus, see our Free Introductory Class below! Free Introductory Class: 10 Powerful Ways You Can Change Our Food SystemTuesday, February 4 12 noon  -or-  7 pm ET Registration is now closed.Sign up…

What creature often looks blue, but isn’t, is found on every continent but Antarctica, and inspired a train’s design?

What tree has adapted to grow directly in lava rock and is a keystone species of the Hawaiian watershed?

Tilling is the practice of turning over and breaking up soil before planting, usually with a machine or hand tool. Using 3D scans, a research team in the UK led by D. Luke R. Wardak demonstrated how no-till farming allows larger, well-connected pores to form in soil and facilitate water and nutrient flow, while tilling…

What Mediterranean tree is uniquely equipped to withstand wildfires with armor-like bark and high, out of reach, branches?

Forests are more important than most of us realize. Forests make rain, cool the temperature, and send moisture to regions around the world. In many cases, forests have become monoculture “tree plantations” for the timber industry, lacking biodiversity and moisture. In a biodiverse forest, the soil soaks up water like a sponge, preventing wildfires, drought,…

What bog-builder can hold 15-20 times its dry weight in water?

Trees & ForestsWildlife, Wildlife, Water and Climate Change December 5, 2024 – January 30, 2025 Thursdays: 12 noon -or- 7 pm ET Course Description Trees & Forests is an eight week online course (Dec 5 – Jan 30) that explores the many benefits and wonders of our trees and forests, as well as the threats…

WATCH THE RECORDING A rapidly changing Arctic is reshaping everything. Polar bears navigate shrinking expanses of sea ice, thawing permafrost threatens coastal villages, destabilizes infrastructure, and exhales methane, and warming temperatures push more species northward into a greener arctic. These transformations are profound, and their impacts can extend far beyond the region’s ecologies that depend…

What plant was the first to flower in space and is the most widely used model species for studying plant biology?

Regenerating Life is a groundbreaking film that reframes the climate crisis by focusing on nature’s power to heal our planet. It reveals how the biosphere egulates Earth’s climate and how its destruction has driven global warming. The film highlights regenerating ecosystems like forests, fields, and wetlands, restoring the water cycle, and embracing sustainable practices like…

What plant plays an important role in its native Eastern Hemisphere grasslands, but alters soil moisture and fire regimes when introduced in North America?

What seemingly cute, small creature is, in fact, a terrifying killer that drills a hole into their prey, liquidizes them, and then sucks them out like a smoothie?

WATCH THE RECORDING Diverse ecosystems represent the greatest climate action technology at our disposal. But what recourse do we have when nature itself is under attack from the world’s biggest political and economic powers? The movement to codify ecocide, that is, the intentional (or negligent) mass destruction of an ecosystem, as an international crime is…

What creature has large eyes, dexterous feet, and is the only venomous primate known to exist?? The slow loris (Nycticebus)!

What creature steals photosynthesis, can go a year without eating, and blurs the animal-plant boundary?  The Eastern Emerald Elysia!

What can be done to break the ocean’s fever and cool the planet?  With the oceans warming rapidly causing larger storms and hurricanes, forecasts for sea level rise ranging from 2 feet to 20 feet by 2100, and polar regions warming three times faster than the rest of the world, humanity may be facing the…

Global Outreach Welcome to Bio4Climate’s Global Outreach page. Through our work at Bio4Climate and within the EcoRestoration Alliance we are deeply immersed in restoration issues and get to meet people and projects around the world who are directly engaged in restoration work. After extensive research conducted with Linsey de Jager, our Ecological Research Intern in…

Bio4Climate is excited to co-host the 2024 Midwest Beaver Summit alongside many outstanding environmental nonprofits, land trusts, restoration practitioners, and other organizations dedicated to conservation, implementing coexistence strategies, and cultivating awareness of the importance of beavers as keystone species in our ecosystems. WATCH THE RECORDING Full Agenda:  This summit is organized by Midwest Beaver Advocacy…

On July 24, Bio4Climate and other host organizations participated in the Cambridge Moth Ball at Kingsley Park, Fresh Pond Reservation, for National Moth Week. Around 200 attendees of all ages engaged in community science, moth collecting, data collection, photography, and children’s activities. Bio4Climate partnered with Julie Croston from Cambridge Wildlife Arts to run the art…

Farewell and Welcome, Miyawaki Minute, Life Saves the Planet GBH Series: Beavers with Brock Dolman, Off Grid and on the Board: Welcome John Lambert, Education: Healing Our Land and Our Climate course, Richard Heinberg makes the case for nature based solutions, Muddy Boots and Helping Hands: Bio4Climate in the Community, Voices of Water Summer Reading…

Regenerating Life Premiere: Saturday, Life Saves the Planet Lecture Series, Milestones – NYTimes, First Miyawaki Forest Turns Two & Field Trips, Education – Jim’s Biodiversity Course, Maya’s Miyawaki Minute, Redesigning Our Communities, Global Youth Ambassador Program, Voices of Water Supports Scientists, Eco Restoration Stories That Inspire Us, Compendium Notes

Ongoing & Upcoming Events, Voices of Water Corner, Maya’s Miyawaki Minute, Quotes That Inspire Us, Compendium Notes, A Word from the Editor

Upcoming Event: No Trees, No Rain, Suggest a Featured Creature!, Voices of Water Corner, Eco-Restoration Stories Currently Inspiring us , Moving On, Staff Spotlight: Tania Roa, New on the Bio4Climate Blog, Compendium Notes

Upcoming Youth Eco Restorers for Climate Mini-Conference, Jim Laurie’s Fall 2022 Course, Suggest a Featured Creature!, Voices of Water Corner, Eco-Restoration Stories Currently Inspiring us, New on the Bio4Climate Blog, Compendium Notes

This newly published book by Peter Bunyard and Rob de Laet approaches the climate crisis and its solutions from a completely different angle.  “To address the climate crisis, now demonstrably causing havoc with life-killing extreme events,” the authors write, “we must not only transform our economic and societal models towards sustainability and resilience, we must…

How can we find cool insights as we dive into a summer of heatwaves and weather extremes? It hasn’t always been this way. Many of us remember carefree summers with morning dew on the grass or a breeze by the beach or river. Everyone knows it’s cooler by the water! Nations and communities have favorite…

July 23, 2024, 10am to noon. Join local students of Jim Laurie’s Symbiosis Team to get an up front and personal view of the floating wetlands designed for Boston Harbor. This is the innovative project of modular floatingwetlands in East Boston that was shown in the documentary, Inundation District, on sea level rise in Boston.…

What creature is the world’s smallest ungulate? The chevrotain!

What handsome creature dyes its feathers and almost exclusively eats bones? The bearded vulture!

How can one furry critter can help us restore wetlands, protect biodiversity and mitigate both floods and fires. Brock Dolman and Kate Lundquist will shared their insights on beavers’ beneficial role as ecosystem engineers, and lessons from their successful support of a recent state-led Beaver Restoration Program in California. Watch the recorded event. As WATER…

Introduction by Jim Laurie Erling Jorgensen was a student in my “Systems Thinking and Scenario Building” course (Biodiversity 6) in the summer of 2022.  He is determined to learn how life processes work and develop a scenario of restoring these processes.  His goal is also to create a story that young people and adults with…

Which creature who helps fight climate change has newborns the size of an adult elephant and is not a fan of boats? The Blue Whale!

We, the undersigned organizations, are writing with the hopes of establishing a dialogue regarding the October 17, 2023 joint comment letter sent to Congress by the Outdoor Industry Association, Outdoor Alliance, and The Conservation Alliance concerning the Farm Bill.

What semiaquatic creature has a paddle-like tail, swims through crevices, and can even climb trees? The banded sea krait!

Healing Our Land & Our Climate! July 9 – September 24, 2024 Tuesdays: 12 noon -or- 7 pm ET What if we could deal with the causes of climate change and at the same time deal with its effects? What if we could prevent flooding, drought and wildfires and at the same time cool our…

We affirm the need to restore the five billion hectares of degraded land worldwide but we have also found a way to bring the power of eco restoration home. Home to our own communities; Home to those most in need of a healing shot of nature; By planting tiny forests in urban areas, using the Miyawaki method.

The Role of Biodiversity in Preventing Wildfires In a hot dry world, it makes sense that forests are more flammable. Key policy discussions around forest thinning and prescribed burns miss the critical need to engage biodiversity. Working with nature as our partners could be the quickest and most effective way to put the breaks on…

What statuesque organism is a champion of beauty, hardiness, and capacity to nurture life around it? The Northern Red Oak!

I’ve loved Chicago from the first day I set foot there, and I’ve missed the Windy City since I left after college in 2018. When I had a chance to visit two weeks ago, I made it a point to try to understand Chicago’s ecosystems better, and check in on the many ways communities across…

What striking seabird is a master of adaptability in the ocean and the air? The Atlantic Puffin!

What long-legged creatures are known for their beauty, social habits, and fabulous flamboyance? Flamingos!

As Valentine’s Day approaches, we invite you to experience a romantic journey in a winter wonderland. As the temperatures rise in February or earlier in our warming world, the snow melts, and we realize that the water cycle is a precious gift from the sun to all living creatures on Earth. Without the sun’s energy,…

What species of tremendous size and grace undertakes the largest mammal migration on Earth? The humpback whale!

Our Board Board Members Philip Bogdonoff Board President Philip is a co-founder of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate’s Washington DC Chapter.  He is a past trustee and board chair, Friends Community School; Co-founder, Sustainable Washington Alliance; Vice President, Millennium Institute; Consultant, World Bank Environment Department; Research Assistant, Section of Ecology and Systematics, Cornell University.  Philip…

What cute creature is an underground architect and an amateur meteorologist? The Groundhog!

Starting Wednesday, February 21, Jim Laurie begins his 12 week Biodiversity Deep Dive course. Join us for an exploration of wetlands, shorelines, the water cycle, and the solutions powered by a systems approach to climate. This course meets every Wednesday, starting February 21 and running through May 8, 2024. Sessions will be held from 12…

Biodiversity 10 Deep Dive:Beavers, Wetlands & Shorelines Spring 2024, Wednesdays, February 21 – May 8 Are you ready to transform your understanding of how life on the planet works and how we can play a role? Join us as we follow the transformation of two leading writers and thinkers to a deeper understanding of natural…

What common bird possesses an uncommon intelligence, including diversified communication, excellent memory, and a talent for mathematics?  The crow!

What furry feline has stealthy skills, built-in snow gear, and a surprising screech?  The Canada lynx!

What creature feeds on trees, spits its seeds out, and despite being poisonous to humans, is known for encouraging love? Mistletoe!

What fascinating feline with unique adaptations roams the aquatic ecosystems of Southeast Asia? The fishing cat!

Halley’s Comet last hurtled around the Sun in 1986 and is expected to return in July of 2061. What will the Earth be like when the Comet returns?  What kind of world do we want to greet it?

