Videos and other materials available on our Program page.
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Let’s face it: Emissions reduction strategies to address global ecological catastrophes, including massive climate disruption, have not worked. Of course we should go to zero for many reasons, but this doesn’t offer solutions at the scale needed in the time we have left. We have to do something else. That something else is to invoke the power of the natural world.
Blessed Unrest offers many practical nature solutions from speakers around the world. Collectively we can change course to a healthy and bountiful planet for all.
Generously co-sponsored by these departments at Tufts University:
Department of Environmental Studies Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development
In 2020 Biodiversity for a Livable Climate joined the world in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day. Yet here we are, still facing exponential decay of the life support systems necessary for continued human presence on this planet.
Our most powerful institutions – governments and corporations – are not facing this crisis squarely.
On the other hand, thousands of independent organizations and millions of individuals worldwide are restoring living processes in their local areas while connecting with each other to create global change. This is the spontaneous, non-governmental movement that environmentalist and author Paul Hawken has called “blessed unrest”.
We will present a conference named after a 2007 book by Hawken: Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History Is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World. He describes how this movement “came into being and why nobody saw it coming.”
That was over a decade ago, and we see it coming now!
This extraordinary leaderless movement is still largely invisible to the doom-and-gloom mass media – but that hasn’t stopped it from growing in extraordinary ways. Back then these peaceful revolutionaries were relatively isolated in their own corners of the world, many feeling alone but determined. Now, aided by the internet, we’re all starting to connect, helping and encouraging one another, challenging the terrifying hockey stick of climate and ecosystem disaster by following a new exponential curve of inspiration, hope and action. Mainstream science is scurrying to catch up.
Our job at Bio4Climate from the beginning has been to demonstrate positive solutions to what seem like intractable problems. And even further, to present Nature as the most powerful force on Earth, and how we must treat her right to benefit all species. Now we are introducing you to some more of the people who are treating Nature and one another well. In all kinds of ways from all kinds of places.
We see this conference as a meeting of participants from a broad array of farmers, urban planners, gardeners, scientists, fishermen, ranchers, activists and many others who, in Hawken’s words, make up “humanity’s immune response to ecological degradation.”
If you’re not yet receiving our e-mail newsletter, please sign up on the right-hand column of this page. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please contact us at staff@bio4climate.org.
And take a few minutes to listen to Paul’s prescient observations from when the millennium was young . . .
“The event was splendid. I learned more in two days than I’ve learned in the last 20 years, and I was thrilled to be included.” Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
“I loved the eclectic nature of the overall program, which at the same time was faithful to its theme. Well done!” Ralph Baker
“The speakers were amazing, top-notch science combined with bringing their specialties into the larger context, and their personal journeys into spiritual wholistic understanding of the world. Length of talks was good. Nice mix with art, poetry, a little music (more!) Workshops! Dialogue! Rice milk!” Walter Kittredge
“Bio4climate practices what it preaches in terms of creating a culturally diverse group to discuss bio-diversity. Presentations went from “soup to nuts” engaging biology, mathematics, psychology, religion, etc. I appreciated the seeds for cross pollination that were planted.” Rev. Dele
“Outstanding speakers who conveyed their Passion, Play, and Purpose in such accessible and scholarly ways. The conference offered many avenues for action to restore, even rewild, the environment, from locally to globally.” Christina Nicholson
“Thanks for all the tremendous amount of work you put into the Conference. My considerable efforts to get there were well rewarded.” Lois Robin
“I think this whole conference topic is a capstone in the evolution of Bio4Climate’s conference themes. It presents what is arguably the most sophisticated aspect of our organizational mission: teaching people to acknowledge, respect, and embrace the voices of nature speaking to us about the interconnections and interdependence of species, of biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems, and of ecosystems and climate. Truly eye opening to see how symbiotic relationships and patterns repeat over and over and over again in nature.” Sharon McGregor
Painting: The Peaceable Kingdom, Edward Hicks, 1834
*Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is not affiliated with Harvard University, nor is this conference a Harvard University program or activity.
A conference about us civilized humans falling in love with the wonders and beauties of the natural world once again. For what we love, we protect.
We now have a rapidly growing collection of science that demonstrates the abilities – even intelligence – of creatures across the kingdoms of life. We’ll review fascinating scientific research and everyday experiences that must give us pause. Such investigations indicate how brilliant the being that some have called Gaia – Planet Earth – collectively is. It’s not just about animals either – it’s also about fungi, plants and microbes, and how we humans are just one small part of this great symphony of intelligent life.
Indigenous cultures have known this forever, the rest of us have some catching up to do. Fortunately we are finally leaving behind us the scientific curse of “anthropomorphism,” the idea that attributing any form of intelligence to non-human creatures was really just a matter of over-using our imaginations.
You may ask, “What does pan-species intelligence have to do with climate and biodiversity?” In keeping with our striving towards systems thinking we would say “a lot”! Can we let go of our hubris, our belief that we are the chosen ones, and realize that compassion and collaboration, far more than competition, are the essence of life on Earth? If we can, perhaps we will finally become the stewards – and the stewarded – that we can and should be.
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We promise that you will be astonished and delighted, as have we, at recent as well as ancient insights about the creatures we share Planet Earth with. They express feelings and intelligence that we can barely understand, they lead full and interesting lives, and we rely on their diverse and varied presence for our own survival. They’re talking to us, and this will be a weekend where we learn more about how to listen – and to marvel. Here’s asample of what we’ll be pondering (Scientific American, The Mind of the Predator, by Gay Bradshaw).
Co-Sponsored by the Greater Boston Group of the Sierra Club and
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Video links below!
Saturday, March 31, 9 am – 4 pm Harvard University,* Geological Lecture Hall 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Local ecosystems can help us to weather the coming climate shocks.
Learn about current efforts and new possibilities to protect and strengthen our local ecosystems.
Afternoon workshops on practical ways you can help revitalize ecosystems in our yards, streets, neighborhoods, parks, wetlands and waters.
Featured speaker:
Tom Wessels, author of The Myth of Progress: Toward a Sustainable Future, on
Self-organization, Co-evolution, Resiliency, and Stability
Self-organization is a natural process—that, as a system grows it also becomes more complex. The talk will focus on how this process works in ecosystems via co-evolution to generate the incredible biodiversity we see in nature. Many examples of regional co-evolved relationships will be used to illustrate how co-evolution works. The talk then shows how this process is a wonderful model for creating sustainable human systems.
All Speakers
Lenni Armstrong is a leader of DePave Somerville, a community initiative developed with Somerville Climate Action. The city’s higher than average proportion of paved areas means greater flooding. By digging up asphalt driveways and putting in permeable pavers and green space, DePave is reducing the city’s potential for floods—and beautifying the city.
Maggie Booz is the co-chair of the Cambridge Committee on Public Planting. She is also an architect and the owner of SmartArchitecture in Cambridge, MA.
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 and management work in coastal, marine and fresh water ecosystems, nationally and internationally. Her work is about integrating human services with ecological services and functions in our built environments to support resiliency and sustainability.
She initiated and established the “LivingLabs” for applied science education and research where students, local communities and businesses are able to “learn and teach by doing” biomimicry, applying nature’s wisdom for a resilient today and tomorrow; her premise is that “the environment sets the limits for sustainable development.”
Zeyneb Magavi, Research Director for HEET and serves on the National Health Impacts Team and the Gas Leaks Task Force for Mothers Out Front.
John Pitkin, Greater Boston Group of the Sierra Club
John Reinhardt is the president of the Mystic River Watershed Association. He was an environmental policy analyst for the USEPA and MassDEP for over 35 years, and served as a conservation commissioner for the City of Somerville for 19 years.
Kannan Thiruvengadam is the president of Eastie Farm in East Boston, MA. He is an urban farmer and environmentalist who is passionate about regenerative design.
Tom Wessels is a terrestrial ecologist and professor emeritus at Antioch University New England. He is the author of The Myth of Progress, Towards a Sustainable Future, Granite, Fire, and Fog: The Natural and Cultural History of Acadia, Reading the Forested Landscape, and other books.
Program
9:00-9:15 Welcome and Introductions Video Moderator: John Pitkin, Greater Boston Group of the Sierra Club
9:15-9:45 Energy Execs, Ecosystems, and Alliances Video Speaker: Zeyneb Magavi, Research Director for HEET and serves on the National Health Impacts Team and the Gas Leaks Task Force for Mothers Out Front.
9:50-11:00 Self-organization, Co-evolution, Resiliency, and Stability Video Speaker: Tom Wessels, terrestrial ecologist and professor emeritus at Antioch University New England. Author of The Myth of Progress, Towards a Sustainable Future, Granite, Fire, and Fog: The Natural and Cultural History of Acadia, Reading the Forested Landscape and other books.
11:00-11:15 Break
11:15–12:30 Practices of Eco-restoration A Panel of Presentations and Discussion on Practices
Panelists: Anamarija Frankic (Video), UMass Boston Green Harbors Project,
“Oyster Beds and Living Shorelines” John Reinhardt, President Mystic River Watershed Association, “Reviving a River” Maggie Booz (Video), Cambridge Committee on Public Planting, “Neighborhood Tree Stewardship” Lenni Armstrong (Video), Depave Somerville, “Depave the Way” Kannan Thiruvengadam (Video), Eastie Farm, “Building Soil and Growing Food and Community”
12:30-1:30 Lunch
Brown bag or takeout from Clover Food Lab in Harvard Science Center or food trucks on Memorial Hall Plaza
1:30-3:30 Workshops on Practices of Ecorestoration (break 2:30-2:35)
FORMAT: (1) Presentations by practitioners, (2) small group break out and Q&A with practitioners, and (3) roundtable discussion of all on alliances and practices NOTE: Videos not available for workshops.
