Life Saves the Planet Blog:
Cooling 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 itself helps to regulate temperature by absorbing heat without raising air temperatures. However, greenhouse gases trap heat near the Earth, exacerbating global warming. Reflective surfaces (albedo) help by bouncing back solar energy, aiding in cooling. Vital too are diverse ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, and marine environments, which offer benefits beyond cooling, including carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, and biodiversity preservation. Holistically nurturing these ecosystems is essential for maintaining Earth’s climate health and addressing the challenges of climate change.
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 itself helps to regulate temperature by absorbing heat without raising air temperatures. However, greenhouse gases trap heat near the Earth, exacerbating global warming. Reflective surfaces (albedo) help by bouncing back solar energy, aiding in cooling. Vital too are diverse ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, and marine environments, which offer benefits beyond cooling, including carbon sequestration, flood mitigation, and biodiversity preservation. Holistically nurturing these ecosystems is essential for maintaining Earth’s climate health and addressing the challenges of climate change.
Trees & Forests — Wildlife, Wildfires, Water Cycles & Climate Change — starts December 5
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,…
Thaw and Freeze: The ecological, geological, and human stakes of a warming Arctic
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…
Stopping Ecocide: Can International Law Prevent Mass Environmental Destruction?
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…
Biodiversity 11: Warming Oceans, Moving Shorelines & Sea Level Rise – with Jim Laurie
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…
2024 Midwest Beaver Summit
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…
Just released: “Cooling Climate Chaos: A Proposal to Cool the Planet within Twenty Years.”
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…
Kick off your Summer 2024 Reading List
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…
![[MA Local] Emerald Tutu Floating Wetlands Tour](https://b2408965.smushcdn.com/2408965/wp-content/uploads/emerald-tutu.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1 "[MA Local] Emerald Tutu Floating Wetlands Tour")
[MA Local] Emerald Tutu Floating Wetlands Tour
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.…
From Parking Lot & Lawn to Miyawaki Forests: Transforming Worcester, MA
A transformation is underway in Worcester, MA. In this mid-sized city in Central Massachusetts long known for its industrial activity, city leadership has undertaken ambitious initiatives to address some of their climate resilience goals using the Miyawaki method. Together, Bio4Climate, BSC Group, and the City of Worcester planned and created two Miyawaki Forests in the…
Beavers as Wetland Protectors and Climate Heroes – Thursday June 20
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…
Small Forests, Big Benefits – Tuesday June 18
On Tuesday, June 18 at 7pm ET, we participated in a comprehensive forum on Miyawaki Forest adoption across the US. Watch the recording here! In this online event, Bio4Climate’s Director of Regenerative Projects, Maya Dutta, joined keynote speaker Douglas Tallamy and three other national leaders to explore how mini-forests of native trees and shrubs can…
Journey of an Apprentice
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…
Signing on to Protect Forests
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.
Biodiversity Day: A Community Celebration
By Paul Barringer and Jean Devine of Native Plant Community Gardeners Our first Biodiversity Day festival was a success! On Saturday, May 4th, over 120 visitors came to Danehy Park, Cambridge, to join birding tours, Miyawaki Forest tours, learn about pollinator gardens, native plants, and ecosystem restoration from ten local environmental organizations who joined us…
Cool Forests for a Hot World
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 Forest Planting – Extra Installation Date June 12
This Spring, we are planting the first two Miyawaki Forests in Worcester, MA. These dense, biodiverse, native pocket forests will bring cooling, beauty, and resilience to the urban landscape. Join us for one additional planting day at Plumley Village Apartments on Wednesday, June 12 at 3pm. Come ready to get your hands in the soil…
Grow Food, Play Music, Mālama Pono (Take Good Care) – Thursday, April 25, 6pm ET
On Thursday, April 25 at 6pm ET, Beck Mordini and Jenny Pell held a lively conversation about facing our pretty scary future with integrity, hope, plenty of know-how, and a great sense of humor. We dove into climate reality, appropriate technologies, skill-building, local food, and neighborhood solutions that will inspire you to jump into your own…
Youth-Powered Climate Justice with Our Children’s Trust – Thursday, April 25 – 12 noon
On Thursday, April 25 at 12:00 noon ET on Zoom, Mat dos Santos and Laura Gehrke of Our Children’s Trust will explain how 16 youth plaintiffs successfully sued the State of Montana to protect their right to a clean and healthful environment, and how youth in six other cases in the U.S. and Canada are…
Compendium Vol. 3 No. 2: Heat Planet: Biodiversity, the Solar Interface and Climate Disruption
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…