The more we disturb intact ecosystems, the less stable the climate that we have. Do we have systematic evidence-based resources to prove how natural ecosystems stabilize climate? Yes, we do! It would be helpful for science communicators and policymakers to have a resource with systematized evidence. For example:Primary forests have higher resilience against droughts than…

Cool A Quick Summary Nature plays a pivotal role in cooling the Earth, with plants being central to this process. Through transpiration, they release water vapor, which cools the air and aids in cloud formation. This mechanism is crucial in countering the urban heat island effect, where non-vegetated areas like cities absorb more heat. Water…

Most of what you hear climate activists talk about when it comes to beef or cows is methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas and cows emit methane as part of their digestion process. What you don't hear is that this is primarily a problem of the commercial cattle industry and that nature has an ingenious way of balancing this methane production. Learn about this natural system and how cattle can be managed as part of eco-restoration and climate mitigation.

While most people are focused on the irony of COP28 being hosted by the fossil fuel industry, we will be focusing on the work being done on biodiversity, eco-restoration and water cycles.

Experience the enlightening panel discussion that followed the Boston Film Premiere of “Regenerating Life,” a groundbreaking three-part documentary that delves into the vital role of biodiversity and natural ecosystems in climate regulation. This panel discussion, recorded on October 14th, 2023, at Tufts University, brings together key figures from the film and experts in the field.…

Dr. Makarieva explains why protecting existing forests is one of the most important things we can do to stabilize the climate. Pending legislation in MA (USA) serves as a model for policy protections needed around the world. Learn more about taking action here, and find out more at Save Mass Forests. Our climate system is incredibly…

Our Boston Premiere of Regenerating Life at Tufts University was a tremendous success! It was exciting to see about 100 people come together to experience how John Feldman wove the many threads of the importance of nature to climate stability together in film. Conversation was lively during the lunch break, as people talked with exhibitors…

A New Climate Story Nov 13 – Dec 18, 2023 Registration is now closed.Sign up here to receive invitations toour upcoming courses. “If you want to make small changes, you can change the way you DO things.If you want to make MAJOR changes, you have to change the way you SEE things.” Gabe Brown-attributed to Don Campbell Course…

Redesigning Our Communities for Life After Fossil Fuels A series of virtual and in-person community events in 6 locations in the U.S. and Canada Fifth Event: OREGON • on Zoom Saturday, November 18, 2023 1:00 – 4:30 pm Pacific Time  •  on Zoom Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is partnering with the Post Carbon Institute and…

Somerville High School Forest Photos by Maya Dutta On Sunday October 22, 2023 we are planting Somerville’s first Miyawaki Forest at Somerville High School! Sign up to volunteer here. We are so excited to bring another pocket forest to life with the help of the community, high school, and municipality. We will share information, updates,…

To a climate conversation long dominated by computer models and technological jargon, Regenerating Life: How to Cool the Planet, Feed the World and Live Happily Ever After brings some badly needed rain, along with dung beetles, sweating trees, fungal mycelia, cloud-making forests, beavers, worms, soil microbes, cow patties and whales. As more and more people…

A Rallying Cry for Ecosystem Restoration and Climate Stabilization Appeal and Action Blueprint from Environmental Stewards Biodiversity for a Livable Climate and the EcoRestoration Alliance present two profoundly critical documents that shed light on an innovative, scientifically plausible approach to address our escalating climate crisis through ecosystem restoration. An Appeal to Humanity and World Leaders…

Voices of Waterfor Climate global research on the role of water in cooling our planet A message from the late Jan Lambert in 2021 Greetings! Welcome to Voices of Water for Climate (VoW), a 2021 addition to our growing family at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. I have been volunteering for Bio4Climate since 2014, when…

Natick High School Forest Photos by Maya Dutta On Saturday September 30, 2023 we planted Natick’s first Miyawaki Forest at Natick High School! Sign up to volunteer here. We are so excited to bring another pocket forest to life with the help of the community, high school, and municipality. We will share information, updates, and…

Dr. Makarieva and Dr. Nefiodov will be presenting their scientific findings at universities throughout the United States from September 21 – October 14 on the importance of water and healthy forests. This important research is fundamental to the role of ecosystems in climate stability. Check here below for locations near you. This U.S. tour includes…

On Wednesday, September 27 at 6pm ET, John Feldman will share his perspective on Regenerating Life – an ecosystems perspective on the climate crisis. He will be joined in conversation by environmental journalist and author Judith D. Schwartz to explore regenerative solutions to climate disruption, global warming, and food insecurity. Watch the recording As many interconnected…

What a thrilling week it has been! Since last Thursday’s New York Times article Tiny Forests with Big Benefits, my teammates and I at Bio4Climate have been buzzing with excitement at the recognition our forests and this type of restoration is getting. We are so thrilled by the enthusiasm of people’s responses, from interest in…

Have you ever heard of a squirrel that barks?

Biodiversity 9 Deep DiveTransformation to a Holistic Perspective – Nature Can Cool the Planet Fall 2023, Wednesdays, September 20 – December 13 Are you ready to transform your understanding of how life on the planet works and how we can play a role? Join us as we follow the transformation of two leading writers and…

Here are the writings and paintings that made up my exhibit, “Gaia Songs: Seeking Equilibrium.” The exhibit included my essay, “Earth is a Person” and my article “Building Climate Stability” and six paintings with Artist’s Statements. The Artist Statements include two paragraphs for each painting about how they relate to the conference “The Uses and…

Voices of Waterfor Climate global research on the role of water in cooling our planet Global restoration of natural water cycles is absolutelyessential for biodiversity and climate restoration. Vision Rehydrating the continents to restore natural water cycles and climate. Mission Educating globally to empower people to act locally to renew natural small water cycles to…

Nathan Phillips remarked to me that trees were like lungs. I thought, it’s far more than that… In the Surgical Oncology Unit, the cancer ward, you can’t always save people. Sometimes all you can do is keep them comfortable, be there with them, then care for their families as they go. You see the many…

I’d like to introduce this piece with a scenario. Suppose someone pointed out that you’d been looking at the climate through a pair of glasses with only one lens? Lifting them off your nose, they then provide you a new pair of glasses with two lenses. Suddenly, parts of the climate you couldn’t see before…

Four forestry specialists offer their views on how to reduce the wildfire risks. The Wildfire story that no one is talking about.  The media is full of stories about the causes and cures for the massive forest fires raging around the world.  Those fires have finally hit close to the Bio4Climate home in New England…

On Thursday July 27 at 1 pm ET, we welcomed Dr. Ousmane Pame, Katrina Jeffries, and Dr. Marie Nazon to our Life Saves the Planet lecture series to discuss the Ecovillage movement and their work with REDES, a Network for Ecovillage Emergence and Development in the Sahel region of Africa. They shared their experience and…

What organism can grow up to 35 inches in a day, conduct electricity, and survive an atomic bomb? Bamboo!

What is the heaviest, oldest and one of the largest creatures on the planet?

One of the profound ways Australian Climatologist Walter Jehne influenced my thinking was in helping me see the other side of the greenhouse effect. We always think about the “insulating” gases, and not about the source of the heat. And that’s bare land… This introduces the first of my RegenLife Minutes: From the new documentary Regenerating Life, this…

Life Saves the Planet The Bio4Climate Blog  “Life Saves the Planet” is more than just a blog—it’s our philosophy and a partnership with GBH public television’s Lowell Lecture Series. In the search for answers to climate change, we look to the interconnected living systems that sustain our planet. These biodiverse systems shape our atmosphere, regulate temperature,…

John Feldman brings the voices of Bio4Climate together in his new film – Regenerating Life. When you donate to this campaign, part of your donation goes to support our work (as long as you fill in the box on the donation page with our name). And you get to see this groundbreaking film before the…

HYDRATE: The Role of Water Key Concepts Water is how the earth cools itself. But the planet is drying out. Not just as a result of global warming but also: Small Water Cycle Biodiversity makes it work through infiltration and transpiration. It ensures water regulation, reduces desertification, pollution, drought, flooding, and mitigates urban heat islands,…

Plants Cool the Planet Key Concepts Plants mitigate climate change through transpiration, carbon sequestration, cloud formation, and cooling effects. Transpiration Plants release water to the air which has a cooling effect on the plant, and the environment. Plants regulate temperature, contributing to ecosystem health. Condensation The transformation of water vapor into liquid droplets aids in…

What small but fearless songbird can astonish with its aerial acrobatics and is always ready to battle much bigger birds for dominance? The Black Drongo!

Everyone needs a forest Forests are one of the most efficient means for sequestering carbon, and the most effective system for cooling the planet, especially on the local level. With the loss of green spaces, more and more people are feeling the effects of heat islands, localized hotspots that can be readily combated by planting and…

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…

Greene-Rose Park Forest Photos by Maya Dutta On Saturday November 5, 2022 we planted our second Miyawaki Forest in collaboration with the City of Cambridge in The Port at Greene-Rose Heritage Park. We are thrilled to bring another pocket forest to life with the help of the community. We will share information, updates, and photos…

by Fred Jennings, Ecological Economist for Biodiversity for a Livable Climate Part One: “Water Cools The Planet” Runtime 41:43 John Feldman introduces himself and expresses surprise that this work got him thinking a lot about water. The film proceeds to talk about water in its many diverse aspects: as a powerful greenhouse gas; in its…

Danehy Park Miyawaki Forest Our Miyawaki Forest at Danehy Park in North Cambridge was planted successfully on September 25, 2021 with the help of many fantastic volunteers. The forest is the first example of a Miyawaki Forest in Cambridge, MA and in the Northeast US as a whole. It is wonderful to see the community…

United Nations, New York CityMarch 23-24, 2023 Biodiversity for a Livable Climate was in New York meeting with attendees of the Conference of Parties (COP) on Water. Board member Sue Butler and Assistant Director of Regenerative Projects Maya Dutta, working with Jon Schull from EcoRestoration Alliance, had meetings with several exciting global Water Advocates. Meeting…

Sustainability and Humankind’s Dilemma: Life on a Tough New Planet Spring 2023, 12-2 pm ET, Fridays from April 21 – May 26 Approached from a Social Science perspective, this 6-week course provides a broad overview of the multiple crises confronting humankind: climate change, peak oil, resource depletions, ecological deterioration, and societal collapse.  It focuses on…

We are happy to announce that our friends and colleagues are taking an active part in the first global conference on water. The United Nations Water Conference 2023 begins on March 22 in celebration of World Water Day. Stay tuned to our Instagram and Twitter for live coverage, and read more about the UN Water…

Which creature is the largest Asian antelope, considered sacred to some and pest to others? The Nilgai!

