Dear *{{First Name}}*,
This is one of my favorite times to walk in the woods here in Virginia. The air is crisp while the sun feels warm as it streams through the bare branches of oak, black gum and beech trees. No humidity, no mosquitoes. I walk the same trail whenever I get a chance, and each time it feels like coming back to old friends. I feel welcomed and surrounded by warmth. |
Accotink Wildlife Refuge, Virginia. Photo courtesy of R. Mordini |
Taking up the position of Executive Director of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate this January felt similar, like being welcomed back to a place I hadn’t actually been before. I had worked with Bio4Climate on the Redesigning Our Communities conference series and had gotten to know Adam better as I did some grants research towards the end of the year. I quickly saw that this was not the usual climate or environmental organization. Systems thinkers had collected information from beyond the usual sources and put it together in a way that painted a qualitatively different picture of our climate crisis: A picture focused on the loss of biodiversity and natural habitats as the most serious problem we are facing today.
At first I was reluctant to let go of the carbon-centric view of global warming. After all, I had spent decades advocating for the end of fossil fuels, joined an EV conversion club before Tesla was formed, and installed solar panels on our house in California. But that was my mind talking. My heart knew immediately that Bio4Climate was right. It resonated with the need for more nature. I needed more nature, and it turns out the planet needs more nature too.
In addition to passion and knowledge, I am bringing experience with nonprofit management, having been a founder, executive director, development director, and communications manager for various nonprofits. I have been committed to growing as a leader and a manager so that I can create the best environment for people to thrive and use their skills to make a difference.
In this accepting environment I hope to grow our ability to affect the conversations around the world about how to address climate disruption and biodiversity loss. Because Bio4Climate has organized more than a dozen conferences featuring leading-edge thinkers and practitioners from around the world, we have a very rich and diverse network. I hope to build on that legacy and increase our engagement with other cultures and Indigenous peoples who often have the ancient wisdom of how to live in balance with nature.
I am grateful to Adam Sacks for the amazing organization he has built and for his generous availability to help with the transition. I would also like to thank our board president, Philip Bogdonoff for tirelessly working on the many steps of the interview and hiring process and being at my side as I navigate this new terrain. I am grateful to have Paula Phipps, our Associate Director, by my side, especially with her deep knowledge of the history and the people of Bio4Climate. Now it feels like the Oscars, and I hate to leave anyone out of my thank you speech. Each member of the board, each staff member, and the many volunteers who keep our work going have been a delight to get to know.
Together, we will make it clear that “life saves the planet” and we will drive action that restores degraded land, lifts up communities, and celebrates that we are nature. I look forward to serving you. |
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Beck Mordini, Executive Director |
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Support Nature's Climate Solutions |
When you support our work, you help restore biodiversity and cool the planet! We can reverse global warming - Join us today |
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In This Issue: - Ongoing & Upcoming Events
- Voices of Water Corner
- Maya’s Miyawaki Minute
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Quotes That Inspire Us
- Compendium Notes
- A Word from the Editor
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Ongoing Event: Deepdive Into Symbiosis |
Every Wednesday, Starting on March 1st, 2023, 12:00 - 2:00 pm & 7:00 - 9:00 pm EDT |
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How has the conventional interpretation of Darwin’s survival of the fittest shaped our understanding of science, extinction, economics and cultural values? Are we genetically doomed to compete with nature and with each other until our species joins the long list of other species headed for extinction? |
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Starting Wednesday, March 1st, 2023, at 12 and 7 pm EDT, join Jim Laurie for a 12-week deep dive into the science, history, and cultural implications of how we understand evolution and interspecies relationships. Though class sessions have begun, new participants are always welcome. |
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Upcoming Event: Redesigning Our Communities for Life After Fossil Fuels |
Saturday, March 25th, 2023, 1:00 - 4:30 pm EDT |
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| How are you dealing with the intersecting crises of our time?