1. Soils and Agriculture
Todd Breitenstein (Grateful Garden), Kannan Thiruvengadam (Eastie Farm), Lisa Brukilacchio and Aileen Bellwood (Somerville Community Growing Center)
Facilitator: Leigh Meunier (Somerville Climate Action)
2. Watersheds and Wetlands
Ellen Mass (Friends of Alewife Reservation), John Reinhardt (Mystic River Watershed Association), Lenni Armstrong, Brian Burke and Cador Pricejones (Depave the Way)
Facilitator: Kevin O’Brien (Sierra Club)
3. Urban Forest and Trees
David Meshoulam (Speak for the Trees), Maggie Booz (Cambridge Com mittee on Public Planting)
Facilitator: Susan Butler (Sierra Club)
4. Coastal Waters and Shores
Anamarija Frankic (Oyster Beds and Living Shorelines), Andrew Jay (Massachusetts Oyster Project), Phil Colarusso (U.S. Environ mental Protection Agency)
Facilitator: Quinton Zondervan (Green Cambridge and Cambridge City Council)
3:30-3:50 Report Back on Practices and Alliances
3:50-4:00 Wrap Up and Close
*This conference of the Sierra Club and Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is not a Harvard University program or activity. Neither organization is affiliated with Harvard University.
Harvard University,* Museum of Natural History Geological Lecture Hall 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Friday, November 17 – Sunday, November 19, 2017
Friday, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
This conference addresses the Earth System, and the universe of solutions that systems thinking makes possible.
With recent unprecedented wildfires, heat waves, super storms, droughts and floods, the climate is sending us messages that are impossible to ignore. It is increasingly clear: disasters like hurricanes Harvey and Irma are but dire warnings of what’s to come.
From left: Hurricanes Katia, Irma and Jose, September 7, 2017 Photo: NASA
The scientific community now recognizes that even if we go to zero emissions tomorrow, the tragedies will continue to mount. If we think that our only option is emissions reductions, as essential as they are, we hit a wall with nowhere to go but resignation and despair. But when we add eco-restoration into the equation, a remarkable story emerges, one of renewal and hope.
Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is telling that story. When we began hosting conferences in 2014, the phrase “reverse global warming” was hardly spoken – it was presumed impossible in conventional climate science and activism. A fundamental cure, repair of Earth’s life-support systems, was off the table. Today, in collaboration with many wonderful people and organizations around the world, that story is rapidly changing. Eco-restoration is growing into a powerful global movement, a movement that needs us all.
In our previous nine conferences we helped usher in a new climate conversation, transforming gloom and doom into inspiration and action. Speakers from five continents have shown us how to bring dead landscapes back to life by restoring soil, native plant and animal species, and local water, carbon and nutrient cycles. Resulting living landscapes pull down excess carbon from the atmosphere, rehydrate the land, cool the biosphere, and produce nutritious food for humans and animals.
In this conference, Climate Reckoning: Paths to an Earth Restored, we’ll connect many dots linking biological systems, human endeavor and climate to expand this new and compelling story.
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For $8 parking at the nearby 52 Oxford Street garage,
register on the visitor parking page.
When you get to the Harvard University Daily Visitor Parking Page, Select select Visitor on the lower right, then Log In or Register as a new visitor. In the Department field, select Visitor to Campus, and in the Department Code field enter code 7700. When you purchase the permit, Affiliation is Event Participant and the Event Name is Climate Reckoning. Select the garage at 52 Oxford Street. If you have any questions, please call the Campus Service Center, 617-495-3772 (they’re friendly and helpful).
NOTE: On-street parking is free (not metered) in Cambridge on Sundays.
Let’s pull carbon out of the atmosphere and bring down the higher temperatures brought about by global warming – safely, inexpensively, low-tech, with a broad range of benefits.
Sunday, April 30, 2017 the day after the People’s Climate March 8:30 – 5:00, Washington, DC
At the offices of Steptoe & Johnson LLP 1330 Connecticut Avenue NW Washington, DC 20036-1795 Nearest Metro: Dupont Circle on the Red Line Conference website: https://bio4climate.org/scenario-300/
While reducing greenhouse gas pollution from energy production, transportation and unsustainable agriculture practices is critical, Scenario 300 is a strategy for going from a dangerous 406 ppm (parts per million) to a safer 300 ppm of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. By regenerating healthy ecosystems, including soils, along with managing local water cycles, we can reverse our disastrous climate course. During this inspiring and informative conference, we will discuss how to rapidly move carbon out of the skies and use it to support a diversity of life both above and below ground.
Speakers
Gina Angiola, MD is a retired physician who has served as an educator and organizer on a wide array of issues ranging from election integrity to environmental sustainability. Most recently, she helped lead the successful campaign for a legislative ban on fracking in Maryland. As a lifelong advocate for healthy environments and a climate activist for over 14 years, she has worked to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy-based economy; she is now committed to promoting ecosystem restoration as the most urgent priority in addressing climate change. She serves as a Board Member of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate and Deputy Director of the DC Chapter, and as a Board member of Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility. She received her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at MIT and her MD from University of California, Irvine.
Alexis Baden-Mayer, Esq.Political Director, Regeneration International and Organic Consumers Association
Regeneration International, a project of the Organic Consumers Association, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to building a global network of farmers, scientists, businesses, activists, educators, journalists, governments and consumers who will promote and put into practice regenerative agriculture and land-use practices that: provide abundant, nutritious food; revive local economies; rebuild soil fertility and biodiversity; and restore climate stability by returning carbon to the soil, through the natural process of photosynthesis. Through our global network, we are connected to 3.6 million consumers, farmers, activists, scientists and policymakers in over 100 countries. http://regenerationinternational.org
Philip Bogdonoff is an engineer by training and an ecologist by heart. He serves as a Board Member of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate and Director of the Washington DC Chapter. He is a past trustee and board chair of Friends Community School; a co-founder of the Sustainable Washington Alliance; a past vice president of the Millennium Institute; and has been a consultant in the Environment Department of the World Bank; and worked as research assistant in the Section of Ecology and Systematics at Cornell University, helping to model the global carbon cycle. He and Jim Laurie constructed DC’s first “Living Machine” more than 15 years ago. More recently, he facilitated the introduction of Maryland’s Healthy Soils bill (HB1063), which we expect Governor Hogan to sign any day now.
Cleo Braver has the pleasure of living on Cottingham Farm with her husband Allie Tyler, where she and her two full-time employees produce certified organic vegetables and pastured meat and eggs in order to contribute to a year-round natural resource-based economy. She sells to grocers, restaurants and any member of the public who wishes to drive out to the farm on Thursdays-Saturdays.
She enjoyed a previous career as an environmental lawyer for a public company, and she has always advocated for ways in which the law can serve the public interest, particularly with respect to the environment. Most recently, she has been engaged in efforts to create the non-profit Eastern Shore Food Hub to aggregate, market and distribute locally and sustainably produced foods, and engage communities in growing and eating healthy foods and recognizing the direct relationship between their personal food choices, personal and public health, the environment, and the economy.
Ben Friton is a soil ecologist, consultant and educator from the Washington DC area. For more than a decade he was a speech professional working with politicians, heads of state, CEOs, and philanthropic icons from around the world. In 2010, with the goal of helping to increase educational awareness and hyper-local food resiliency, he co-founded a non-profit called Can YA Love. Using biomimicry and his patented vertical gardening systems, he works to help people restore degraded lands into functioning ecosystems that produce what people need. In 2014 he joined Forested to help develop the most ecologically-sound agro-ecosystem possible.
Ed Huling is a nutritionist, researcher, environmentalist and farmer. He led a research project at the USDA about fourteen years ago, and learned about the decline of nutrients in our soil and our food. He founded New Day Farms to practice regenerative agriculture to address this serious issue and provide genuinely nutrient-dense greens to the public. He is also deeply interested in the role of healthy soils in the context of climate and is actively pursuing projects that will help build our knowledge base regarding this important relationship.
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 resiliency in communities. Charlene was a member of ASCE’s Blue Ribbon Review Panel to review the Water Environment Federation’s Manual of Practice No. 23, Design of Urban Stormwater Controls. She is a member of the DC Chapter of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, Environmental Water Resources Institute, and the Water Environment Federation.
Emily Landis is the Global Coastal Wetlands Strategy Lead at The Nature Conservancy. Her primary focus is on the role coastal wetlands play in sequestering carbon and climate adaptation. Emily comes with a marine background working for the Global Ocean Commission, Pew Charitable Trusts, and Rare. She holds a Master’s Degree in biology from University College London, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental science and international policy from American University.
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 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine” methodology invented by ecological visionary, and Buckminster Fuller Award recipient, John Todd.
Prior to that, for twenty years Jim was a biologist and trainer in the chemical industry in Houston, TX, where his work with living machines resulted in processing effluent cleaner than possible with conventional technology. Jim has also been a passionate advocate for Holistic Management of grasslands in the past decade. He began studying with Allan Savory twenty years ago in Texas, has spoken about Holistic Management at Harvard, MIT, Tufts, the Stockholm Environment Institute, and at meetings of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN) and Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA), and has been instrumental in spreading the message in New England.
Jim is also co-founder of a lively and sophisticated Google Group, Soil-Age, and he invites you to join!
Nick MaravellFarmer, Buckeystown, MD, has been farming organically for more than 40 years, using a diversified grass-based farming system, with an 8- 12 year rotation. Committed to developing local and regional food systems, Nick has helped establish and operate several farmer cooperatives, has conducted on- farm organic research in cooperation with USDA and Land Grant Universities, and has worked on a national organic research agenda and legislation to fund on- farm organic systems research. He has been active in many local, state and national groups dedicated to organic and sustainable agriculture, and was instrumental in establishing the MD Dept. of Agriculture organic certification program. Nick served a five-year term on National Organic Standards Board (2011- 2016).