Redesigning Our Communities for Life After Fossil Fuels A series of virtual and in-person community events in 6 locations in the U.S. and Canada Fourth Event: CLEVELAND • on Zoom Saturday, March 25, 2023 1:00 – 4:30 pm EST  •  on Zoom Agenda Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is partnering with the Post Carbon Institute and…

In January, Ridge Shinn and Lynne Pledger joined us to discuss their new book, Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World. While the last few tumultuous years have heightened uncertainties about our food supplies, there’s some good news coming out of the regenerative agriculture movement. Regenerative practices restore degraded land, increase soil productivity, sequester carbon and…

This panel was one of several presentations hosted during Redesigning Our Communities for Life After Fossil Fuels on Saturday, January 21, 2023 with Los Angeles community leaders. This event is the third in a series of six events hosted virtually and in-person in communities throughout the U.S. and Canada – https://bio4climate.org/roc Stay tuned to register…

On Thursday, January 26 at 6pm ET, Ridge Shinn and Lynne Pledger will join us to discuss their new book, Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World. While the last few tumultuous years have heightened uncertainties about our food supplies, there’s some good news coming out of the regenerative agriculture movement. Regenerative practices restore degraded land,…

What nocturnal creatures native to North America are known for their beauty and the fact that they don't eat at all in their adult life?  Luna moths!

Which creature fights fires, creates wetlands, recharges groundwater, alters landscapes, and is a climate hero? Beavers!

In a time of accelerating global warming, nature’s ability to cool the Earth is one of the most exciting and important prospects we can explore. We’ve been proud to host scientific experts at the forefront of this research like Dr. Anastassia Makarieva, Andrei Nefiodov, and Jan Pokorny. They joined us a couple of months ago…

Redesigning Our Communities for Life After Fossil Fuels A series of virtual and in-person community events in 6 locations in the U.S. and Canada Third Event: LOS ANGELES • on Zoom Saturday, January 21, 2023 1:00 – 4:30 pm PST  •  on Zoom Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is partnering with the Post Carbon Institute and…

Meet Eka Cahyaningrum, restorer of peatlands and advocate for primates. Her work in Indonesia restores wild animal populations and their habitats while uplifting local communities. Her youth-led efforts demonstrate the power of coming together under one goal: to create better living conditions for all living beings, so that we can all thrive. Eka Cahyaningrum, Primate…

Droughts and flash floods are becoming a new normal in our warming world. What changed? Our landscapes are losing water as people alter the environment, cut trees, drain wetlands, and use chemicals that destroy the soil. And we’re feeling the heat. On October 21, we hosted Anastassia Makarieva, Jan Pokorny, Andrei Nefiodov, and Jon Schull…

Droughts and flash floods are becoming a new normal in our warming world. What changed? Our landscapes are losing water as people alter the environment, cut trees, drain wetlands, and use chemicals that destroy the soil. And we’re feeling the heat. On Friday, October 21 at 12:15pm ET, join Anastassia Makarieva, Jan Pokorny, Andrei Nefiodov,…

By Carlos Mdemu Social Media, Writing, and Online Outreach Intern Since 2011, I have been working in the field of environmental and solid waste management. At the beginning of my journey, I remember visiting one of the famous local markets in Dar es Salaam for a community cleanup. The local market, in terms of waste management…

What creature is the largest of its kind, sports beautiful patterns, and holds a reputation for being a ‘gentle giant’?  The whale shark!

Drought warnings in Massachusetts are a stark reminder that we are part of a global climate system where warming trends are accelerating. Is there something we can learn from adding a global lens to our local and regional mitigation efforts? Danielle Dolan, Deputy Director of the Mass Rivers Alliance, and Beth Lambert, Director of the…

Suggest a Featured Creature, Eco-Restoration Stories Currently Inspiring us, Throwback from the Bio4Climate Blog, Voices of Water, Staff Spotlight: Maya Dutta, Compendium Notes

To support efforts to stop deforestation, sign the Amazonia for Life pledge: https://amazonia80x2025.earth/declaration#déclaration The Amazon Rainforest is known as the “lungs of the earth” because it draws in carbon dioxide and breathes out oxygen. But it is also the biological heart of the planet’s hydroclimate system, the planet’s rain making machine. We have lost almost…

This July as Massachusetts, like many other parts of the world, reckoned with serious drought, we held a lecture to explore how we can address drought conditions on a local, regional, and global scale. Check out the recording and related resources here! Drought warnings in Massachusetts are a stark reminder that we are part of…

The Cambridge Public Library and Biodiversity for a Livable Climate present author Hannah Lewis in a reading and discussion of her latest book, Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyawaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World. The Miyawaki Method is a unique approach to reforestation devised by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. In the book, Lewis explains how…

Bulu mini-forest in Cameroon after 19 months; Photo: Agborkang Godfred Hannah Lewis, Compendium Editor for Biodiversity for a Liveable Climate and freelance writer The Miyawaki Method The Miyawaki Method is a way to grow natural, mature forests in a couple of decades rather than a couple of centuries. You do this by observing what happens…

What plant is used around the world for its immunity-boosting properties, loves shady and moist habitat, and is loved in turn by all sorts of pollinators?  The Elderberry! I first learned about the healing properties of the elderberry plant when I was talking with a family member, Ilma, in Finland. She had mentioned that she…

Throughout the year 2020, the public has grown increasingly aware of the ways we have inadvertently harmed the biodiversity and ecosystems upon which life depends. The United Nations having declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration presents the opportunity for a global focus on regenerating natural systems. Journalist and author Judith D. Schwartz has travelled…

Which creature is a combination of two other organisms, comes in bright colors, and helps us measure air quality? Lichen!

This talk is part of our Life Saves the Planet Speaker Series in partnership with GBH Forum Network. Learn more about this series here: https://forum-network.org/partner/biodiversity-livable-climate/ Soil and climate scientist Walter Jehne works to educate farmers, policymakers and others about “the soil carbon sponge” and its crucial role in reversing and mitigating flooding, drought, wildfires, and…

Which creature creates forests underwater, provides food and shelter for countless species, and helps stabilize the climate? Giant Kelp! Under the sea To witness the beauty of kelp, and watch how it contributes to the survival of numerous marine and terrestrial creatures, you have to go underwater. Although kelp looks like a plant, it is actually a type of…

This March, we held the latest installment in our Nature’s Solutions as National Policy conference series, Code Red Water: Two Global Perspectives. Atossa Soltani and Michal Kravcik discussed how improved water management can support functioning water cycles to meet the needs of living systems and cool the planet. Watch the recording here!

Thousands of projects on six continents are endeavoring to cool our overheated planet and restore biodiversity loss by harnessing the power of photosynthesis, carbon sequestration and regeneration of degraded landscapes. Most of these efforts are not by governments or corporations, but by coalitions of researchers, farmers, fishermen, forest-dwellers, and village cooperatives. What would happen if…

Cabezon Peak after rain, Photo by John Fowler (CC BY 2.0) Although climate change is a global issue, it can and must be addressed locally. Our overall climate is shifting drastically, but local climates are also changing, and they don’t always get the same amount of attention. Local climates change when the environment is drastically…

On Saturday March 19 at 10 am ET we held the latest installment in our Nature’s Solutions as National Policy conference series, Code Red Water: Two Global Perspectives. Atossa Soltani and Michal Kravcik discussed how improved water management can support functioning water cycles to meet the needs of living systems and cool the planet. Watch…

This March, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate continues its series of mini-conferences exploring how we can leverage nature’s solutions to shape policy on climate action and resilience. Our fourth installment features global perspectives on the challenges and opportunities to restoring water cycles. View the recording below, and access the chat and related resources, including presentation slides,…

In this talk, Fred Magdoff, Professor Emeritus of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont, describes the difference between nutrient- and life-depleted soil and nutrient dense, carbon-capturing, and water-storing soil. Fred Magdoff’s research was on ecologically sound ways to improve soil fertility, especially focusing on the critical role of soil organic matter. He…

Precious Phiri grew up in Zimbabwe and discusses her evolution as a trainer in Holistic Management and community facilitation. Her work focuses on working with rural communities and collaborating with networks in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security for people, livestock and wildlife – and most recently, to address…

Globally, oyster habitats are the most degraded habitats among coastal systems, with the loss of 99% in the last 150 years. These 350 million years old keystone species and their habitats are at the brink of total collapse from industrial harvesting and pollution of coastal areas. Today scientists understand the ecological value of oyster habitats…

The Inga Foundation’s founder and director Mike Hands has been working to halt the destruction of rainforests from slash and burn agriculture for over 20 years. An experienced tropical ecologist and scientific researcher, Mike divides his time between his farm in Cornwall, UK, and the Inga Foundation’s Land for Life program in Honduras. Now in…

Animals contribute vitally to Earth’s water, carbon, and nutrient cycles. Every ecosystem is supported by uncountable animal species, ranging from birds to insects and mammals to fish, as well as microscopic organisms. The devastating news is that the Earth is losing about 150 animal, plant and microbial species every day, mostly due to human activities.[8] Understanding…

Earth is heating up: “Global surface temperature was 1.09°C higher in 2011– 2020 than 1850–1900,” according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s 6th Assessment Report.[3] Yet the mercury is not rising uniformly around the world – the Arctic is warming faster than are the lower latitudes, and temperatures over land are higher than over the…

Can large herbivores enhance ecosystem carbon persistence? Kristensen et al. 2021 This article considers the overlooked role of grasslands and large herbivores in carbon storage. The principal question the authors pose is: what is the impact of large wild and domestic herbivores on the ability of ecosystems to absorb and store carbon over the long…

Cloud cooling effects of afforestation and reforestation at midlatitudes, Cerasoli, Jin & Porporato 2021 Reforestation and afforestation (R&A) are well-established climate mitigation strategies in the wet tropics due to high carbon sequestration rates of forests/trees. However, at high latitudes (boreal regions), the low albedo of trees–compared to snow and other lighter land surfaces–leads to the…

Many large herbivores may have important roles in dryland ecosystems. Equids such as donkeys and horses, as well as elephants, have been reported to dig wells of a maximum depth of two meters, enhancing water availability for a variety of animals and plants. Noting that this subject has received limited research attention, the authors carried…

This article (also highlighted in Compendium v2n1) reviews research on the benefits of tree cover in relation to water and energy cycles. Forests help produce rain. Vegetation releases water vapor through transpiration, increasing atmospheric moisture that is then transported by wind. In fact, “over most of the tropics, air that passes over forests for ten…

The amount of Earth’s green cover (measured as Leaf Area Index[6]) has increased globally since 1980, especially in northern latitudes, where growing seasons have lengthened. This is due mainly to increasing CO2 concentration, but also to warmer temperatures and changing precipitation patterns, nitrogen deposition, and land-use change (such as afforestation in China). Higher ambient CO2 can stimulate…

After having been wiped out by the 1920s, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995-1996. This study assessed the importance of large carnivores to wild ungulates’ behavior and density, with secondary effects on plant communities, rivers and channels, and beaver communities. Focusing on the West and East Forks of Blacktail Deer Creek, the…

Nature’s Solutions as National Policy Biodiversity for a Livable Climate has been hosting a series of mini-conferences exploring how we can leverage nature’s solutions to shape policy on climate action and resilience. Thousands of projects on six continents are endeavoring to cool our overheated planet and restore biodiversity loss by harnessing the power of photosynthesis,…

Nature’s Solutions as National Policy Code Red at Glasgow: What did they miss? November 20, 2021 10:00 am – 12:00 pm ET This November, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate continued its series of mini-conferences on how we can leverage nature’s solutions to shape policy on climate action and resilience. We turned our attention to the Glasgow…