Join us next Saturday, March 25, when we'll discuss the key drivers behind these issues and the many solutions already being implemented. There, we will hear from forward-thinking community leaders in Greater Cleveland who are working to transition to a life that is beyond fossil fuels. |
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Keynote speaker Richard Heinberg will explain 'overshoot' and technology's limited ability to deal with the climate crisis. Maya Dutta will connect the dots on ecological destruction as the source of many climate impacts and how the restoration of nature is key to climate stabilization and global cooling. And Philip Bogdonoff gets real with how all this impacts our food supply.
Then the fun really begins, when our Cleveland trailblazers share their methods for pioneering a new way of living! From transforming lawns and vacant lots into food gardens, to increasing the equity of food through systemic restructuring, they’re doing it all! These world-changers are training residents in life skills for this transition, and using ecosystem restoration to detoxify our land, water, and air. You'll leave this event with information, inspiration, and connection–not only to a path of action, but also to a community of leaders committed to guiding us along the way. |
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Upcoming Event: Finding Our Way to a New Understanding |
Every Monday, Starting March 27th, 2023, 12:00 - 2:00 pm EDT |
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How does competition in society affect our relationships, ethics, and health? What impacts on ecology and our understanding of the world does this concept have? |
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Fred Jennings’ Ecological Economics course will look at the role of competition in our society, analyzing the ways it damages our relationships, ethics, and health. Instead, by modeling our economies on the foundational symbiotic connections of biology, we can create a system that both cooperates with and connects to the ecologies that form our life support systems. Our civilization is facing a climate emergency largely due to bad economics. This course will help you better understand why.
Join us for the Free Introductory Session on Monday March 27! |
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Upcoming Event: GBH Forum with Steve Hawley |
Thursday, March 30, 2023, 6:00 - 7:15 pm EST |
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| Steve Hawley is the author of Cracked: The Future of Dams in a Hot, Chaotic World (May 2023). Based in Oregon, he is an environmental journalist and documentary filmmaker. His book delivers the full, ugly truth about dams and offers a pathway toward freeing our rivers.
Join us in the newest installation of Life Saves the Planet, where Steven will be expanding on these ideas and discussing pathways forward in this aridifying world. A link to register will be sent out soon! |
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Voices of Water, founded by Jan Lambert, joined the Bio4Climate family in 2021. Zuzka Mulkerin, the current program director, continues Jan’s work in bringing the latest science connecting water and climate from around the world to English-speaking audiences. |
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Wednesday, March 25th, 2023 |
The United Nations is focused on Sustainable Development Goal number 6: the promise that everyone will have safely managed water and sanitation by 2030. However, in this age of overlapping crises, it has become clear that water management has a significant impact on climate. Bio4Climate has brought the leading edge of this science to the US and now the research of Michal Kravčík will be part of the presentations at World Water Day. Check our social media for updates on this once-in-a-generation event.
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Forests Are More Important than Climate Models Indicate! |
On January 2 we were delighted to present a discussion from Dr. Anastassia Makarieva in a webinar prepared by the Biotic Pump Greening Group with the cooperation of Voices of Water. The abstract to their paper describes their findings. |
Re-appraisal of the global climatic role of natural forests for improved climate projections and policies Anastassia Makarieva, Andrei Nefiodov, Anja Rammig, Antonio Donato Nobre https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.09998 |
Along with the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the loss of primary forests and other natural ecosystems is a major disruption of the Earth system causing global concern. Quantifying planetary warming from carbon emissions, global climate models highlight natural forests' high carbon storage potential supporting conservation policies.
However, some model outcomes effectively deprioritize conservation of boreal and temperate forests suggesting that increased albedo upon deforestation could cool the planet. Potential conflict of global cooling versus regional forest conservation could harm environmental policies. Here we present theoretical and observational evidence to demonstrate that, compared to carbon-related warming, the model skills for assessing climatic impacts of deforestation are not as well developed.