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 application of green infrastructure for stormwater management. He led projects in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East. He was invited to testify before the U.S. Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. Dan has authored over 80 publications, presentations, and workshops on urban watershed issues. He was co-editor of the latest Manual of Practice for Design of Urban Stormwater Controls published jointly by WEF and ASCE. He is a consultant for the World Bank and was formerly a professor of Civil Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Margaret Morgan-Hubbard, Founder and CEO of ECO City Farms, is an organizer, educator, activist and life-long environmentalist. Morgan-Hubbard’s prior professional experience includes: directing the Engaged University at the University of Maryland; leading the Office of Communications at the US Environmental Protection Agency; heading a national environmental organization and managing DC’s Low Income Weatherization and related Block Grant housing programs. She is a state-certified compost site manager, an active member of the Port Towns Community Health Partnership, and a recipient of the National Capital Area Chapter American Planning Association’s Distinguished Leadership of a Citizen Planner award. Morgan-Hubbard holds a BA from Bennington College, a Masters from Columbia University, and a second Masters from New School for Social Research, where she also completed her coursework for the PhD.
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 born. Fair Farms is now a movement of Marylanders of all stripes, working together for a new food system — one that’s fair to farmers, invests in homegrown, healthy food, and restores our waterways instead of polluting them. www.waterkeeperschesapeake.com
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 Masters in Environmental Microbiology from West Virginia University, and a Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of Maryland.
Dr. Nichols has worked as a Soil Microbiologist with the USDA for over 14 years, the first three in Beltsville, MD and then at Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory (NGPRL) in Mandan, ND for the next 11 years.
Adam Sacks has had careers in education, holistic medicine, computer technology, politics and advocacy. For five years he directed a non-profit that worked with communities invoking basic democratic and constitutional principles to oppose detrimental local corporate activity. He has been a climate activist for the past sixteen years and has been studying and writing about Holistic Management since 2007. On the side he is an artist, writer, and student of classical piano. His primary goal is regeneration of biodiversity and a livable planet.
Lincoln Smith runs Forested, a 10-acre forest garden in Bowie, MD. He tests forest farming methods, educates aspiring forest farmers, consults on new forest farms and brings forest products to market. He produces a forest garden farm share, has designed food forest parks planted in the DC region, and holds forest-to-table events. Check out the National Geographic article about his forest garden in Bowie, MD (www.Forested.us).
Ling Tan is a founding member of Safe Grow Montgomery, an all-volunteer coalition that advocates for safer communities through healthy, pesticide-free lawns and outdoor spaces. Safe Grow Montgomery's efforts has made Montgomery County, Maryland, the first county in the country to enact legislation that would restrict the use of harmful lawn pesticides on public and private properties. She is also the pesticide chair of Sierra Club Maryland, working on related state legislations and grassroots pesticide campaigns.
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 organizations on water systems and environmental regulation, including the Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF), the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, DC. Claudio has a doctorate in jurisprudence (JD) from Pace University School of Law (White Plains, NY), a Master Degree in Public Policy (MPP) from George Mason University (Arlington, VA), and a BA from Concordia College (Bronxville, NY).
Paul Tukey, Author, The Organic Lawn Care Manual, and Chief Sustainability Officer, Glenstone Museum, is credited with spearheading the movement against utilization of synthetic chemical pesticides on lawns. Paul Tukey is an internationally recognized and honored sustainability consultant, entrepreneur, author, publisher, lecturer, filmmaker, television host and producer. A dynamic leader of several high-profile organizations in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, and a sought-after consultant and public speaker, he currently develops sustainability protocols for the Glenstone Foundation near Washington, DC.
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 pollution. In preparation of the 2018 Farm Bill and with the new science on soil health, he is working at the intersection of Climate and Agriculture/land-use to benefit farmers, ranchers, the environment and health. He also actively collaborates with Biodiversity for a Livable Climate in Washington, DC and Maryland. www.beneficialresults.com
8:30 a.m. – Registration, Coffee, and Conversation
Philip Bogdonoff, Director, Washington DC Chapter, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate Adam Sacks, Executive Director, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
9:15 – Back to 300 (Nature Wants to be Wet and Cool)
Many strategies exist for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and rehydrating the continents. Jim Laurie will review a broad vision of the potential for each ecosystem to be restored and to sequester carbon, building a graphic showing the global potential and timescale. Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Farmers have the potential to be the front-line heroes in the quest to reverse global warming. They manage a “technology” for massive planetary geotherapy that is tried and tested and available for widespread dissemination right now. It costs little and is adaptable to local contexts the world over. It can be rolled out tomorrow providing multiple benefits beyond climate stabilization. It’s farming the way the Earth does – with water, soil, land, clean air, and a stable climate. It’s farming like human health, animal health, and ecosystem health matter. It’s farming in a way that restores and even improves on soil’s natural ability to hold carbon. By emphasizing whole systems — and food systems functioning as a whole — farmers can increase productivity while healing the planet. Kris Nichols, Chief Scientist, Rodale Institute
Restorative land management includes regenerative grazing and agricultural practices that build healthy soils and support a diversity of life above and below ground. It applies to a range of settings, from urban to rural, and from small to large-acreage farms and ranches. Managing for ecosystem health brings a host of co-benefits, ranging from the production of more nutritious foods to increasing resilience against droughts and floods to building local economies and stronger communities. Panel moderator: Gina Angiola, Deputy Director, DC Chapter, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate Panelists: * Margaret Morgan-Hubbard — ECO City Farms * Ed Huling — New Day Farms * Cleo Braver — Cottingham Farm * Nick Maravell — Nick’s Organic Farm
Our conventional view of water for decades has been to send it out to the oceans as quickly as possible. A new water paradigm developed by Michal Kravcik and colleagues explains why it’s so important to keep water where it lands on the ground for as long as possible. This simple shift in water management can make a dramatic difference in the course of global warming. Adam Sacks, Executive Director, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Healthy soils and water cycles are closely intertwined. Opportunities abound to restore fresh and saltwater wetlands, and to manage urban, suburban and rural water flows in ways that help cool the planet. Nature has fascinating and powerful systems for water cycling; working WITH nature is vital to restoring healthy biodiverse ecosystems, to building resilient communities, and to cooling our human environment. Examples include small and large water cycles, the role of animals like beavers in restoration efforts, human engineering strategies at local, state, national, and international levels, wetland restoration, and living shoreline programs. Panel moderator: Charlene Johnston, Washington DC Chapter, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate * Dan Medina, PhD, PE, D.WRE – Senior Engineer, Limnotech * Emily Landis – The Nature Conservancy * Claudio Ternieden – Water Environment Federation
Perennial food systems can play a vital role in developing sustainable food supplies while restoring ecosystems. Food forests work WITH nature to restore carbon, water, and nutrient cycles, optimizing food production while minimizing requirements for external inputs. New food options abound and can be grown in back yards and local communities. Permaculture principles have broad application to building resilient communities. Lincoln Smith & Ben Friton of Forested
Q&A with Lincoln and Ben
3:30 – Community and Movement Leaders: Legislation, Advocacy, and What Can I Do?
There are many ways to participate in this transformative movement to build sustainable, healthy, resilient communities and to restore ecosystem function. From engaging elected officials, to using your wallet to support regenerative/restorative activities, to transforming your own front or back yard to sequester more carbon, to growing your own food. All of us have a role – or many roles – to play in reversing global warming, restoring ecosystem health and ultimately cooling the planet to a safe average temperature. Panel moderator: Tod Wickersham, Washington DC Chapter, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate * Paul Tukey, Author, Organic Lawn Care Manual, Chief Sustainability Officer, Glenstone Museum * Alexis Baden-Mayer, Esq., Political Director, Regeneration International and Organic Consumers Association * Ling Tan, founding member of —Safe Grow Montgomery * Betsy Nicholas, Executive Director, Waterkeepers Chesapeake and Fair Farms
Note: Author Paul Tukey will be available to sign books at the end of the conference.
An in-depth, inspiring conversation on Carbon Sequestration and learn what practical steps you can take to ensure that your interactions with the landscape make positive impacts.
This day-long program included many land care practitioners including land managers, farmers, researchers, and conservationists about what is possible for soil carbon and landscape restoration. From yards to farms to greenways to commons to gardens, how we treat our soils impacts the climate.
We know soil is alive. In fact, in one tablespoon of healthy soil there are more microorganisms than there are people on this planet. A highly functional, thriving soil has the capacity to store carbon, absorb water like a sponge, and support a thriving landscape. For years we have viewed soil through its physical and chemical properties, and we are beginning to realize the crucial role of biology in soil function and health. Now we are finding that from back yards to farms to greenways to commons to gardens, how we treat our soils has implications for the global climate.
Join Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, the Ecological Landscape Alliance, the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA/Mass), and the Organic Land Care of NOFA/CT for a day-long program that offers practical tips and applications for how you, too, can be part of the climate solution. Whether you are a gardening enthusiast, farmer, conservation/restoration specialist, or landscape professional, there are positive changes that you can make. Whether you work to reduce compaction using biology, actively build soil carbon, increase soil biodiversity and resilience above and below ground, or heal degraded landscapes, you will walk away with practical tips to apply to your own setting. The synergy of many individuals taking small steps can result in big impacts!
Come learn from experts in the field such as carbon expert and author, rancher and activist Courtney White with his new book Two Percent Solutions for the Planet. Additional carbon experts include Eric Fleisher, Chip Osborne, Paul Wagner, Bruce Fulford, Bryan O’Hara, Hugh McLaughlin, PhD, and Jim Laurie.
Eric T. Fleisher is the Director of Horticulture for the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy. Battery Park City is an urban area located in south Manhattan in New York City. This park is a 92-acre planned community created through regenerating healthy soil and reusing local materials. As the Director of Horticulture for over 25 years, Eric's vision for Battery Park City’s ecological approach has made this community a role model for other urban and rural areas.
Bruce Fulford is the owner of City Soil and Greenhouse, a company based in Boston that works on agricultural projects ranging from community gardens to commercial farms. Bruce's publications, educational outreach, and presentations have contributed to the development of more efficient and equitable resource management.
Bruce works closely with organizations focused on land remediation and agricultural business development. He chairs the Massachusetts Audubon Society's (MAS) Boston Nature Center the Environment Committee, is a member of the MAS Council and its Climate Change committee, the Ecological Landscape Association, and the US Composting Council.
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 visionary, and Buckminster Fuller Award recipient, John Todd.