Fred Tutman joined our Life Saves the Planet lecture series on Monday, November 15 to discuss environmental movements and the importance of decolonizing our attitudes, actions, and leadership. Check out related resources and the talk recording on our GBH page. As the planet faces existential threats from multiple sources, the people raising movements aimed at…

In northwestern Australia, far from roads or major cities, a herd of wild donkeys carries a valuable promise. This remote region is the Kimberley, home to Kachana Station, a family-owned holistically managed landscape. The Henggelers have overseen Kachana Station for decades, and their management techniques have brought benefits for the soil, wildlife, and local climate. …

As many people know through firsthand experience, we planted the Northeast’s first Miyawaki Forest last weekend. After several months of planning, discussion, and organization, we gathered in Danehy Park in North Cambridge to create the forest. This was the part I participated in, but like so much of our work at Biodiversity for a Livable…

What sort of worm is festooned with sensitive tentacles all the way down its sides and – though it can’t bark – has a nasty bite? That would be the “clam worm” or alitta succinea, a denizen of estuarial waters. Alternative names I’ve always called them “seaworms” but they are normally known as “clam worms,” “ragworms,”…

After hosting a successful series of courses on Biodiversity and Symbiosis with staff scientist and restoration ecologist Jim Laurie, we at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate have recognized the need for a larger curriculum on ecosystem restoration, nature-based solutions to climate change, and the transformations required for our civilization to navigate the challenges ahead of…

This September, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate continued its series of mini-conferences exploring how we can leverage nature’s solutions to shape policy on climate action and resilience. Our second installment focuses on animals and their crucial role in shaping ecosystems and supporting healthy functioning carbon, water, nutrient, and energy cycles. Watch the video recording here: You…

What creature grows tall and sturdy, cleans up its neighborhood, and defends itself from predators - all without moving a muscle? The Giant Barrel Sponge, or Xestospongia muta!

Bio4Climate has been studying the Miyawaki Method of reforestation over the past several months. This 50-year-old technique involves densely planting native forest species from shrub to canopy layer to create tiny, fast-growing urban ecosystems[3]. Members of our staff have joined local efforts to establish Miyawaki “mini-forests” in Cambridge, MA, in Los Angeles, CA, and one…

The following articles lay out a few key ecological concepts and terms that may be helpful to become familiar with for the growing number of biodiversity-conscious people and organizations that are beginning to plant more native plants on their land. Native plants, native ecosystems, and native landscapes: an ecological definition of “native” will promote effective…

Symbiosis: Structure and Functions, Ecological and Evolutionary Role, Sélosse 2000 (La Symbiose : Structures et Fonctions, Rôle Écologique et Évolutif) Book review by Ehsan Kayal What is symbiosis? How is it defined? What does it involve? And how did it come to be? These are some of the questions French Biologist Marc-André Sélosse explores in…

A vegetation type, or plant community, is identifiable by its distinct appearance compared to other landscape types within a landscape. For example, a grassland and a wetland differ in appearance from each other and from a forest, while a wetland-forest is yet another visibly different vegetation type. Plant species are recognizable by their form, which…

Well-planned tree-planting projects are an important component of global efforts to improve ecological and human well-being. But tree planting becomes problematic when it is promoted as a simple, silver bullet solution and overshadows other actions that have greater potential for addressing the drivers of specific environmental problems, such as taking bold and rapid steps to…

(La Symbiose : Structures et Fonctions, Rôle Écologique et Évolutif) Book review by Ehsan Kayal What is symbiosis? How is it defined? What does it involve? And how did it come to be? These are some of the questions French Biologist Marc-André Sélosse explores in this book. It is not simple to define “symbiosis,” which…

This article provides an overview of types of plant communities and the process of succession in those communities. In each type of habitat, certain species group together as a community. Fossil records indicate that some of these groups (or very closely related precursors) have lived together for thousands or even millions of years. During that…

This review explores the question of whether plant-plant interactions drive evolutionary changes. “If such evolution is common, plant communities are not random assemblages of species.” The topic is under-studied compared to plant interactions with other groups. Research on plant–consumer, plant–pollinator and plant–disperser interactions has been central to understanding the complex mutualistic and co-dependent interactions among…

Jeannette Christine Armstrong is a Canadian author, educator, artist, and activist, who wrote this article about the traditional decision-making process in Okanagan, called “enowkinwixw,” which demonstrates a great practice of biophilia. Okanagan, the Penticton Indian reservation in Canada where the author was born and raised, has a very fragile ecosystem. However, the author discovered that…

What tiny creature brings luck to farmers and other folks all over the globe? The ladybug!  One Lucky Lady Ladybugs, or beetles of the family Coccinellidae, are small, often colorful rounded insects beloved by children’s rhymes and gardeners alike.  Ladybugs are thought to be a sign of luck in many cultures and urban myths. Whether it’s…

Biodiversity 4: Forests, Fungi and Living Shorelines Summer 2021, Wednesdays, June 16th – September 1st 12 weekly classes with our staff scientist, Jim Laurie, held at 1pm and 7pm ET on Zoom. The Excitement and Inspiration of Science for the Curious to the Serious and everyone in-between. A fully interactive online adventure with discussions, experiments…

Climate change is already here. Severe weather-related events such as more frequent hurricanes, intense droughts, longer wildfire seasons, and devastating floods are evidence of this statement.  However, not all people are experiencing the consequences of the climate crisis equally. All too often, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) are on the frontlines. Due to systemic…

Nature’s Solutions as National Policy June 5, 2021 9:00 – 11:00 am ET This June, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate hosted a mini-conference exploring how we can leverage nature’s solutions to shape policy on climate action and resilience. This was the first in a series of mini-conferences on nature’s solutions as national policy, bringing together global…

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“Ecological processes are not only more complex than we think. They are more complex than we can ever think.” – Michael Crowfoot, Soil Scientist “On one of my early projects…a scientist friend asked me, how did I know what I was doing, and where did I get the knowledge to understand the system with which…

Precious Phiri is the Founding Director of EarthWisdom Consulting Company.  She was formerly a Senior Facilitator at the Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) in Zimbabwe where she directed training for villages in the Hwange Communal Lands region that are implementing restorative grazing programs using Holistic Land and Livestock Management.  She helps rural communities in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and…

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, is a biologist from Rice University and is a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed…

Annita Seckinger is a soils and water scientist who works as a consultant for a range of organizations.  She is also the founder and president of the Watts Branch Watershed Alliance, an organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Watts Branch Watershed in Montgomery Country, Maryland.  Annita and Dr. Ray Weil are currently collaborating…

Nathan Phillips is professor of Earth and Environment at Boston University.He studies the physiological mechanisms and processes by which plants and ecosystems regulate water loss and carbon gain, and how these processes may be altered under global environmental change.  He is now applying this research to studies of urban ecology in a program called Urban Metabolism.

Thomas Akin is State Resource Conservationist at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the US Department of Agriculture. NRCS provides technical and financial assistance to farmers to improve the health of their soils by implementing conservation practices such as cover crops, crop rotation, and reduced tillage. Healthy soils hold more water, better resist erosion and…

Jono Neiger is a founding partner of Regenerative Design Group with 24 years of professional experience in permaculture, ecological land design, site planning, community development, agroforestry, land management and conservation, and restoration. Mr. Neiger teaches widely around the northeast and southeast at colleges, workshops, and conferences on the topics of permaculture, ecological design, sustainable water use, and productive…

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, is a biologist from Rice University and is a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine” methodology invented by…

Precious Phiri is a Senior Facilitator at the Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) in Zimbabwe.  Precious directs training for villages in the Hwange Communal Lands region that are implementing restorative grazing programs using Holistic Land and Livestock Management. This helps rural communities in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security. This nature-based…

Charlotte O’Brien, President and CEO, Carbon Drawdown Solutions, is an entrepreneur, pyrolysis and biomass expert who has worked for years with many varieties of bamboo, a plant that improves soils and water cycles, expands habitats for many other species, and may be harvested sustainably for uses ranging from construction to food to biochar, a soil supplement.…

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, is a biologist from Rice University and is a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine”…

Candace Ducheneaux, Hohwoju Lakota elder and long-time activist from the Cheyenne River homelands, is dedicated to preserving the Lakota way of life and the environmental integrity of our sacred mother earth. She has been at the frontlines in many grassroots battles for justice for the Lakota Oyate and against the destructive human forces threatening the existence of…

Antje Danielson is the Administrative Director at the Tufts Institute of the Environment and the graduate interdisciplinary “Water: Systems, Science and Society” (WSSS) program. She came to Tufts from Durham University (UK), where she served as the Deputy Director for Sustainability, in May 2008. Previously, she worked with the Harvard Green Campus Initiative.  A long-time resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Antje also co-founded the innovative car-sharing company Zipcar. She holds a Ph.D. in Geology from Free University,…

Veronika Miranda Chase is an Environmental Policy Researcher, particularly interested in issues of sustainable development, climate change and the Water-Food-Energy Nexus. She has participated in projects related to climate mitigation and adaptation in developed countries, and has also worked in developing countries with poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods initiatives. She holds a Bachelors in International Relations…

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Tufts Campus Info & Map Home   Program   Speakers    Sponsors/Partners We welcome you to this landmark conference, Restoring Water Cycles to Reverse Global Warming and hope the information here will assist you with the practical arrangements of your trip.  If you have any further questions, please contact us at climate2015@bio4climate.org. The conference is taking place in Asean Auditorium, 160 Packard Avenue, on…

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, is a biologist from Rice University and  a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine” methodology invented by ecological…

Betsy Nicholas, Executive Director, WATERKEEPERS® Chesapeake and Fair Farms, has more than 16 years of experience in environmental law and policy. Upon joining WATERKEEPERS® Chesapeake in December 2012, she saw an opportunity to help farmers develop management practices that benefited the farmers and improved water quality. With much outreach and collaboration, Fair Farms Maryland was…

Theodore “Tod” S. Wickersham, Jr., President of Beneficial Results LLC, focuses on assisting businesses and nonprofits improve their operations / profitability, build alliances, enhance collaboration, lead stakeholder groups, open markets, influence public policy, and achieve program objectives that also result in improved water and air quality, and reduced carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and diesel/toxics…

Claudio H. Ternieden is the Senior Director of Government Affairs and Strategic Partnerships at Water Environment Federation in Alexandria, VA. Claudio directs WEF’s legislative and regulatory efforts in Washington, DC with both Congress and federal agencies and works to represent water professionals in our nation’s capital. Before coming to WEF, Claudio worked with several other…

Daniel Medina, PhD, PE, D.WRE, is a Senior Engineer based in LimnoTech’s Washington DC office, who specializes in water resource systems planning and climate change and resilience. His experience encompasses a wide array of water resources areas, especially in urban water issues including flood risk management, water supply, watershed restoration, climate change impacts, and the…

Charlene Johnston, PE, is a professionally licensed Civil Engineer and Program Manager at AECOM. She has more than 20 years of engineering experience. Over the past 15 years, Charlene’s professional focus includes climate resiliency and control of stormwater projects and flood studies. Her passion is green infrastructure (GI) / low impact development (LID) and building…

