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,…

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. Join us on Wednesday, August 28 from 11 am – 3 pm Central…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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.

We are excited to share with you the panel discussion from the Boston Premiere of the film Regenerating Life!  It was such a full day with three parts to the film, interesting exhibitors, and reconnecting with friends, that it was difficult to take it all in at once.   You can share some of that excitement from…

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…

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…

On Saturday, October 14 from 12:30 to 4:30pm we hosted the Boston premiere of John Feldman’s remarkable documentary, Regenerating Life. Held at Tufts University, this symposium featured a screening of the film, a panel discussion involving the director and experts from the film, and local organizations sharing ways for people to get involved in their…

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. Read more and register now to…

Bio4Climate friends Tim Jones and Chie Morizuka manage a regenerative farm called Gladney Farm in Hokkaido, Japan. As the name suggests, there’s a lot to be glad about on the newly restored land! Tim and Chie share the love by hosting groups eager to learn from the farm animals and plants. Students of all ages…

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…

“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,…

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…

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…

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…

Based on widely accepted scientific measurements, global emissions reduction efforts, while essential, have not succeeded in reducing levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases. The annual rate of carbon released into the atmosphere is accelerating (for many reasons which need not be discussed here). Reducing emissions and building out alternative energy are necessary but insufficient to address…

Human technology is, along with the population growth made possible by technology, the foundation of the anthropocene era. Technology’s ultimate end is to expand carrying capacity so that we can accommodate a growing population, and bears many unintended consequences of which global warming is one of the most serious. The technologies in question over the…

Solar panels on rooftops. Hybrid and electric vehicles. Meatless Mondays. What do all of these indicators of societal progress have in common? They are just some examples among the many widely attainable, lifestyle modifiers for reducing energy consumption in our fossil fuel-addicted world. But while replacing SUVs with hybrid cars and changing lifestyle habits to…

“Everything is connected to everything else.” – Barry Commoner, The Closing Circle Like most climate activists, for a long time I thought that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were THE driving force behind climate change.  It followed that reducing emissions was our overriding goal.   A steady stream of messages from both the climate movement and the mainstream…

With a record drought in California, floods in the UK and snow paralyzing areas of the South that have hardly met a plow, people are starting to make the connection between climate change and water. But generally the cause-and-effect link only goes one way, noting how climate change will affect water by putting stress on…