Prior to that, for twenty years Jim was a biologist and trainer in the chemical industry in Houston, TX, where his work with living machines resulted in processing effluent cleaner than possible with conventional technology. Jim has also been a passionate advocate for Holistic Management of grasslands in the past decade. He began studying with Allan Savory twenty years ago in Texas, has spoken about Holistic Management at Harvard, MIT, Tufts, the Stockholm Environment Institute, and at meetings of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN) and Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA), and has been instrumental in spreading the message in New England. Jim is also co-founder of a lively and sophisticated Google Group, Soil-Age, and he invites you to join!
Hugh McLaughlin, PhD, PE has a professional consulting practice in Chemical Engineering. He is a biochar engineer and the inventor of the NextChar Machine. Hugh has numerous publications on biochar and biomass derived heat production. He co-authored “All Biochars are not Created Equal and How to Tell them Apart” (2009) and “U.S. Focused Biochar Report: Assessment of Biochar’s Benefits for the United States of America” (2010).
Charles “Chip” Osborne, Jr. is the President of Osborne Organics, LLC, and Founder of the Organic Landscape Association. He has over 10 years experience in developing sustainable landscapes through natural turf management, and has 35 years experience as a professional horticulturist.
Chip has become a regular lecturer for the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), is a board member of Beyond Pesticides, and Chairman of the Marblehead, Massachusetts’ Recreation and Parks Department. In 1998 Chip and Pat Beckett co-founded The Living Lawn Project in Marblehead, MA, one of the United States' first natural lawn demonstration displays. This project is a nationally-recognized, living example that abundant, healthy grass can be grown without the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.
Bryan O’Hara intensively farms three acres of market vegetables in Lebanon, Connecticut, at Tobacco Road Farm. He began his career in 1990, and over the years, through trial and error, has developed an extremely successful no-till, pesticide-free system. He was named the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s (NOFA) Farmer of the Year in 2016.
Paul Wagner is the president of Greener Pastures Organics, a property care company located in Southampton, N.Y. He has over 15 years of experience in science-based organic tree, shrub and lawn care. Paul is a Board Certified Master Arborist, as well as a NYS Certified Nursery Professional with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture.
Courtney White is an author and regenerative land management activist. In 1997, he cofounded the Quivira Coalition, a nonprofit in Santa Fe, New Mexico, that works with progressive ranchers and farmers on regenerative agriculture, ecological restoration, and collaborative conservation. As Executive Director, he helped implement these practices as well as explain their hopefulness in numerous publications and speaking events. In 2015, Courtney left the organization to become a full-time writer. His specialty is explaining complex topics via compelling stories.
Morning Session Focus Understanding Carbon in the Landscape
8:35 – Two Percent Solutions for the Planet Courtney White, Author, Regenerative Land Management Activist Video The potential for large-scale removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through plant photosynthesis and related land-based carbon sequestration activities is both large and largely overlooked. Strategies and co-benefits include: enriching soil carbon, no-till farming with perennials, employing climate-friendly livestock practices, conserving natural habitat, restoring degraded watersheds and rangelands, increasing biodiversity, and producing local food. In Two Percent Solutions for the Planet, Courtney White profiles fifty different strategies that work together economically and ecologically with the aim of reducing the atmospheric content of CO2 while producing substantial co-benefits for all living things.
9:30 – Understanding Compaction Eric T. Fleisher, Landscape Designer Video Severely compacted soil has poor structure and soil foodweb diversity which results in poor carbon harvesting. T. Fleisher will explain compaction causes and cures (across all managed landscapes).
10:00 – Digging Deep into Soil Practices Bryan O’Hara, Farmer Video Continuing the compaction discussion, Mr. OHara will focus on boosting soil biology with no-till farming, cover cropping, and Korean Natural Farming practices. The common thread is the focus on beneficial fungal growth and the role that Fungi play in carbon sequestration.
10:45 – Building Biodiversity Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist Video Restoring biodiversity to the land is the key to a healthy water cycle, building carbon rich organic matter in soils, and improving plant health and immunity to disease. Mr. Laurie will show how the symbiosis of mycorrhizal fungi, insects, nematodes, and beaver once built soils tens of feet deep. Jim will also discuss how improving the infiltration of rainwater into the soil can ameliorate the flood and drought cycles we have seen in recent years.
11:15 – Moderated Panel with Morning Speakers Courtney White, T. Fleisher, Bryan O’Hara, Jim Laurie Video
Afternoon Session Focus –Humans as Agents for Positive Change Speakers offer their “Top 5 List” of what YOU can do!
1:15 –Understanding Soil Biology: The Trophic Levels Paul Wagner, Certified Arborist Video A review of trophic levels and how to ensure that at least the first three levels are present to build landscape health, including discussion of specific techniques. Beyond the basics of bacteria and fungi, Mr. Wagner will help us to understand the third trophic level (the shredders, predators and grazers).
1:45 – The Importance of Compost Bruce Fulford, Owner, City Soil and Greenhouse, Boston Video Mr. Fulford explains compost from multiple feedstock streams and how to apply it for best long term soil stabilization. We will learn about the carbon release of traditional compost applications and how different feedstocks have different long term effects. Every plant pulls in carbon and we learn how to maximize the results.
2:15 – Biochar’s Role in the Landscape Hugh McLaughlin, Ph.D., Biochar Engineer, CTO NextChar, Inc. Video Creating biochar is an ancient technique brought forward in time to keep carbon both stable and active in the soil for much longer than compost. What does it take to access and use modern biochar – and what is needed to inoculate it before large scale application? Dr. McLaughlin will help us to understand net carbon – carbon sink, carbon neutral, carbon emitting – and how we can work toward the goal of creating carbon sinks.
2:45 – Turf – Ecological Options Chip Osborne, Horticulturalist Video Mr. Osborne takes a close look at how grass roots and their seasonal surging (expansion and contraction) can help to create soil. We learn to increase biodiversity by allowing broadleaved plants (weeds!) to mix into conventional turf and how this can heighten the quality of soil life supported by root exudates. With lawns covering large expanses of the landscape, even small changes can have a big impact.
3:30 – Moderated Panel with Afternoon Speakers Chip Osborne, Paul Wagner, Hugh McLaughlin, Bruce Fulford Video
4:00 – Wrap-up Courtney White Video NOTE: This presentation was shortened due to an incoming snowstorm!
One person makes a small contribution but many people, acting with intent and carbon awareness, can make a much bigger contribution to carbon sequestration and global climate stability. Take the information from today and work it into all of your land management decisions – whether you’re managing (or helping to manage) a back yard, a farm, or an institutional land management program.
View the the conference videos, links on our program page.
And here are some rave reviews:
“This was a really FABULOUS conference. I learned an amazing amount that I didn’t know! I’ve been to many conferences during my career and I was really impressed with the impeccable quality of both the research presented and the researchers presenting.” – Fred Jennings
“Feeling totally in awe at your ability to deliver such thought-provoking, hopeful, and totally engaging conferences. They just get better and better.” – Lori Gill-Pazaris
“Thanks to you and your team for setting up a great conference. . . . My work is very specific to promoting marine biodiversity and sequestering carbon through regenerative community work in the areas of food, water and economics. I’ve felt like a lone wolf wandering around Indonesia looking for partners. It was incredible to spend the weekend with people doing such similar work.” – Jessica Hardy
“[Thank you] for the magnificent conference that filtered the bad feelings from the election, acted as a buffer against the tidal waves of emerging anger and hate, and gave us a paradigm for hope rather than despair.” – George Scarlett
“What a great experience it was to attend the Restoring Oceans, Restoring Climate conference put on by Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. The information provided was top-notch, and, while the science and stats are sobering, there is also plenty of hope provided by a number of varied ingenious initiatives on the ground and in the seas. Not only did my husband and I learn a lot, but we’re also now motivated to get more involved in these efforts – there is a lot of work to be done. Thank you Bio4Climate!” – Liz Merritt
Pufferfish and millions of other species want you!
A conference at Harvard University Museum of Natural History Geological Lecture Hall 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA Friday, November 18 – Sunday, November 20, 2016 Friday, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
For $8 parking at the nearby 52 Oxford Street garage, register on the visitor parking page (see bottom of this page for additional sage parking advice).
Human behavior has led to today’s global warming – can human behavior reverse it as well? We have been searching for – and finding – answers leading to Yes!
In all of our conferences we have faced pressing questions in this era of planetary degradation, mass extinction and climate disruption. We have also introduced many positive and powerful solutions for varied terrestrial habitats across the world, and brought hope to the difficult climate story we are living through.
Now we’re tackling a new and challenging player: Oceans. Covering 70% of the earth’s surface and currently harboring vast amounts of climate heat, many other questions arise:
What roles do oceans play in the viability of life on land?
What roles do terrestrial habitats play in the viability of life in the oceans?
What is the role of those extraordinarily productive “edges” where land and water meet?
What are the ocean equivalents of regenerative management practices on land?
What are the dynamics of ocean life? If you were a bacterium, plankton, squid, fish or dolphin, what would oceans look like to you? What would you ask humans to do to preserve your habitats?
Finally, what are the relationships between oceans and land? How can we manage both for the good of the entire planetary system and the creatures who live here?
As in our prior six conferences, we’ll examine eco-restoration and the power of nature to heal global damage and reverse global warming. We will step beyond our conventional assumptions to hear from forward-thinking scientists, ocean restoration experts, fisheries professionals and activists about the remarkable possibilities of regenerated abundant oceans for a healthy and livable planet, on land and at sea.
Join us for a vast virtual ocean voyage and a weekend of fascination, promise and hope!
A word about our ticket prices: On the one hand we want everyone and anyone who would like to attend our conferences to be able to afford to do so. On the other we are a small non-profit with limited resources and need ticket revenue to pay for conference expenses. Our ticket structure is meant to reflect both of those needs. So we ask you to feel free to buy a $20 ticket if that’s what’s comfortably affordable for you, and if you can afford a bit more but not $150, simply make an additional donation here. You’ll also get a free ticket if you volunteer to help before or during the conference. And if a full-price ticket is within your means, we greatly appreciate it. But more important than anything else is that we’d love to have you join us to share in this weekend full of beauty, wonder and hope.