We argue that deforestation-induced global cooling results from the models' limited capacity to account for the global effect of cooling from evapotranspiration of intact forests. Transpiration of trees can change the greenhouse effect via small modifications of the vertical temperature profile. Due to their convective parameterization (which postulates a certain critical temperature profile), global climate models do not properly capture this effect. This parameterization may lead to underestimation of warming from the loss of evapotranspiration in both high and low latitudes, and therefore, conclusions about deforestation-induced global cooling are not robust.
To avoid deepening the environmental crisis, these conclusions should not inform policies of vegetation cover management. Studies are mounting quantifying the stabilizing impact of natural ecosystems evolved to maintain environmental homeostasis. Given the critical state and our limited understanding of both climate and ecosystems, an optimal policy would be a global moratorium on the exploitation of all natural forests. Read more from this team in these papers: Atmospheric sciences: A critical analysis of the assumptions underlying the formulation of maximum potential intensity for tropical cyclones
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/atsc/aop/JAS-D-22-0144.1/JAS-D-22-0144.1.xml The role of ecosystem transpiration in creating alternate moisture regimes by influencing atmospheric moisture convergence https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.16644 Global cooling role of the natural forests
https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.09998 |
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In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Miyawaki forests in different locations, first the SUGi heritage forest in London on a brief layover, and then the Afforest Urban Park in Delhi. There I met with Navendu Sharma, who shared information on this 1.5 year old project, given to the organization after their first pocket forest at the site in 2017 proved a success. |
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Afforest Urban Park in Delhi |
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Maya and Navendu Sharma of Afforest |
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I was amazed to see how much growth these young trees had achieved in such a short span of time, and enjoyed seeing wildlife, including hoopoes and butterflies, exploring the space. In conversations with Miyawaki forest makers and other ecosystem restoration practitioners I’ve been learning a lot. Looking forward to continuing the journey and reporting back! More to come. - Maya |
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| Entangled Life
Merlin Sheldrake |
"Imagine that you could pass through two doors at once. It is inconceivable, yet fungi do it all the time. When faced with a forked path, fungal hyphae don't have to choose one or the other. They can branch and take both routes." page 45 |
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Below is a passage from our Compendium of Scientific and Practical Findings Supporting Eco-Restoration to Address Global Warming. This article is from our seventh issue, Volume 4 Number 1, (p. 37), published July 2020. Plant diversity enhances the reclamation of degraded lands by stimulating plant-soil feedbacks, Jia et al. 2020
This study tested the effects that biodiversity has on ecosystem function in the process of reviving severely degraded and contaminated land, and found that “increasing plant diversity greatly enhanced the reclamation of these lands” [Jia 2020: 1].
Prior to implementing the reclamation experiment, the degraded mine wasteland investigated in this study was heavily impacted by past mining activities and was devoid of vegetation for more than a decade and the soil lacked structure, contained high levels of toxic metals and low levels of nutrients. … our results showed that higher plant species richness enhanced land reclamation across all standard measures of reclamation success and specifically resulted in higher vegetation coverage, biomass yield and stability for all 3 years [of the experiment] [Jia 2020: 6].
Furthermore, the plots with more biodiversity had higher levels of organic carbon in the soil, along with more abundant soil microorganisms , fewer fungal pathogens, and lower concentrations of heavy metals in plant tissues.
The most striking impact of plant diversity on soil was on the microbial communities. Both soil fungal and bacterial OTUs [operational taxonomic units[8]] increased significantly with plant species richness. More importantly, we found that higher plant species richness significantly increased the relative abundance of soil cellulolytic bacteria that degrade cellulose and are thus essential components of nutrient cycling [Jia 2020: 7]. |
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Thank you for reading and welcome back to the newsletter!
As I sit here looking over the small patch of woods behind my apartment, I’m reminded of the importance of these increasingly rare patches of green. I’m so thankful to be able to look out my window at the trees instead of another expanse of buildings or lots. My hope for this newsletter is that it becomes a channel advocating for life and these beautiful, small pieces of our world that remain natural, to one degree or another. Together, I hope we can learn new ways forward to mend the damages of the past.
I look forward to exploring this future of hope with you. Cole Enos Communications and Volunteer Coordinator |
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