Kris Nichols, Chief Scientist, Rodale Institute, examines the impacts of management such as crop rotation, tillage practices, organic production, cover crops, and livestock grazing on soil aggregation, water relationships, and glomalin at the Institute. She received a Bachelor of Science in Plant Biology and in Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Minnesota, a…

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, is a biologist from Rice University and is a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed…

Daniel N. Robin, founder & managing partner of In3 Capital Partners, ABetterWorkplace and former adjunct professor at Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS, now Middlebury Institute), and has taught entrepreneurship, business planning, impact investing, and innovation for sustainability as faculty for the Sustainability Academy, as an independent consultant, and within a top-10 ranked international MBA…

Didi Pershouse is a cross-pollinator, helping to connect the dots between soil health and human health. She is the author of The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities and the founder of the Center for Sustainable Medicine. After 22 years of clinical work with patients, she is now working with the…

Jim Laurie is a restoration biologist and co-founder of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. He has been learning how to restore lands and waters for 30 years and was the manager of the Vermont “Living Machine” which treated 80,000 gallons of sewage per day and was designed by ecological visionary John Todd. For 20 years he…

Dr. David C. Johnson is  Director of the Institute for Sustainable Agricultural Research at NMSU currently working with local growers and collaborating with: Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories; Texas A&M; Arizona State University; California State University, Chico; University of California, Davis; USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service; and the Thornburg Foundation, exploring paths to: improve food security in New…

The Homeschool Symbiosis Team Annie Selle studies the beautiful intricacies of nature through both art and biology, and is an advocate for animal rights and the environment. She believes that humans have the power to change our society, and is optimistic about the future of the Earth.   Jamila dePeiza-Kern has studied environmental science, chemistry, geography, and geology,…

Dr. Anamarija Frankić is a founding director of the Green Harbors Project®, and the Biomimicry LivingLabs®, a research faculty at UMass Boston and University of Zadar, Croatia. She is a Biomimicry, Fulbright and Sea Grant Knauss Fellow. In 2014 she founded Biomimicry New England. Her educational background in biology, ecology, limnology and marine science, guided her interdisciplinary restoration research…

Herbert Dreiseitl is an internationally highly respected expert in creating Liveable Cities around the world with a special hallmark on the inspiring and innovative use of water to solve urban environmental challenges, connecting technology with aesthetics, encouraging people to take care and ownership of places. He has realized groundbreaking contemporary projects in the fields of…

Dr. Anamarija Frankić is a founding director of the Green Harbors Project®, and the Biomimicry LivingLabs®, a research faculty at UMass Boston and University of Zadar, Croatia. She is a Biomimicry, Fulbright and Sea Grant Knauss Fellow. In 2014 she founded Biomimicry New England. Her educational background in biology, ecology, limnology and marine science, guided…

Adam Sacks is executive director of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. He has had careers in education, holistic medicine, computer technology, politics, and advocacy. A climate activist for the past 15 years, he has been studying and writing about Holistic Management since 2007. His primary goal is regeneration of biodiversity and a livable planet.

Allison Houghton is a teacher of permaculture and gardening techniques.  She manages the Greater Boston CSA for The Food Project, where she has also been the orchard manager and assistant grower for Lincoln Farm.  Before that, she was horticultural director for Green City Growers, helping Greater Boston residents, schools, and businesses grow food intensively in small urban spaces.

Glenn Gall has been involved over the last decade with numerous natural solutions to restore a livable planet and reverse global warming.  This began with permaculture training from Peter Bane, Darren Doherty, Dave Jacke, and Mark Shepard, and developed into small scale farming and keyline design in Northern Ohio and Michigan.  He also teaches innovative agricultural…

Jan Lambert of Charlestown NH is an environmental journalist and editor of the  Valley Green Journal who has been working closely with Michal Kravčík in promoting the New Water Paradigm via her journal and a resource book, Water, Land and Climate – The Critical Connection: How We Can Rehydrate Landscapes Locally To Renew Climates Globally, to be published…

Judith Schwartz is a longtime freelance writer and author of several books. Over the last several years she has written about the juncture of economics and the environment for such publications as Time, Time.com, the Christian Science Monitor, Conservation, and the UKGuardian. Most recently she is the author of Cows Save the Planet and Other Improbable Ways of Restoring…

Shaun Paul is a pioneer in international social finance with expertise in regenerative finance, sustainable rural development, and indigenous peoples. His 25 years of professional experience include leading and supporting the creation and growth of dozens of innovative for-profit and non-profit companies catalyzing well-being for people and planet. He has worked on every continent, and provided consulting services to donors, investors…

Steven I. Apfelbaum is principal ecologist and chairman at Applied Ecological Services of Brodhead, Wisconsin.  He has conducted ecological research, designed award-winning projects, successfully navigated regulatory programs, and contributed his unique creative scientific expertise and enthusiasm to over 1,500 projects throughout North America and beyond. He is one of the leading ecological consultants in the U.S., providing technical restoration…

Scott Horsley has 30 years of professional experience in the fields of watershed planning and water resources management and holds degrees in biology and marine policy. He has worked as a consultant to federal, state, and local jurisdictions, and private industry throughout the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, and China. Scott has…

The Homeschool Advanced Placement Biology / Restoration Ecology Class is taught by Jim Laurie and Jane Hammer in Arlington Massachusetts. Students Annie Selle, Lynus Erickson, Jamila dePeiza-Kent, and Elizabeth Owens will perform a short play, “Symbiosis”, as part of Jim Laurie’s Saturday morning talk, “Nature Wants to be Wet”. 

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, is a biologist from Rice University and is a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine”…

Jon Griggs is the ranch manager for Maggie Creek Ranch in Elko, Nevada. Maggie Creek is a beef-cattle operation running on both public and private lands in the high desert of Northeastern Nevada. Public lands in the west and the endangered species that inhabit them are hot button topics, but Jon and the folks at Maggie Creek…

Carol Evans, Nevada BLM fisheries biologist for the Elko District of the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada, joined the U.S. Forest Service in the late 1980’s and helped survey over 1,000 miles of streams in NE Nevada. She began her career with BLM in Elko in 1988 and since that time BLM and local ranchers…

Tom Goreau is an award-winning marine, soils and climate scientist.  He is President of the Global Coral Reef Alliance, a coral reef protection non-profit, and has been involved in issues affecting the United Nations, climate change, coral reef, and small island developing states all over the world in many different capacities.  He has dived longer and in…

Walter Jehne is a leading Australian soil and climate scientist and Director of Healthy Soils Australia. He has extensive experience in industry and has worked overseas with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, focusing on the microbial ecology of soil regeneration, the availability and cycling of nutrients, and how these govern the health, productivity, and resilience of biosystems. Walter is very interested…

Precious Phiri is the Founding Director of EarthWisdom Consulting Company.  She was formerly a Senior Facilitator at the Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) in Zimbabwe where she directed training for villages in the Hwange Communal Lands region that are implementing restorative grazing programs using Holistic Land and Livestock Management.  She helps rural communities in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils,…

Foster Brown, senior scientist at Woods Hole Research Center and recipient of the Chico Mendes Forest Citizenry prize, is an environmental geochemist whose research interests focus on global environmental change and sustainable development in the southwestern Amazon Basin. He coordinates the Center’s program dealing with climate change and land use in the trinational southwestern Amazonia. Dr. Brown spent over…

Maude Barlow, best-selling Canadian author and human rights activist, is the chair of the board of Food & Water Watch. She is also an executive member of the San Francisco–based International Forum on Globalization, founder of the Blue Planet Project, and a Councillor with the Hamburg-based World Future Council. Maude is the recipient of ten honorary doctorates as…

Michal Kravčík is an internationally recognized Slovak water scientist, ASHOKA fellow, and co-author of A New Water Paradigm: Water for the Recovery of the Climate, which emphasizes  hydrologic cycles in addressing climate change. He is also a founding member and chairman of Slovakia’s NGO People and Water.  In 1999, Kravčík was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for his contributions to…

Ridge Shinn is the founder and CEO of Big Picture Beef and a leader in the shift away from feedlot beef to raising cattle on 100% grass and forages – no corn ever – using regenerative pasture and grazing management that sequesters carbon deep underground. Currently he is developing a large-scale supply of 100% grass-fed…

Didi Pershouse is a cross-pollinator, helping to connect the dots between soil health and human health. She is the author of The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities and the founder of the Center for Sustainable Medicine. After 22 years of clinical work with patients, she is now working with…

Sharon McGregor is a biologist, environmental policy administrator, educator, and consultant, most recently serving as Assistant Secretary for the Environment (Biological Conservation and Ecosystem Protection) for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (MA EOEEA).  As Assistant Secretary and chief policy advisor for natural resources protection, she administered a pioneering biodiversity conservation and ecosystem protection program.…

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, is a biologist from Rice University and is a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine”…

Elisabeth Cianciola has a B.S. in Environmental Science from Trinity College, where she conducted research in areas as diverse as water quality sampling in urban rivers, rain garden design, and the taxonomy of algae. She recently completed an M.S. in Natural Resources at the University of New Hampshire, where she taught courses focused on wetland and…

Judith Schwartz is a longtime freelance writer and author of several books. Over the last several years she has written about the juncture of economics and the environment for such publications as Time, Time.com, the Christian Science Monitor, Conservation, and the UKGuardian.  She is the author of the ground-breaking book, Cows Save the Planet and Other Improbable Ways of…

Randi Rotjan is a researcher at the New England Aquarium and professor in Boston University’s Marine Program. She studies coral reefs and climate change in the remote Phoenix Islands, the largest marine protected area in the Pacific Ocean, where she coordinates their science-related mission in her role as Chief Scientist. At Boston University she teaches Coral…

Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, is a biologist from Rice University and  a pioneer in biological remediation of waste water. He was the technical manager of the world’s largest “Living Machine” project to clean raw municipal sewage with no toxic chemicals. The facility, through a grant from the EPA, processed 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine” methodology invented by ecological…

Dr. Anamarija Frankić is a founding director of the Green Harbors Project®, and the Biomimicry LivingLabs®, a research faculty at UMass Boston and University of Zadar, Croatia. She is a Biomimicry, Fulbright and Sea Grant Knauss Fellow. In 2014 she founded Biomimicry New England. Her educational background in biology, ecology, limnology and marine science, guided her interdisciplinary restoration research…

Rajendra Singh has been listed among The Guardian‘s “50 People Who Could Save the Planet“. Better known as the Water Man of India, Singh was recently named the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate for his innovative water restoration efforts, improving water security in rural India, and for showing extraordinary courage and determination in his quest to improve the living…

Nature’s Solutions as National Policy June 5, 2021 9:00 – 11:00 am ET This June, join us at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate for a mini-conference exploring how we can leverage nature’s solutions to shape policy on climate action and resilience. This is the first in a series of mini-conferences on nature’s solutions as national…

"We have to do everything we know how to do to address climate change." - Sir Nicholas Stern But what is "everything we know how to do"? What does "everything" mean? Who are "we"? Until very recently "everything" meant reducing emissions and pulling excess carbon out of the atmosphere. That has slowly begun to change, but our cherished , tenacious, fallacious assumption has been that global warming revolves around one isolated variable: carbon.