Tickets: Regular, $150, Students/Low-Budget, $20 Volunteer and scholarship opportunities available – please contact staff@bio4climate.org.
For $8 parking at the nearby 52 Oxford Street garage, register on the visitor parking page.
In the Department drop-down menu, select “Visitor to campus”, enter code 7700. When you purchase the permit, Affiliation is “Event Participant” and the Event Name is “Oceans Restoration Conference”. If you successfully navigate this process and obtain your parking permit you may qualify for admission to Harvard (the $8 probably won’t cover your tuition, but at least you won’t get a parking ticket). If you have any questions, please call the Campus Service Center, 617-495-3772.
NOTE: On-street parking is free (not metered) in Cambridge on Sundays.
Saturday, April 30, 2016 A conference at Harvard University Geological Lecture Hall 24 Oxford Street Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Tickets: Regular, $50; Early-Bird (by April 11th), $35; Students/Low-Income, $15
Biodiversity is the foundation of a healthy ecosystem. Biodiversity varies from habitat to habitat, but an abundance of different species in any habitat provides the resilience and strength necessary for a system as a whole to survive and to thrive despite the inevitable changes Mother Nature casts its way.
In this conference we will present the concepts, history, and processes for the restoration of biodiversity, along with its myriad benefits. We will emphasize how we can apply what we’ve learned from a variety of cultural and species perspectives to advocate for regeneration of healthy, biodiverse landscapes that draw down atmospheric carbon, restore water cycles and reverse global warming. Finally, we will consider many environmental and social issues that we now face, and examine how biodiversity is at the heart of the solutions — not only for humans, but for the whole interconnected web of life that has made Planet Earth unique in the known universe.
We invite sponsorship and partnership from individuals and organizations, which may include support for conference organizing, publicity, administrative support, venue, and operating expenses. For inquiries please contact climate2016@bio4climate.org
For further background information, please see our Resources page.
Even with elevated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, water can cool the biosphere and address destructive feedbacks in the climate system.
Friday – Sunday, October 16-18, 2015 A conference at Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts, USA (Boston area) Sponsored by the Tufts Institute of the Environment
Photo by Brocken Inaglory
Water and its remarkable physical properties make life on earth possible. In this conference we will pay particular attention to water’s role in regulating climate through its capacity to store, move and transfer more heat than any other natural compound. Water is a planetary thermostat, and even with elevated greenhouse gases in the atmosphere it can cool the biosphere and address destructive feedback loops in the climate system.
Good water management is a facet of good land management, which we covered broadly at last year’s conference, Restoring Ecosystems to Reverse Global Warming. This year we will carefully examine the water cycle, how we can have a dramatic positive influence on it, and in so doing successfully address drought, floods, soil health, food production and climate.
Although water and carbon travel together, water cycles can be restored even more quickly than soil sequestration can reduce atmospheric carbon levels. Thus, while we’re drawing down atmospheric carbon, we can significantly cool the surface of the earth to mitigate and even reverse the damage done to date by elevated planetary temperatures.
All we have to do is bring over 12 billion ruined acres back to life. And we can!
Registration: Sliding scale, $15 – $150. Please pay as much as you can afford to help with conference expenses and funding scholarships/work exchange (ten slots available, contact climate2015@bio4climate.org). Student tickets are in limited supply so make your purchase now before they sell out! Register for the conference here.
Speakers: We are bringing together a roster of world-class experts, climate advocates, scientists, practitioners. We ask speakers to be available all weekend if possible to participate in networking and exchanges with attendees and one another.
Precious Phiri, Founding Director of EarthWisdom Consulting Company and former Senior Facilitator at the Africa Center for Holistic Management (ACHM) in Zimbabwe.
Walter Jehne, leading Australian soil and climate scientist, Director of Healthy Soils Australia.
Tom Goreau, biogeophysicist, climate scientist and leading coral reef restoration expert, president of the Global Coral Reef Alliance.
Carol Evans, Nevada BLM fisheries biologist whose work has been featured in the film The Beaver Whisperers, highlighting her deep involvement in monitoring the impact that planned grazing and returning beaver have had on restoring watersheds.
Jon Griggs, ranch manager for Maggie Creek Ranch, a beef-cattle operation running on both public and private lands in the high desert of Northeastern Nevada.
Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, who has been working with water – and biodiversity – for decades.
Scott Horsley, an expert in watershed planning and water resources management who has served as a consultant to federal, state, and local jurisdictions around the world.
Steven Apfelbaum, chairman at Applied Ecological Services and one of the leading ecological consultants in the U.S. who has contributed his unique creative scientific expertise to over 1,500 projects throughout North America and beyond.
Charlotte O’Brien, President and CEO of Carbon Drawdown Solutions, an entrepreneuer and pyrolysis and biomass expert who has worked for years with many varieties of bamboo.
Judith Schwartz, longtime freelance writer and author of several books including Cows Save the Planet, and a new book on water due out later this year.
Jan Lambert, 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.
Allison Houghton, permaculture and gardening instructor who manages the Greater Boston CSA for The Food Project, orchard manager and assistant grower for Lincoln Farm and former horticultural director for Green City Growers.
Adam Sacks, Executive Director, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, a long-time climate activist with extensive experience in non-profit management, computer technology, education, politics, advocacy, and holistic medicine.
Our primary urgent goal in the face of widespread breakdown in addressing climate change is to further the understanding necessary to embark on the global regeneration process. Collectively we will present affordable strategies for restoration of water cycles that local, national and international governments, agencies, communities and individuals may rapidly implement in order to reverse global warming.
Land Restoration in Mexico: 1963 – 2003. Regenerated water and carbon cycles enhance food and water security. Photo credits: Guillermo Osuna.
Hope
There is a way, which has yet to take its rightful place at the heart of the climate debate: the capacity of the natural world to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in soils worldwide.
Restoration of global water cycles is essential to a successful climate strategy.
The biosphere is a powerful geological force. While it is not yet widely understood, the life force has been terraforming the earth for the past 3.5 billion years, from vast rock formations to an oxygen atmosphere to soils and weather and everything in-between. Forces of living systems, managed for healthy biodiversity and natural cycles, will capture prodigious amounts of carbon dioxide. If we set up favorable conditions, nature will store greenhouse gases in complex and stable biomolecules in soils, the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet, as it has done for eons.
We already have the knowledge and experience to move ahead confidently with all due haste. Scientists and practitioners of eco-restoration have decades of experience, repeatedly having demonstrated dramatic successes in bringing dying lands back to life in only a few years, regenerating ecosystems such as dry grasslands, humid jungles, and temperate forests.
To accomplish this on a global scale would not only address a rapidly deteriorating climate, but restore flourishing habitats for the millions of species that we depend upon across the world. We can bring untold benefits, including food production and economic security, to people everywhere. Best of all, it is low-tech and low-cost – and when given a chance, the biodiverse life in the world’s soils will do 99% of the work.
We invite sponsorship and partnership from individuals and organizations, which may include support for conference organizing, publicity, administrative support, venue, and operating expenses.
Restoring Ecosystems to Reverse Global Warming, Washington, DC
Promoting the power of nature to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere where it does untold damage, and restore it to the soils where it supports abundant life and helps reverse global warming.
Source: http://bostongreenschools.org/
Saturday, September 26, 2015, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Moot Court Room David A. Clarke School of Law University of the District of Columbia 4340 Connecticut Avenue Northwest Washington, DC 20008
Sponsored by Moral Action on Climate, People Demanding Action, and the University of the District of Columbia Law School
Thank you to all who participated in this extraordinary event! We’ve received many enthusiastic responses from conference attendees.
“It was an awesome conference!”
“Bravo on a conference well done! This most certainly has laid a very strong foundation for the longer program ahead!”
“Thank you for the inspired leadership in making this conference happen. I was thrilled to be part of it! There is a new sense of hope in me that we can actually make a difference!”
Program
Desired Outcomes:
Introduce people to the new ideas that represent the other side of the CO2/Climate Equation – the biological “sink”
Emphasize that the task is broader than just the atmospheric CO2. It is also about ecosystems and how humans can partner with Nature
We want people to meet each other and become part of a WDC area community working together (scientists, students, activists, farmers, policymakers, thought leaders) to promote these ideas
Leave the conference inspired with hope and with ideas for how to take action
Outline of the Conference:
Welcome and Overview
The Science of ecosystem restoration to sequester carbon
Land Management to restore soil fertility, produce nutritious food, and increase soil carbon
Restoring Water Cycles to reduce droughts and flooding and to cool the planet
Local Connections
Activism / Taking it Home
The general format is 20 minutes of speaking & 10 minutes of Q&A per each 30 minute session, with some deviations here and there. Our speakers will be sharing a lot of new information and our format will limit their ability to go into much depth. Please understand when the ticking clock means we need to go on to the next speaker. We hope the new ideas inspire you to learn more on your own.
10 – 10:30 am – Session 1: Welcome and an Overview of the New Climate Paradigm
Philip Bogdonoff, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate– Welcome & Logistics
Joe Libertelli, UDC David A. Clarke School of Law, Director of Alumni Affairs – Welcome
Adam Sacks, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate – The Other Side of the Climate Change Equation
Meet the organizers and sponsors of the conference, with an overview of the day, learn what to expect and what we hope will happen next in the soil carbon and climate endeavor. This conference is an important step on an urgent yet remarkable and rewarding journey. You are all a central part of this as-yet unwritten saga to address the intertwined issues of habitat loss and climate change.
10:30 – 11 am – Session 2: State of the World
Dr. Leah Rampy, Climate Leadership Project
To allow us all to have a basic reference point about the state of the world’s climate, Dr. Leah Rampy will provide, by way of excerpts from the slides provided by Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, a recap of where we are and the most recent signs that our planet is warming.
11 – 11:30 am – Session 3: The Amazing Power of Nature:
Sequestering Carbon through Ecosystem Restoration
Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Bringing degraded lands back to life may be easier and faster than we generally think. Mostly it has to do with us humans helping by restoring keystone species that we previously destroyed. We already know how to do this: using low- or no-tech approaches, restoration ecologist Jim Laurie has seen rapid and dramatic restoration unfold more times than he can count – and he’s amazed every single time. He’s happy to share his insights and inspirations with us.
Q&A [10 minutes]
11:30 – 11:45 am – COFFEE BREAK
11:45 am – 12:15 pm – Session 4: Nutritious Food Starts in the Soil
Dan Kittredge, Bionutrient Food Association
Everything we eat depends on the health of the soil. When essential minerals are missing from the soil, they’re missing from the plants and animals that feed us. Our health suffers and disease can run rampant, common consequences of industrial agricultural practices. Dan Kittredge, lifelong farmer and nutrition expert, explains how it works and how we can bring new life to our soils, to biodiversity on planet earth, and to ourselves.
Q&A [10 minutes]
12:15 pm – 12:45 pm – Session 5: Holistic Management in Practice: The Ecological, Economic, and Social Benefits
Precious Phiri, Founding Director, EarthWisdom Consulting Company
Precious Phiri directs engagement and training for villages in the Hwange Communal Landsregion that are implementing restorative grazing programs using Holistic Land and Livestock Management in Zimbabwe. This cost-effective, nature-based and highly scalable solution helps rural communities in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, restore food and water security, and reduce drought and flood risks. Precious was born and raised in one of these communities now implementing restorative grazing.
Bring your own brown-bag lunch or go out to local restaurants.
1:45 – 1:50 pm – Recap and a few thoughts
Adam Sacks, Executive Director, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
1:50 – 2:30 pm – Session 6: Washington DC Regional Carbon Farming (Panel)
Hear from the experience of local farmers about what works and doesn’t and their suggestions for increasing and improving soil carbon farming in this region. Which of the previously-mentioned methods is applicable to our moister climate? What is the most effective way to sequester carbon in the soil? What are the main obstacles each of you needs to overcome? What needs to change in the buying public’s mind and in our regulatory environment to facilitate the growth of soil carbon farming here?
Greg will share how their holistic agriculture strategy balances economic, social and environmental elements through an ecosystem-management approach, and how they use rotational grazing to regenerate the soil.
Nick grows corn, soybeans, barley, and hay; raises chickens and cattle and sells grass-fed meat. He calls himself a “carbon farmer” and says his system is similar to the “English ley” and is adapted to our region’s climate. He will provide his perspective on local farming challenges, the role of small-scale solutions, and the opportunities that exist to get local buy-in for a more closely-knit regional food system, including closing nutrient cycles.
After years of being a vegetarian, Will came to understand the importance of animals on the land. He spent a summer on a farm near St. Mary’s City, Md. near Chesapeake Bay, and came home to DC to found Tenleytown Meat to help that farms and other to be able to sustain their wholistic farming practices and offer their healthy food to urban consumers. He says “We care about responsibly growing our company and developing our brand for we believe our presence will be a benefit for the region and its people. The farmers we support use practices that are helping to reverse the trends of our industrial food system. We partner with farms that are centered on healthy animals, clean air, water, and land, that are managed with integrity, and are not blinded by the bottom line.”
In addition to being a native Washingtonian, Che is a third generation farmer. In 1918 after relocating to Washington, D.C. from Alabama, Mr. Axum’s paternal great-great-grandfather started farming in the northeast section of the city. Additionally, his maternal great-grandfather was an established farmer in Mitchellville, Maryland. He will share his perspective on this legacy of farming in the region and what direction it could go in the future, and what needs to done to help get it there.
Q & A [10 minutes]
Jim Laurie, Restoration Ecologist, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
This session is designed to give a taste of the theme of the next Tufts conference, “Restoring Water Cycles to Reverse Global Warming”, i.e, what we are learning very recently from the work of people like Michael Kravcik about the importance of managing not only for carbon, but also for water (they are closely linked), and the potential of water cycles around the world to help humanity cool the earth in the short term, perhaps giving us some additional time to extract the CO2 from the atmosphere. Jim will also report on the remarkable recovery of the Susie Creek ecosystem in the U.S.’s driest state, Nevada, due to the activities of beavers.
Q&A [10 minutes]
3:00 – 3:30 pm – Session 8: Community Scale Solutions – from Beavers to Biochar (Panel)
We’ll survey a few of the many methods and opportunities for individuals, businesses and new entrepreneurs to contribute to the abundance and self-sufficiency possible through eco-restoration and carbon farming. Endeavors that work with nature are virtually endless, and may include composting, mulch, materials recycling, food production, biogas digestion, organic and solar-driven land care, biochar, soil testing, rock powders, microbial soil treatments, innovative gardening, small farm animals – and more. Learning about these opportunities is the beginning to partnerships to support urban and suburban agriculture and associated services such as business incubators for positive local economic development – and contribute to growing global efforts to reverse global warming, in ways that only nature can!
3:00 – 3:04 pm Moderator: Gina Angiola – Gina will touch on remineralization and Organic Farming 2.0
3:04 – 3:11 pm Biochar – Adam Sacks, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate – www.bio4climate.org
3:45 – 4:15 pm – Session 9: Taking it Home / Action Steps
Larry Kopald, Co-Founder and President of The Carbon Underground [20 minutes]
Advertising professional and environmentalist Larry Kopald views the nature of the paradigm shift that global warming forces us to face. He will review the issues that give us the best leverage moving forward, and will address the human social phenomenon of marketplaces. Stripped to its basics, a marketplace is people having relationships with other people. How can we optimize our use of the marketplace for messages about climate and soils, and move to action on reversing the course of climate.
Q&A [10 minutes]
4:15 – 5:00 pm – Conclusion: Regional, National, and World Action: Paris COP-21 and Beyond
Legislative Action in the US – Sudheer Shukla will discuss the Citizen Climate Lobby’s Carbon Fee & Dividend proposal — the current status of this proposal and its possible expansion to include soil carbon farming.
Young Leaders – What Do We Need to Accomplish at the Paris COP21 Meetings?
Anthony Torres, COP21 Delegate, SustainUS Media Team; Class of 2015, Leadership Program, School of Public Affairs, American University
Climate and Regenerative Organic Agriculture: How to Build a Mass Movement
Alexis Baden-Mayer, Political Director, Organic Consumers Association,
Q&A [10 minutes]
5:00 – 5:15 pm – Fare well and stay in touch!
Thank you to all of our volunteers, UDC Law School for hosting us, to our speakers, funders, partners People Demanding Action and Moral Action on Climate, and to all you participants!
Next conference at Tufts: Restoring Water Cycles to Reverse Global Warming, Oct. 16-18, 2015
Stay tuned for a 2-3 day conference in DC in 2016 – and let us know if you want to help
How to stay in touch: DC contacts (Philip – philip.bogdonoff@bio4climate.org, Sudheer – sudheerpshukla@yahoo.com), BLC-DC@googlegroups.com, bio4climate.org/
Speakers
Gina Angiola, MD – Retired physician, Board member of Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Member, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, lifelong advocate for healthy environments. As a climate activist for over 12 years and a member of many large environmental organizations, most of her advocacy and action has focused on reducing emissions from the energy sector and from conventional food production. She now recognizes the urgent need to add ecological restoration and enhancement of carbon sinks to the agenda if we hope to re-establish a stable climate system and a livable planet for future generations.
Mchezaji “Che” Axum is the Director of the CAUSES Center for Urban Agriculture. He is a trained environmental agronomist with over 25 years of experience in agriculture. He leads a team of Researchers at the Muirkirk Research Farm in Beltsville, Maryland, and oversees the University’s DC Master Gardener, Specialty/Ethnic Crops and Urban Agriculture certificate programs. Read about Che on the UDC website and on the UDC Just CAUSES Blog.
Alexis Baden-Mayer, Esq., Political Director, Organic Consumers Association. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)3 public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children’s health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics. www.organicconsumers.org/
Philip Bogdonoff, Director, Washington DC Chapter, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. 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. He and Jim Laurie constructed Washington, DC’s first “Living Machine” more than 15 years ago.
Greg Glenn, Farm Manager, Rockland Farms (Poolesville, MD). During his time at Virginia Tech, Greg developed a passion for farming and local food systems. He studied small business agriculture and regional food systems, was actively involved in the local food system in Blacksburg, VA, and spent time in Kenya and South Africa where he became fascinated with holistic agriculture. After graduating with a degree in Agriculture Economics, he worked and trained in various social programs for resettled refugee training, and took the first steps to begin what would become Rocklands Farm. Rocklands Farm cultivates a bountiful harvest through an ecosystem-management approach to agriculture, utilizing multi-species rotational grazing as the centerpiece for soil regeneration. Rocklands hosts tours for people to gain insight into the dynamic complexities of a farm ecosystem, it’s wider effect on the environment, and how your food choices shape the future. Rocklands has an on-farm market for people to enjoy the bounty of the farm’s harvest, including meats, produce and wine produced at Rocklands.
Fritz Gottschalk is a recently retired Army Veteran who served for 25 years in a variety of military operations, focusing mostly on working with foreign militaries. He served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Panama, Haiti and throughout Western Africa. After leaving the military, he became a Maryland State Certified Compost Facility Operator and has worked with Veteran Compost in the DC Metropolitan area. His current position is in sales, research and operational development, as well as making organic compost. In addition, Fritz has begun to work on a Masters Degree in Environmental Resource Policy at George Washington University. www.veterancompost.com/
Dan Kittredge is a life-long farmer and founder of the Bionutrient Food Association. He launched The Real Food Campaign (RFC) in 2008, to empower and educate farmers towards the production of quality food for the improvement of human health. In 2008 and 2009 RFC made major strides in developing a cohesive local, national and global vision, and networked nationally to build the base to implement its mission. Under Dan’s leadership in 2009-2010 RFC began holding yearlong courses on Nutrient Dense Crop Production and building a professional team of staff.