Quick Tour Since our modest but enthusiastic beginnings in 2013, our Biodiversity for a Livable Climate website has grown to the point where we ourselves marvel at how it has become such a rich resource! It’s also a pretty big place, so here’s a brief overview to help you find your way around, in order…

At Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, we believe that everyone has a place in the fight for a livable climate and flourishing future. We were called to this work from different places and for different reasons, but we’re united in our commitment to be stewards of nature, and to work with nature and each other…

Which creature existed before the dinosaurs, is an aerial genius, and can detect things we can only witness through slow-motion cameras?

Visits several examples of restoration in action from around the world, and reviews papers on floodplains, wetlands; discusses partnering with beavers; and considers how regenerative land management addresses heatwaves, droughts, floods and fires.  Special guest article on the Fourth Phase of Water by Gerald Pollack.

Reviews the pivotal roles of water cycles and soil ecology in stabilizing ecosystems and the climate.

Covers a broad selection of eco-restoration articles, including soils, earthworms, water, wetlands, croplands, grasslands and forests. We also discuss how paradigms and peer review both advance and constrain the practice of science.

What brainless creature can learn, problem solve, and even hold down a job?  The slime mold!

What creature the size of a paperclip is lethal enough to kill ten grown men? The poison dart frog! What makes the poison dart frog so powerful? Poison dart frogs – so named because the Indigenous Emberá people of Colombia traditionally used the venom in blow darts – are some of the most toxic creatures…

Our Team Executive Beck Mordini Executive Director Beck brings 20 years of nonprofit experience including protecting the biodiversity of native plants at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and protecting undocumented workers from exploitation in Washington state. Her studies of International Environmental Law in Nairobi, Kenya were her first exposure to the issues of desertification and…

Eighth Compendium Issue, Mike Hands and Rattan Lal on Agroforestry, Voices of Water for Climate, Ecosystem Restoration Camps Symposium, Jim Laurie’s Biodiversity and Symbiosis III Class, Hannah Lewis’ Call Story, Grassland 2.0, Compendium Notes: Fence ecology: Frameworks for understanding the ecological effects of fences, McInturff et al. 2020

What creatures navigate oceans, climb mountains, feed forests, and motivate us to destroy renewable energy infrastructure?

Tropical ecologist Mike Hands and soil scientist Rattan Lal joined our Life Saves the Planet lecture series to discuss the Inga Alley Cropping technique and the promise of agroforestry for promoting biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and providing food security for farmers. 

Biology Created the Earth Around 3.8 billion years ago living cells appeared on Earth. Basic elements and molecules such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, minerals, water and many others, thanks to energy from the Sun, began assembling themselves into more and more complex structures. Unlike most planets in the universe, Earth became a planet that was…

Signup for our Newsletter:Good news is on its way! Transformationin Mexico Watch what happens! A degraded Mexican landscape is transformed by excellent management. It took only two years (the arrow points to the same tree). Your browser does not support the video tag. Photos: Cuenca Los Ojos Upcoming Events and Announcements Wildfires Fact & Fiction Thursdays,…

Jan Lambert  is an environmental writer and editor of The Valley Green Journal www.valleygreenjournal.com , which addresses connections of agriculture, nature and communities. She has been a working partner with internationally recognized hydrological scientist Michal Kravčík, in promoting awareness of the central role of water cycles for environmental sustainability, via her journal and her book, Water, Land and Climate–The Critical Connection, published in October…

Hayat Imam is an American-Muslim of Bangladeshi origin. She is a feminist-activist committed to building global social justice movements. Her efforts have been directed towards nuclear disarmament, renewable energy, and economic opportunities for women. Former Executive Director of the Boston Women’s Fund, she has written and organized extensively on violence against women, and is co-author of Watermelons Not…

Rev. Dele is a grandmother,author and pastor who opens the environmental narrative to include the voice of Mother Nature so we create JOY with our Impact. Trained as a Climate Reality Leader and spiritual director, she supports spiritual leaders and Earthkeepers who are struggling with burnout and rage. As grandmother, theologian and permaculture professor Dele teaches…

When Rachel Burger, a South Portland, Maine resident and new grandmother, heard about Exxon Mobil’s plans – to use a World-War-II-era pipeline to pump millions of gallons of dirty tar sands oil through Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, crossing over rivers, the Sebago Lake watershed and right out into Casco Bay, risking nearly all of…

Biodiversity III: Mastering the Water Cycle begins on February 3, 2021 and runs for twelve consecutive Wednesdays through April 21st, with choice of afternoon (1-3 pm EST) or evening classes (7-9 pm EST).  Jim will send you class notes and home study opportunities every week. A certificate of completion will be available for those who…

All over the world, from Australia to Europe to North and South America, wildfires have waged destruction on natural landscapes and human settlements alike. The devastation of these disasters is heartbreaking, and the images of catastrophe – walls of flame, scorched wildlife, a world gone red – are unforgettable. There is no more potent image…

Our burning planet: why we must learn to live with fire, Pyne 2020 Steven J. Pyne is an emeritus professor at Arizona State University and the author of several books on fire history and policy. He wrote this opinion piece as a protest against the prevention and suppression of wildfires in our land management process.…

Establishing ecological corridors is a way to mitigate the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation. Ecological corridors are linear landscape elements connecting otherwise isolated habitat patches within a larger matrix of environmentally degraded lands (urban or agricultural, for example). The corridors facilitate gene dispersal and migration, while also expanding habitat range for species constrained by…

A “Global Safety Net” to reverse biodiversity loss and stabilize Earth’s climate, Dinerstein et al. 2020 Currently, 15.1% of land on Earth is conservation protected. This article maps out an additional 35.3% of land needing near-term protection, along with ecological corridor routes connecting these areas. Half of the planet’s land is needed to serve as…

In spite of its obvious benefits, agriculture, which covers one third of the Earth’s land surface, damages biodiversity and ecosystem services. In some regions, land degradation and depletion of water resources from irrigation have been so great that historical levels of food production in these regions risk decline. Some areas of previously productive farmland will…

This study examines the positive effects of beaver damming on the resistance of landscapes to wildfire damage. The authors find that in riparian corridors (areas along rivers), the presence of beavers and their dams can create refuges that withstand blazes that consume surrounding vegetation. Beavers play an important role in wetland habitats and are known…

A project in Queensland, Australia has met with success in its efforts to rehydrate the landscape on the farmland property of Worona Station, improving biodiversity, water retention, and resistance to erosion and fire. Worona Station had been degraded and faced serious erosion issues, so Chris Le Feuvre, the owner, partnered with consultancy groups of NQ…

Nader et al. survey herbicides, prescribed fire, mechanized treatments, hand cutting, and grazing animals as fire management techniques. Managing vegetation involves “changing the plant community to decrease the flame height when fire occurs,” favoring native species that may be more resilient to fire, and altering the landscape to create fuel breaks, which are patches across which…

A well-watered mulberry tree has been credited with averting the danger of destructive wildfires from destroying Brett Hawkins’ home during 2020’s unprecedented fire season in Australia. When massive fires raged through the bush through the summer, many homes were completely engulfed. However, Hawkins attested that when he returned to his home after evacuating, ‘I could…

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which created these guidelines, is an international environmental network founded in 1948 that provides conservation data, assessment and analysis to governments, NGOs and private entities. IUCN also manages the Red List of Threatened Species. This connectivity guideline is part of a series of best practices for protected…

In contrast to the Gao et al. [2017] article (above), this study maps out an ecological network spanning the entire nation of China. Most such ecological corridor analysis has previously focused at the local and regional levels, according to the authors. They note that in addition to protecting biodiversity, ecological corridors (ECs) purify air, regulate…

While not an ecological corridor per se, the Natura 2000 network is the largest coordinated network of conservation areas in the world. Covering 17.9% of Europe’s land area and nearly 10% of the continent’s marine areas, the network includes 27,852 sites with an area of 1,358,125 km2. The terrestrial portion of the Natura 2000 network…

Vijay Kumar on Community Managed Natural Farming, SUGi Spotlight, Jim Laurie’s Biodiversity and Symbiosis III: Mastering the Water Cycle, Adam Sacks’ Call Story, Ngā Uruora Book Review, The Hidden World of Fungi, Compendium Notes: Effectiveness of the Miyawaki method in Mediterranean forest restoration programs, Schirone, Salis & Vessella 2011

By Florence Ann Barrett “Ecological processes are not only more complex than we think. They are more complex than we can ever think.” – Michael Crowfoot, Soil Scientist “On one of my early projects…a scientist friend asked me, how did I know what I was doing, and where did I get the knowledge to understand…

Fall 2020, Wednesdays, September 16th – December 9th Biodiversity 2: Systems Thinking and Transformation – Building Teams for Planetary Restoration. 12 weekly classes with our staff scientist, Jim Laurie. The Excitement and Inspiration of Science for the Curious to the Serious and everyone in-between. A fully interactive online adventure with discussions, experiments and explorations for…

The UN’s Decade of Ecosystem Restoration declaration aims to “prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide,” stating that “there has never been a more urgent need to restore damaged ecosystems than now” [UNEP/FAO Factsheet 2020]. Estimates of global land degradation range from 25% to 75% of Earth’s land surface. The uncertainty is due…

In continuation of the “blessed unrest” section of previous issues of the Compendium, the following sketches illustrate how people everywhere are seeing that humanity depends on nature for both our physical and spiritual wellbeing and our survival. As this awareness takes hold, people act to protect and restore not only the land, but also our…

https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/just-transition/2017/10/12/the-hopeful-work-of-turning-appalachias-mountaintop-coal-mines-into-farms/ In Mingo County, West Virginia, the soil on a flat expanse of what had been a mountaintop is compacted, composed mainly of blasted rocks, and lacks organic matter, due to several years of coal mining. The ground is harder than anticipated; even the soil scientists say they are not sure how long it will…

Ecological restoration success is higher for natural regeneration than for active restoration in tropical forests, Crouzeilles et al. 2017 This meta-analysis comparing active restoration to natural ecosystem regeneration found the latter to be more effective. The authors conclude that “lower-cost natural regeneration surpasses active restoration in achieving tropical forest restoration success for biodiversity and vegetation…

This study tested the Miyawaki method of rapid natural forest regeneration (which has been shown to work in Japan and elsewhere) in the arid Mediterranean. In this area, millennia of human civilization have resulted in degraded soils and reduced and changed forest cover, traditional reforestation efforts have often failed, and desertification is a looming threat. The…

https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2020/05/20/garden-advice-indigenous-food-growers/ Covid19 has been an additional stressor on many Native American communities already burdened by deprivations from centuries of ongoing injustice. According to Julie Garreau, project coordinator of Cheyenne River Youth Project, which operates a 2.5-acre youth garden in South Dakota, gardens are a source of both food and healing. “Gardens represent so much more,”…