Larry Kopald has been a communications and branding professional for over twenty-five years, working at some of the world’s top advertising agencies. He has overseen the advertising for brands ranging from McDonalds to American Express to Honda, and has helped launch multibillion-dollar brands like Acura, Oracle, and Huggies. Larry has also been a lifelong environmentalist serving on boards like Oceana, the National Marine Sanctuaries, 1% For The Planet and others. He has done the environmental communications for the UN and the Olympics, and his work for the Earth Communications Office was seen in over 100 countries by over a billion people. Larry has been nominated for both Emmy and Grammy awards. He is Co-Founder and President of The Carbon Underground.
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 80,000 gallons/day using the “living machine” methodology invented by ecological visionary, and Buckminster Fuller Award recipient, John Todd. Prior to that, for twenty years Jim was a biologist and trainer in the chemical industry in Houston, TX, where his work with living machines resulted in processing effluent cleaner than possible with conventional technology. Jim has also been a passionate advocate for Holistic Management of grasslands in the past decade. He began studying with Allan Savory twenty years ago in Texas, has spoken about Holistic Management at Harvard, MIT, Tufts, the Stockholm Environment Institute, and at meetings of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network (MCAN) and Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA), and has been instrumental in spreading the message in New England. Jim is also co-founder of a lively and sophisticated Google Group, Soil-Age, and he invites you to join!
Joe Libertelli directs Alumni Affairs, and helps coordinate public relations for the School of Law. He earned his B.A. from Princeton University and J.D. from Antioch School of Law. He has been Executive Director of Metro D.C. Environmental Network, and is a co-founder of the Gibson Hollow Limited Liability Company, which runs a cooperative ecological mountain retreat in the Shenandoah Mountains. He is a member of the D.C. School of Law Foundation, and was a founding National Advisory Board Member of the Progressive Democrats of America. http://www.law.udc.edu/staff/details.asp?id=10284
Nick Maravell, Owner of Nick’s Organic Farm. Nick has been farming organically for more than 40 years. After experimenting for several years, he started farming on a commercial basis in Purceville, Virginia in 1979. Concerned about the soil, environment, energy conservation, and fresh, local, healthy food, he began by selling vegetables to restaurants and local food co-ops, and at farmers markets. In 1980, he moved his vegetable operation to leased land in Potomac, MD. In the mid-90s, Nick and his wife, artist Tory Cowles, purchased a 165-acre farm in Buckeystown, near Frederick MD, while continuing operations in Potomac until 2012.
Nick’s Organic Farm uses a diversified organic farming system that combines plants and animals. Nick sells directly to consumers, other farms and a few retailers and restaurants. Various on-farm value-added activities include processing organic chickens and turkeys, grinding organic livestock feeds and cleaning and conditioning GMO free organic seed. The farm’s livestock products include 100% grass-fed Angus beef, sausages, jerky, pastured chickens and turkeys, free-range eggs and honey. The farm’s crop products include heirloom food-grade grinding corn and popcorn, fresh soybeans (edamame), ground poultry feeds, heirloom GMO free soybean seed and corn seed, small grain and cover crop seed, alfalfa and grass hays, straw and field crops such as corn, soybeans, barley, rye, and hairy vetch.
Committed to developing local and regional food systems, Nick has helped establish and operate several farmer cooperatives. He is also active in many local, state and national organizations dedicated to organic and sustainable agriculture. He is a founding member of the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association (MOFFA), the Maryland Small Farm Cooperative, and Future Harvest-Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (Future Harvest-CASA). Nick has also worked closely with other farmers and scientists at the Organic Farming Research Foundation to publish the National Organic Research Agenda. www.nicksorganicfarm.com/
Will Mitchell, Founder of Tenleytown Meat Company. Tenleytown Meat Company was founded to effectively connect responsible local farms with DC area residents seeking a change to our modern food system. Tenleytown Meat Company is a small distribution service helping to build a sustainable market of holistically managed, pasture-raised meat for DC area farmers, processors, and eaters. www.tenleytownmeatcompany.com/
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 restore food and water security. This nature-based solution has been successfully used on different landscapes in Africa and the Americas. Precious was born and raised in one of the communities now implementing restorative grazing.
Leah Rampy, Ph.D. is a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, a group of activists trained by Al Gore and committed to telling the story of climate change to inspire action. Frequently joined by her daughter Ana, Leah has presented to numerous religious groups, students, and non-profits. Leah’s career spans executive leadership positions in Fortune 50 companies, a decade running her own business focusing on executive coaching and leadership consulting, and service as Executive Director in a small non-profit. Currently she and her husband David are working on a permaculture design for their eight-acre farm in the Shenandoah Valley.
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.
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 on projects that deal with soils, health, restoration and reforestation in an indigenous community in northern Mexico.
Additionally, Annita has worked with children – both domestically and abroad – on issues pertaining to health and nutrition.For more than ten years she has worked to bring healthy, locally sourced food back to Maryland’s elementary, middle and high schools; concurrently, she has stressed the importance of an environmental education for young people of all age groups. Annita holds degrees from the University of Maryland and the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden.
Sudheer Shukla, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate outreach coordinator and DC Area Maryland Coordinator at Climate Change is Elementary, which leads climate awareness activities for elementary school students and their families. Sudheer is also involved with Citizens Climate Lobby.
Lincoln Smith runs Forested.us, a 10-acre forest garden research site in Bowie, MD. He teaches or co-teaches all courses at Forested, and designs forest gardens. He is passionate about production ecosystems, and brings a background in agronomic science and sustainable landscape design. Lincoln started Forested, LLC to develop and share research in forest gardening. He is a regular speaker on forest gardening at venues such as University of Maryland, the U.S. Botanic Garden, and the Maryland Master Gardeners’ Conference. Lincoln spent 5 years in a high-end residential landscape architecture office, designing managing installation of big budget landscapes, and pushing sustainability. He holds a Master of Arts in Landscape Design from the Conway School, and earned LEED certification in 2008. He is working on making and marketing acorn foods. http://forested.us/
Anthony Torres, is a member of the Class of 2015, Leadership Program, School of Public Affairs, American University. He is pursuing a dual degree in political science and environmental studies with a focus on the intersections of social inequality and climate change. At AU, he has served as an organizer for his campus divestment campaign and is currently the Student Co-Director of the SPA Leadership Program.
In addition to his work on the COP21 Delegation, Anthony has been involved with coastal restoration and resiliency on Long Island, advocacy for organizations like the NY League of Conservation Voters, and projects aimed at encouraging positive social transformation with frontline communities in North India and the Ecuadorian Amazon.
After graduation, Anthony plans to promote just climate policies for communities of color at the national and international level. He is one of 23 US youth delegates SustainUS is sending to Paris for the 21st Session of the Conference of Parties (COP21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). SustainUS delegates work alongside government officials, civil society representatives, and youth from around the world while organizing direct actions, media outreach, and policy advocacy.
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We would like to express a big THANK YOU! to our Partners and Co-Sponsors:
Urban and Suburban Carbon Farming to Reverse Global Warming
Conference Home
Sunday, May 3, 2015, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Science Center, Hall C, Harvard University
1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts
A conference for climate activists, gardeners, scientists, educators, homeowners, public officials, the business community and others concerned about our health, prosperity and ecological future.
Sign up for pre-conference guided nature walk at Alewife Reservation here, $20, sliding scale.
The program details are here, and topics we will cover include:
Science: The state of the climate and how we can reverse global warming through eco-restoration
The roles for individuals, businesses and organizations in cities and suburbs
Hands-on efforts that you can do in your town
The role of public officials and government
How local businesses can help (and already are helping)
Inspiration and hope!
We’ll have expert speakers, with time for Q&A, conversations and networking.
Regular price of conference tickets is $50; we also offer a sliding scale, all are welcome! If you’re interested in volunteering, partnering or sponsoring, please contact staff@bio4climate.org.
Reversing Global Warming: Carbon Farming for Food, Health, Prosperity and Planet!
Program and Home page
A conference for farmers, gardeners, government officials, city-town councils, civic leaders, school board members, educators at all levels, park/forest and environmental managers and stewards, nursery and landscape business owners, and all other folks concerned about health, prosperity and the ecological future of the planet.
DATE: Friday, February 20, 2015 Program runs from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 pm LOCATION:Bristol Community College 777 Elsbree Street, Fall River, MA Auditorium H 210.
Tickets are $5-$35, sliding scale, volunteer slots and scholarships available. For further information, please contact Climate2015@Bio4Climate.org. Since catering is expensive and we don’t want to order too much food, lunch and snacks are included for all who register by noon on Friday, February 13th.Those who register after that time will be responsible for their own food during the day (bring your own or purchase from cafeteria).
Download a poster here(large file, takes a minute to load . . . )
The climate news gets worse every year. Adam suggests how we may broaden the familiar narrative and transform it into one of biodiversity, planetary regeneration and abundance.
There are many flavors of land management to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soils where it belongs, often for centuries or millennia. Jono Neiger offers us an overview of several approaches that may be applied in a wide variety of ecosystems, and some that are particularly suited to the landscape and biology of Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Returning carbon to the soil is the foundation of restoring ecosystems. For thirty years Bruce Fulford has been building soils. He will tell us how he does it, and the remarkable results that he’s seen from reclamation and remediation of land, urban composting and greenhouse agriculture.
Adam, Keith and Bruce will form an ad hoc panel and entertain questions and comments on their presentations.
10:45 Geographical Networking among Participants
An opportunity for attendees and speakers to network with others from their local areas.
11:15 An Ecosystems Approach to Wetlands andClimate
Gillian Davies, Senior Wetlands Scientist, BSC Group
Wetlands have the capacity to store enormous amounts of carbon because soils under water have minimal exposure to air. Gillian Davies will discuss how to integrate climate change thinking into managing wetlands, with multiple benefits for local resiliency such as flood control.
11:40 Biodiversity, LocalKeystone Species and Carbon Farming – Video
Biodiversity is the foundation of healthy, resilient ecosystems. We humans have the ability to create the conditions for biodiverse landscapes which restore water cycles, purify the air, grow nutritious foods and build soil carbon from the carbon dioxide in the air. Jim Laurie will give us some ideas of how to recreate the living systems which are so essential to our well-being, with a focus on Southeastern Massachusetts.
Gillian and Jim will entertain questions and comments on their presentations.
12:15 Lunch
Box lunches for vegans, vegetarians and omnivores will be served.
Afternoon session: Teaching and Learning the Solutions
1:15 New Paths in Climate Activism at the Local Level – Video
Sam Sutter, Mayor of Fall River
As Bristol County District Attorney, Sam Sutter took a courageous step in his public acknowledgement of the dangers of global warming in the Lobster Boat Blockade case last fall. How did he make the transition to an icon of global warming activism? What does he make of the new climate paradigm where biology and ecology, not small carbon molecules, are the key? How should that be incorporated into local governance?
1:30 Panel: Educating for the New Climate Paradigm – Video
In this era of global warming and extreme weather events we face the uncommonly difficult task of preparing our children for the future. How do we explain to them what is happening, and how we got here? How do we provide them with the skills and resilience to face these challenges with strength and optimism? Our panelists will discuss models that connect young people to the natural world, help them understand and experience themselves as part of complex and biodiverse ecosystems, and teach the art and science of planetary regeneration.
*Paula Phipps, Moderator: Preparing future generations for climate change *Engin Atasay, Assistant Professor of Education, BCC: Building ecoliteracy into education *Jim Corven, Associate Professor of Biology and Director of Organic Agriculture at BCC: Teaching carbon farming as part of organic agriculture *Rachael Furlong from Seeds of Sustainability, a BCC student organization: Student involvement ranging from fossil fuel divestment to permaculture *Zoe Hansen-DiBello, Marion Institute: Engaging communities by teaching in neighborhood gardens, and moving toward carbon farming
2:30 Panel: Local Carbon Farming – Video
How do we continue to farm productively and profitably without having to change everything we do? This panel will focus on several key practical elements that significantly increase the restorative powers of farming for biodiversity and carbon sequestration, along with increasing yields, needing fewer if any synthetic inputs, growing profits, and improving the health of both farmers and consumers.
*Ridge Shinn, Grazier, Moderator: The benefits of livestock for soil, food, economy and climate *Paul Schmid, Proprietor of River Rock Farm, Mass. State Rep. from 8th Bristol district: Raising grass-finished beef, and legislative support for agriculture *Julie Stultz Fine, Farmer and Graduate Student, UMass Amherst: Cover crops *William McCaffrey, 2nd Generation Farmer in E. Taunton, Cornell U. Graduate: Farming produce and cranberries
3:30 Break
3:45 Panel: Urban Agriculture in a Thriving Bioregion – Video
Some of the benefits of urban agriculture are well known: increased access to healthy fresh food, reduced “food miles,” and building robust local communities. Looking through the carbon farming lens we also see more benefits: biodiverse landscapes, building carbon-rich soil and creating resilient landscapes that purify the water and air. Our panelists will discuss how to support the growth of urban farm spaces and regional relationships that strengthen them.
*Sarah Howard, Earthos, Moderator: Understanding and stewarding our urban-bioregional systems *Bruce Fulford, City Soil: Creating agricultural land in an urban setting *Mark Smith, Co-founder, Brookwood Community Farm in Milton, Mass: Developing farms on peri-urban land – challenges and opportunities *Liz Wiley, Program Manager at Round the Bend Farm, S. Dartmouth, Mass: Regional support systems for urban farming efforts *Emily Jodka, Founding member of New Urban Farmers, Pawtucket, RI: Engaging urban communities and kids in innovative and productive farms
The conference is over, it was a stunning success – and our work has just begun.
Stay tuned!
November 21-23, 2014
Promoting the power of nature to remove excess carbon from the atmosphere where it does untold damage, and restore it to the soils where it supports abundant life and helps reverse global warming.
Here are just a few of the many unsolicited comments from participants:
“I did make it to several of the talks on Saturday afternoon and workshops on Sunday afternoon. Thanks so much for the reduced rate. I learned so much and feel so much more hopeful about the future of our planet. I look forward to seeing the talks I missed on your website.” – Trudy Macdonald
“. . . let me again thank you for hosting the conference and thereby stimulating a broad community about the carbon sequestration opportunity. You and your team did an outstanding job and the speakers were amazing. There are too many highlights to mention here – it was a strong and deep roster. Big applause to you and your team for so powerfully advancing the mission.” – Tom Newmark
“I was blown away by the conference. Not only by the force of the individual speakers but by the elegance with which the program was put together, like a symphony with its overture and then the movements, with all the careful construction and the echoes…I salute you, and whoever else had a hand in mounting the event. I learned a lot and was able to put together the pieces of the puzzle. I only wish that I had been able to stay for Sunday afternoon, but I had to attend to my classes for this week. Thank you.”
– Janet Beizer
“I’ve been unable to pry myself away from this feed for two days. These people have brought so much energy and expertise to this nexus of information and techniques that seems to be coalescing into something far greater than the sum of its parts. I am beginning to believe that we will not only reverse climate change, but create a fantastic new way of life in the process. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s talks.” – Katherine McGuire
“Thank you to you and the entire Bio for Climate team for envisioning and then actualizing an amazing inaugural conference at Tufts University. It was a true occasion and, I hope, a true turning point. It was energizing and inspiring to learn that there are so many people from different disciplines converging on the elegant and overlooked potential of Nature to aid us in our quest for a stable climate.” – Diana Donlon
“Awesome. Thank you [for posting the videos]. These are such a fantastic, inspiring, deeply informative resource to anyone and everyone who has an interest in ecological restoration. Thanks again for putting together such a fantastic conference! ” – Greg Spevak
Karoo region of South Africa. The land on the left is reversing global warming by capturing carbon dioxide and water by proper use of keystone animal species and land management, while the land on the right is exacerbating it though soil degradation and loss of carbon to the atmosphere.
Conference: November 21-23, 2014 Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA (near Boston) Co-sponsored by Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) and The Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) at the Fletcher School of Tufts University
Fees: Early Bird Registration extended! Through November 10, 2014, $100. From November 11, 2014, $150. Students/Low Income, $50. School and non-profit delegations, minimum of 4 from a single institution, $35 per person. Tufts students, faculty and staff, $15 High school students, $10. Ten work exchange slots available (contact climate2014@bio4climate.org). Register for the conference here.
“Why do we want to host a conference like this? Because harnessing biology represents a new paradigm for climate mitigation that gives us hope.” – Antje Danielson, Director, Tufts Institute of the Environment
“Biodiversity for a Livable Climate is championing a new and hopeful narrative in our fight against anthropogenic climate change. I encourage my colleagues in impact to join me in supporting them. “ – Howard Fischer, Environmental Philanthropist
“We must mobilize the biosphere to remove carbon dioxide rapidly from the atmosphere and store it in plants and soils. Only such restoration has the potential to store enough carbon to avoid the worst aspects of global warming. I urge students, colleagues and the public to attend the Biodiversity for a Livable Climate Conference.” – William Moomaw , Director (Retired), Center for International Environment and Resource Policy, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
We are telling a new story. Each of our speakers presents a chapter in the remarkable narrative of life on earth in the 21st century. We humans are a key part of that narrative, and while there are many parts they all come together in a single tale. We will weave those parts together so that each presentation is part of the whole, a whole that builds a different and more hopeful worldview than we’ve heard in a long time. We have a lot of work to do and heavy paradigms to shift, but we can and will tell the new story with exciting and hopeful outcomes.
Our Boston conference has a roster of world-class experts followed by an international series of events bringing together climate advocates, farmers, ranchers, scientists, social scientists, policymakers, NGOs, artists, visionaries and the general public – in other words, any and all of us – for a non-technical discussion to consider:
The exceptional potential of the biosphere to address all of our current emissions, as well as to remove the 125 parts per million of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Effective action on a global scale by applying eco-regenerative approaches to lands and waters worldwide.
The use of biological systems to re-establish healthy water cycles to cool the earth’s surface.
Our primary urgent goal in the face of widespread breakdown in addressing climate change is to further the understanding necessary to embark on the global regeneration process made possible by enabling the forces of biology. Collectively we will present affordable strategies for eco-restoration that local, national and international governments, agencies, communities and individuals may rapidly implement in order to reverse global warming.
Land Restoration in Mexico: 1963 – 2003. Carbon is captured while enhancing food and water security. Photo credits: Guillermo Osuna.
Background
As rising atmospheric carbon concentrations irrefutably demonstrate, the current climate conversation and ensuing policies have failed us. It is clear at this point in time that emissions reductions, while necessary, are insufficient to address the destructive climate processes that are already under way. We need safe, low-tech, inexpensive and viable solutions.
Hope
There is a way, which has yet to take its rightful place at the heart of the climate debate: the capacity of the natural world to actively remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in soils worldwide.
The biosphere is a powerful geological force. While it is not yet widely understood, the life force has been terraforming the earth for the past 3.5 billion years, from vast rock formations to an oxygen atmosphere to soils and weather and everything in-between. Forces of living systems, managed for healthy biodiversity and natural cycles, will capture prodigious amounts of carbon dioxide. If we set up favorable conditions, nature will store greenhouse gases in complex and stable biomolecules in soils, the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet, as it has done for eons.
We already have the knowledge and experience to move ahead confidently with all due haste. Scientists and practitioners of eco-restoration have decades of experience, repeatedly having demonstrated dramatic successes in bringing dying lands back to life in only a few years, regenerating ecosystems such as dry grasslands, humid jungles, and temperate forests.
To accomplish this on a global scale would not only address a rapidly deteriorating climate, but restore flourishing habitats for the millions of species that we depend upon across the world, and bring untold benefits, including food production and economic security, to people everywhere. Best of all, it is low-tech and low-cost – and when given a chance, the biodiverse life in the world’s soils will do 99% of the work.
We invite sponsorship and partnership from individuals and organizations, which may include support for conference organizing, publicity, administrative support, venue, and operating costs.