This workshop follows Jan’s talk: Soak Up the Rain! What We Can All Do to Reduce Drought, Floods, Heat Waves and Severe Storms Jan Lambert: environmental writer and editor of The Valley Green Journal Learn more about Biodiversity for a Livable Climate: https://bio4climate.org/ Connect with usFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/bio4climateTwitter: https://twitter.com/bio4climateInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bio4climate/ Presented at Blessed Unrest conference via…

Did you ever stop to think about what happens with all the water that goes down the storm drains in your town or city every time it rains? Jan Lambert, even though a lifelong nature advocate, never gave that question much thought until 2014, when as an environmental journalist she learned about the profound and…

This workshop follows Reverend Dele and Lama Elizabeth Monson’s talk “The Necessity of the Divine Feminine in the Climate Crisis”This panel discusses: What is the Divine Feminine? Why should we care? How can the Divine Feminine significantly impact the climate movement? Reverend Dele: Climate Reality leader and spiritual directorElizabeth Monson: Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma…

This workshop follows Precious’ talk “Building Community During Confusion and Uncertainty” Precious Phiri: Field Professional in Holistic Management education with the Savory Institute, she works with rural communities through her organization EarthWisdom Consulting, and is the African Coordinator for Regeneration International Learn more about Biodiversity for a Livable Climate: https://bio4climate.org/ Connect with usFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/bio4climateTwitter: https://twitter.com/bio4climateInstagram:…

Increasingly frequent droughts are destroying food production levels in the more drought-prone half of sub-Saharan Africa. Although most people have attributed this gathering crisis to climate change, about 80% of the cause of the droughts is that fallowing–allowing the forest to grow for fifteen years or more to replace the soil’s organic matter–is on its…

Summer 2020, June 2 – August 18 Biodiversity, Symbiosis and Planetary Regeneration: Exploring Nature’s Possibilities for the Future! Weekly Classes with our staff scientist, Jim Laurie The Excitement and Inspiration of Sciencefor the Curious to the Serious and everyone in-between A fully interactive online adventure with discussions, experiments and explorations for independent thinkers of any age,…

Precious grew up in Zimbabwe and will tell us about her evolution as a trainer in Holistic Management and community facilitation. Her work currently focuses on working with rural communities and collaborating with networks in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security for people, livestock and wildlife – and most…

Increasingly frequent droughts are destroying food production levels in the more drought-prone half of sub-Saharan Africa. Although most people have attributed this gathering crisis to climate change, about 80% of the cause of the droughts is that fallowing–allowing the forest to grow for fifteen years or more to replace the soil’s organic matter–is on its…

Spiritual leaders discuss the connections between feminism and environmentalism. Reverend Dele: Climate Reality Leader and spiritual directorLama Elizabeth Monson: Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Managing Teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge Learn more about Biodiversity for a Livable Climate: https://bio4climate.org/ Connect with usFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/bio4climateTwitter: https://twitter.com/bio4climateInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bio4climate/ Presented at Blessed Unrest conference via online,…

Blessed Unrest – Program – Conference Home    Speakers    Program    Sponsors and Partners All sessions will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., EDT.  On each day at around 1:30 p.m. there will be an option to attend a free hour-long workshop with one of the day’s speakers, depending on speaker availability. 10:30  Welcome and…

In the age of short attention spans, I was glad to see such a concise video. If you have not seen this short video check it out. Greta and George are right, we can still fix this. Healthy ecosystems sustain us. Everyone wants clean air, and clean water. Did you know your most of you…

Blessed Unrest– Speakers – Conference Home    Speakers    Program    Sponsors and Partners Conference Home    Speakers    Program    Sponsors and Partners

The industrialization that has built today’s splendid high-tech cities isolated us from the land and water sources of the materials fueling this progress. Our cities scarcely reveal that the oxygen we breathe, the food we eat, the purification of waters, and to some extent the bucolic weather patterns we have long relished have been gifts…

Global change and the ecology of cities, Grimm et al. 2008 Whereas just 10 percent of people lived in cities in 1900, now more than half the global population is urban and that proportion continues to grow. Cities occupy less than 3% of the Earth’s land surface, but generate 78% of global CO2 emissions and…

“The geometry, spacing and orientation of buildings and outdoor spaces” [Kleerekoper 2012: 30], as well as the prevalence of hard surfaces and reduced amount of vegetation, strongly modify the micro-climate of urban areas compared to rural surroundings. Characterized by an increase in temperature, a phenomenon referred to as urban heat island [UHI] effect has multiple…

By Christopher A. Haines, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate Christopher Haines is a seasoned architect licensed in both MA and NY who applies expertise in regenerative architectural design, healthy materials, preservation, renovation and specification writing to small commercial and urban projects. He has spoken for years at US and international forums as well as formally…

What happened in New Orleans [during Hurricane Katrina], while a terrible “natural” disaster, was also the cumulative result of excessive and inappropriate management of the Mississippi River and delta, inadequate emergency preparation, a failure to act in time on plans to restore the wetlands and storm protection levees, and the expansion of the city into…

In continuation of the “blessed unrest” section of Compendium V3N1, the following sketches illustrate how people throughout the world are coming to recognise the enormous value of intact ecosystems, and are doing their part to protect and restore. Adopting Paul Hawken’s terminology and characterization of “blessed unrest” as a spontaneous, decentralized global social movement, we…

Whereas just 10 percent of people lived in cities in 1900, now more than half the global population is urban and that proportion continues to grow. Cities occupy less than 3% of the Earth’s land surface, but generate 78% of global CO2 emissions and consume 76% of wood used for industrial purposes. Urban dwellers depend…

This report, led by Ban Ki Moon (UN), Bill Gates (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and Kristalina Georgieva (World Bank), calls on decision makers worldwide to facilitate coordinated action to help communities adapt to climate change. Importantly, the report makes the case for nature-based adaptation approaches, which inherently help mitigation efforts as well. Adaptation measures…

https://e360.yale.edu/features/the-science-and-art-of-restoring-a-damaged-wetland “It was a stink hole,” says Al Rizzo, the refuge manager of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware Bay. Humans had messed with hydrology in an ill-conceived project aimed to convert salt marsh into a large open freshwater impoundment system to attract migrating waterfowl among others. Lines of dunes and tidal gates were…

Sacred forests/groves are not uncommon in India, especially in the biodiverse Western Ghats mountain range. These groves are community-protected patches of forest ranging in size from less than a hectare to several hundred hectares, and they are often believed to house gods [Ormsby & Bhagwat 2010]. A particular temple in the Western Ghats just outside…

Like vegetative and light or reflective surfaces, water bodies have a cooling effect on cities, reducing the Urban Heat Island effect. The average temperature at the river in this study was 1C less than at a reference point elsewhere in the city. Furthermore, the form of the landscape on the banks of an urban river…

While the majority of people on Earth live in cities, the majority (60%) of the world’s largest cities are located within 100 kilometers of a coast. The pollution and urban infrastructure (such as marinas, sea walls, or oil/gas platforms) emanating from cities greatly stresses coastal marine habitats. Coastal infrastructure tends to be vertical and smooth,…

Because of the multiple threats and uncertainties of a changing climate, protecting coastal areas simply by building new seawalls (or some other such inflexible, single-tactic approach) is unlikely to be the most effective option. Instead, combined coastal adaptation strategies to allow for a dynamic response to multiple stressors are increasingly preferred. Climate scientists and coastal managers…

The construction and operation of buildings and houses is a major source of pollution and ecosystem destruction around the world. In light of this, the Living Building Challenge invites people to reimagine the built environment as a source of social and ecological regeneration. Nothing less than a sea change in building, infrastructure and community design…

Learn more about Biodiversity for a Livable Climate: https://bio4climate.org/ Please donate to our ecosystem restoration work: https://bio4climate.org/donate/ Regenerating Soil and Water Landscapes Judy Schwartz, author of Cows Save the Planet, Water in Plain Sight, and a new book due out in July 2020, discusses what people around the world are doing to address our many…

Barn Swallows, birds who eat insects as they scurry across the sky, are disappearing. This isn’t surprising, I suppose, given that they are among the 2.9 billion birds lost across species in the United States – representing one third of the bird numbers we had 50 years ago. What did surprise me is how we got here, according to an intriguing explanation from a leading economist, Alfred E. Kahn.

Jan Lambert’s take: This article by Charles Hegberg, talks about the importance of soil restoration in urban settings for optimal stormwater infiltration. He writes: “We have hundreds of years of experience in making ‘Dirt’ – It’s time we start re-making ‘Soils’ on a landscape level, quickly.“ “It’s no secret: Americans take their lawns seriously –…

Global Landscapes Forum event, Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot, Tony Rinaudo work in Niger, Dr. Susan Chomba; Compendium Notes: Blue carbon stocks of Great Barrier Reef deep-water seagrasses, York et al. 2018

Soil and climate scientist Walter Jehne explains how healthy soils act as a sponge for carbon and water – the “soil carbon sponge.” When we manage soils to absorb water, biodiverse living systems thrive, photosynthesis pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, the biosphere cools, and regenerates a viable life-support system for millions of species including…

From Jan Lambert, Voices of Water for Climate Program Director:  I have come to know authors Nancy Wright and Richard Butz from Ascension Lutheran Church in Burlington, Vermont as two delightful and well-informed people with a wonderful message to share of how people of faith can act for good for clean water, and for a…

Video of Walter’s talk now available here!   Walter Jehne is an internationally known Australian soil microbiologist and climate scientist. He is passionate about educating farmers, policymakers and others about “the soil carbon sponge” and its crucial role in reversing and mitigating flooding, drought, wildfires, and searing global temperatures. He shows us how we can…

Blessed Unrest, Matt Russell and Iowa Farmers, Prairies Restoration Movement, Paula Phipps, Compendium Notes: Trees, forests, and water: cool insights for a hot world

Indigenous hunters have positive impacts on food webs in desert Australia, Penn State 2019 When Australian authorities removed indigenous Martu people from their traditional lands in the desertic center of the continent in the mid-1900s, endemic species there declined or went extinct. Researchers observed that the Martu’s hunting regime of small burning patches of land…

One million of an estimated 8 million species on Earth are at risk of extinction in the coming decades, according to a May 2019 report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Children today will live as adults in a world without the Milky Stork, without the Caquetá Tití Monkey, and…

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) protects northeast Australia from wave exposure, while also creating habitat for a vast expanse of shallow- and deep-water seagrasses between the reef and the shoreline. Deep-water seagrasses here occupy an area roughly the size of Switzerland. While the carbon storage capacity of shallow-water seagrasses, dubbed ‘blue carbon,’ are known to…

Understanding what makes forests thrive is important in light of mounting calls for reforestation and forest conservation as antidotes both to species loss and climate breakdown. Moreover, distinguishing between natural forest regeneration and timber plantations is critical to achieving intended goals. Intact forests, and especially tropical forests, sequester twice as much carbon as planted monocultures.…

Restoring natural forests is the best way to remove atmospheric carbon, Lewis et al. 2019 In order to keep global warming under the 1.5C threshold, the IPCC warns that not only must we cut carbon emissions nearly in half by 2030, we must also draw massive amounts of CO2 out of the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental…

Higher forest biodiversity (specifically plant functional diversity related to water, or hydraulic, transport) engenders greater ecosystem resilience to drought. This is because different species respond differently to water stress – some species slow down their release of water (and heat) through transpiration sooner than others do. Plants’ response to water availability in turn affects the…

The concept of ecological intensification in agriculture offers a framework for handling the question of how to produce enough food for a growing global human population while simultaneously protecting biodiversity. It draws on the language of ecosystem services, which includes supporting services such as soil formation, regulating services (pollination and pest control), provisioning services (production…

Ecological intensification: local innovation to address global challenges, Tittonell et al. 2016 World agriculture cumulatively produces enough to feed the whole human population and more, yet hundreds of millions of people on the planet are hungry due to problems of access to food. Noting that agricultural productivity is unevenly distributed around the globe, this book…

This review examines the concept of ecological intensification as a way to increase global food production by enhancing the ecological functionality of farmland. We present ecological intensification as an alternative approach for mainstream agriculture to meet [future climatic, economic and social] challenges. Ecological intensification aims to match or augment yield levels while minimizing negative impacts…

The following sketches are but a tiny sampling of the countless ways people throughout the world push back against the socio-economic and political forces of destruction both of ecosystems and of the social fabric of society. Adopting Paul Hawken’s terminology and characterization of “blessed unrest” as a spontaneous, decentralized global social movement, we here present…

The deep winter snow falls on the mountains around the Methow Valley in the state of Washington are declining. To manage problems with drought, the Methow Beaver Project has been capturing, tagging, matching male and female beavers and releasing them in key valley areas. The project workers know beavers are master engineers that know how…

A global agenda for soil carbon, Vermeulen 2019 This paper calls for efforts to make farmers, land managers, policy makers, and the public at large keenly aware of the link between soil carbon and its more widely appreciated social outcomes, such as agricultural productivity and food security, improved water quality, flood and drought mitigation, lower…

This paper calls for efforts to make farmers, land managers, policy makers, and the public at large keenly aware of the link between soil carbon and its more widely appreciated social outcomes, such as agricultural productivity and food security, improved water quality, flood and drought mitigation, lower rates of migration, biodiversity preservation, and climate change…

The Gaia hypothesis invites us to imagine Earth as an integral living system in order to explore the mechanisms by which life helps create and maintain the conditions for life, such as an oxygenated atmosphere. “The Gaia theory proposes that organisms contribute to self-regulating feedback mechanisms that have kept the Earth’s surface environment stable and…

As in every edition of this compendium, here we assemble and summarize research offering evidence of the power of ecosystems to address climate breakdown. The themes presented: forest dynamics ecological intensification and transformative change  were chosen based on recurrent themes of mostly recent reports and studies. Not surprisingly given its centrality to ecosystem function, the idea…

Industrialized forestry simplifies forest structure and harms biodiversity. To mitigate this harm, retention forestry has been adopted in places such as Sweden, where this study was conducted. “Retention forestry” avoids clearcutting and instead preserves some 5-30 percent of trees to benefit populations of birds, lichens, fungi and other types of organisms. The authors focused on…

Water plays a critical role in restoring a livable climate. A New Water Paradigm is emerging to help us restore landscapes naturally, so we no longer wastefully "drain the rain" but instead "retain the rain" with water catchments, soil, plants and animals. The result? We can renew our climates through local action, by allowing rainwater to soak into the soil to restore local land-based water cycles. We can also expect reduced flooding and pollution, renewed springs and streams, more drinking water, more food, less poverty and conflict, and improved wildlife habitat. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Jan’s Quick-Take: Didi is a world class educator and a real Vermonter who knows her stuff, and how to teach it to anyone who cares about soil and water. She is the great source for all aspects of the famed “soil carbon sponge.” We at Voices of Water for Climate consider her to be a…

Jan Lambert’s Quick-Take: A brief letter written for the Valley Green Journal by Michal Kravčík . For much more information, see Water for the Recovery of the Climate-A New Water Paradigm. [FIX LINK] Abstract: In the Valley Green Journal November 2014 issue I introduced readers to Michal Kravčík, a scientist who is an expert in…

Jan Lambert’s Quick-Take: This is must reading if you really want to understand the dynamics of climate. No, this is not another piece on fossil fuel emissions! Jan Pokorny and his colleagues are leaders in presenting to all of us the vital interactions of water vapor, plants, and solar energy in creating and maintaining a…

Bernd Walter Müller edited by: Helena Laughton Jan Lambert’s Quick Take: Very understandable reading about the importance of the New Water Paradigm. Abstract: Most global water-related crises, such as water scarcity, drought, desertification, flooding, rising sea levels and climate change, are symptoms of long-term mismanagement of rainwater and vegetation. This results in global disruptions to…

FIX LINK AT BOTTOM Jan Lambert’s Quick Take: ‘Beavers As Partners’ is a community service focus of The Valley Green Journal in helping communities find non-lethal solutions to human-beaver conflicts, especially with the use of beaver deceiver flow devices to prevent flooding. Abstract: Beavers As Partners is a campaign to raise awareness of the critical…

Jan Lambert’s Quick Take: If you love beavers you need to meet Sharon Brown, a beaver advocate who raises orphaned beaver kits as their “mother” and even takes her babies for swimming lessons! Abstract: Beavers: Wetlands & Wildlife (BWW) is an educational nonprofit that has been helping people enjoy the great benefits of coexistence with…

FIX LINK Jan Lambert’s Quick Take: Beavers are nature’s water engineers; they create and preserve wetlands vital to ecosystems. When beavers and human activities conflict with each other, there can be a win-win solution for both the beavers and the humans! Be sure to check out Skip’s website! Abstract: A win-win solution to human-beaver conflict…

Guest author Gerald Pollack introduces a fundamental shift in how we view water. It has the potential to significantly alter our understandings of any processes that involve water, including aspects of climate, biology, and how we approach eco-restoration. The Fourth Phase of Water: Beyond Solid, Liquid, and Vapor Gerald H. Pollack, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering,…

Water Isn’t What You Think It Is: The Fourth Phase of Water by Gerald Pollack Guest author Gerald Pollack introduces a fundamental shift in how we view water. It has the potential to significantly alter our understandings of any processes that involve water, including aspects of climate, biology, and how we approach eco-restoration. The Fourth…

The following articles were selected and summarized by Bio4Climate’s Compendium editors and writers. The purpose of this collection is to highlight the scientific evidence and argumentation showing healthy restored and protected ecosystems as a powerful (albeit under-recognized) tool for managing the weather extremes wrought by climate change.   Floodplains and wetlands: making space for water…

While previous issues of the Compendium have addressed ecosystem strategies to reverse global warming, here we discuss ecosystem restoration to adapt to the consequences of climate change. From drought in Cape Town and wildfire in California and Greece to flooding in Beijing, Paris, Houston and North Carolina, each new report of catastrophe makes climate change…

We know how to enhance resilience to extreme weather where we live and work. Communities throughout the world are utilizing these approaches, and here we highlight several initiatives in a variety of habitats to illustrate potential paths forward. More information is included just below each project description. Following this section is a collection of summaries…

Close up on California in the era of climate change: a verdant vision for fire-prone land Picture California in the 1700s, around the time the first Spanish missions appeared. It must have looked like heaven on earth for the 100,000s of native people living there [Ecological Society of America 2014], cradled between forested mountains and…

Picture California in the 1700s, around the time the first Spanish missions appeared. It must have looked like heaven on earth for the 100,000s of native people living there [Ecological Society of America 2014], cradled between forested mountains and sparkling ocean. Meandering streams and rivers teeming with salmon criss-cross the valley and are knit together…

Sustainable floodplains through large-scale reconnection to rivers, Opperman et al. 2009 The area of floodplains allowed to perform the natural function of storing and conveying floodwaters must be expanded by strategically removing levees or setting them back from the river. Floodplain reconnection will accomplish three primary objectives: flood-risk reduction, an increase in floodplain goods and…

Beaver dams and overbank floods influence groundwater–surface water interactions of a Rocky Mountain riparian area, Westbrook et al. 2006 This study provides empirical evidence that beavers influence hydrologic processes in riparian areas. Conducted at the headwaters of the Colorado River in the Rocky Mountains, the study examines patterns from two beaver dams of surface inundation,…

Given competing interests for floodplain property, some have argued for strategic partial reconnection of floodplains to the river by allowing portions of floodplain to flood, so that pressure elsewhere along the river during a flood may be alleviated [Opperman 2009]. For example, California’s Yolo Bypass was created in the early 1900s after the Sacramento River…

The concept of hydrological drought (as distinct from meteorological drought) helps explain the success of these age-old techniques to enhance surface and groundwater supply. Meteorological drought is the occurence of abnormally low rainfall for a given region. Hydrological drought is a consequence of meteorological drought – it happens when surface and ground waters run low thanks…

This study provides empirical evidence that beavers influence hydrologic processes in riparian areas. Conducted at the headwaters of the Colorado River in the Rocky Mountains, the study examines patterns from two beaver dams of surface inundation, groundwater flow, and groundwater level dynamics. The authors observe that : Beaver dams on the Colorado River caused river…

Managing rainwater within a landscape so that neither heavy storms nor long dry spells devastate human endeavors and constructions is referred by Yu Kongjian as the “art of survival” [Yu 2012]. This Chinese landscape architect with an ecological mindset learned the art of survival by studying the ways of ancient peasant farmers. He contrasts the wisdom…

“In the past, humans have taken the land away from the water; now we need to give the land back.” – Professor Hui Li [Guardian 2017] Faced with severe flooding in many cities across China, such as a major 2012 Beijing flood, the Chinese government announced the Sponge Cities Initiative in 2014 as a remedy.…

From California to Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Washington DC, people are coming together in their communities to learn what river their watershed drains into, how urban stormwater management has impaired that river, and how to restore river-floodplain ecosystems through a grassroots approach. A watershed is an area of land over which any rain that falls…

This article emphasizes the global importance of protecting and restoring wetlands in the context of climate change and outlines policy strategies for wetland protection and restoration. Wetlands play a major though under-appreciated role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Wetlands enhance local resilience to climate change by providing: “flood storage, buffering of storm damage, protecting…

“You must have had a lot more rain because how else can water appear where it has not existed before?” asked Zimbabwe Minister of Water Development Sam Nkomo when he saw a clear water-lily-covered pool that had only come to exist in the upper river catchment two years prior [Savory 2009]. Two herders and their…

Hot days in the city? It’s all about location, NOAA 2018 In a project funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), about two dozen citizen scientists measured temperatures in Baltimore and Washington DC on two of the hottest days of 2018. By measuring temperatures second by second with thermal sensors while driving prescribed routes…

The area of floodplains allowed to perform the natural function of storing and conveying floodwaters must be expanded by strategically removing levees or setting them back from the river. Floodplain reconnection will accomplish three primary objectives: flood-risk reduction, an increase in floodplain goods and services, and resiliency to potential climate change impacts [Opperman 2009: 1487].…