Summer 2024 Updates

Maya Dutta at Green Rose Park. Photo & Quote by Alexandra Ionescu

Dear Friends,

Usually, we talk about teamwork and community, but a single person can also make a real difference. When the European Parliament passed the Nature Restoration Law last month, it was thanks to Austria’s Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler, who changed her country’s previous stance and tipped the balance in favor of the law. In United States politics, so much is riding on the choices of individual candidates and the shifting landscape of the elections. This seems like a good time to highlight some of the people who have been making a difference at Bio4Climate, and the changes we are going through.

If you noticed something different about the Featured Creature emails this month, it is because Maya Dutta has transitioned to an advisory role with Bio4Climate as she moves on to pursue graduate studies. Maya is one of those individuals who has made a significant difference in our work and on our team. Best known for leading the Miyawaki forest movement in New England and for the Featured Creature series every Saturday morning, she has also been a beloved member of our team. We will all miss her and look forward to keeping in touch.

We are already enjoying the special talents of Alexandra Ionescu, who joined us in April as the Urban Forestry Coordinator and has been promoted to Associate Director of Regenerative Projects. Alexandra’s delight in the natural world is contagious and complements her in-depth knowledge of Biomimicry and her experience in combining art and science with community engagement. You will see in this update that she has already been busy.

Nonie Valentine during a field trip to the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in Woodstock, NH.

Beck Mordini

Executive Director

                                                                             Beck and her son Casey planting in Worcester, MA

P.S. We are hiring a Communications Manager with an emphasis on social media video. Please pass along to anyone you think would be a fit for our team by August 1. 

In this issue:

• Farewell and Welcome

• Miyawaki Minute

• Life Saves the Planet GBH Series: Beavers with Brock Dolman
• Off Grid and on the Board: Welcome John Lambert
• Education: Healing Our Land and Our Climate course
• Richard Heinberg makes the case for nature based solutions
• Muddy Boots and Helping Hands: Bio4Climate in the Community
• Voices of Water Summer Reading List
• Compendium Notes: All about heat

Farewell and Welcome Messages

Bio4Climate came together in Cambridge to give Maya a memorable send-off.

Sitting: Jim Laurie, Jed Katch, Sue Butler, Adam Sacks. 

Standing: Beck Mordini, Maya Dutta, John Minkle, Helen Snively, Alexandra Ionescu, Paula Phipps.

A Message from Maya

It is with a tender mix of sadness, excitement, and deep gratitude that I'm moving forward from my role as Director of Regenerative Projects at Bio4Climate. While I am thrilled for the opportunity to continue my education at Yale School of Environment, I will miss so much about my work with Bio4Climate, including first and foremost, the people I've had the honor to build relationships with here. 

I can't express all the appreciation I have for you and the kind wishes many have already sent my way. It has been so wonderful to work with and learn from you all, and I am sure that won't stop now. It has been a privilege to contribute to this organization through my work, and I am so glad to have found an enduring community through this. It's a beautiful network of dedicated and insightful people doing this transformative work of eco-restoration and regeneration, and I have every intention of deepening and expanding my roots while staying connected and continuing to exchange as much as I can. With the Miyawaki Forest program, particularly dear to my heart, and many Bio4Climate initiatives beyond that, I will stay in touch with the growth and change constantly unfolding, and continue to nurture all I can across (a not that great) distance.

As I move into my new home in New Haven in the next couple of months, I will definitely continue to traverse the Northeast, and will hope to see many of you folks around in the physical and virtual world. In the meantime, please feel free to stay in touch! You can reach me on LinkedIn or Instagram (@mayalooking). 

A Tribute to Maya Dutta 

It’s hard to write an adequate tribute to Maya, who came to Bio4climate as a Compendium volunteer in 2020 and stayed with us for a remarkable (almost) 4 years. A consummate learner, she grasped the nuances in the messages we were sharing and brought an added depth of understanding to all her writing and speaking. We were in awe of how quickly and well she could articulate Bio4Climate’s core messaging.

Maya Dutta at the Somerville Miyawaki Forest. Photo by Cassandra Klos.

Maya’s need and desire to have her hands in the dirt led to the development of a Miyawaki Foresting Program that literally grounded our work. In 2021 she became Associate Director for Regenerative Projects, working with others to build a community around each forest planting, and adding a relational healing understanding to the ecosystem healing that was happening. Maya’s interview with the Christian Science Monitor sharing her personal evolution from climate anxiety and a feeling of helplessness to determined action has moved and inspired many.

Indeed, Maya has become a teacher and a leader in the wider world, as her recent participation in a panel with Doug Tallamy illustrates. And at home with Bio4Climate, she has been a loyal and tireless team member. Her warmth, generosity, sense of responsibility and comradeship have made us stronger individually and organizationally. 

Left: Maya Dutta and Sue Butler interview Water School Founder Prof. Moo Young Han (aka "Dr. Rain") at the UN COP for Water, 2023.

Right: Maya Dutta and one of our incredible volunteers planting one of the last saplings at the McGrath Parking Lot Forest in Worcester, MA. 

Curating and writing much of the Featured Creature series was a hallmark achievement! Here’s the picture that accompanied the articles we all look forward to reading each Saturday morning.

And like her other imprints on Bio4Climate, they will continue as she moves on in her journey.

So peace and blessings to you, Maya, as our friend Rev. Dele would say, and thank you for bringing your many gifts to Bio4Climate. We know you will add what you have learned from us to the good work you will continue to do.  

With love and appreciation,

Paula and Adam

Paula Phipps                                Adam Sacks
Associate Director                        Co-Founder, Former Executive Director

Meet Alexandra Ionescu,

Associate Director of Regenerative Projects

Alexandra Ionescu at the Miyawaki forest planting on Roosevelt Island, NY. Photo by Valery Rizzo. 

Miyawaki Minute

Worcester, MA has two new forests

Above: A little, or a lot of rain, could not stop the intrepid planting team at Plumley Village
with Maya Dutta and Jim Laurie in the foreground.
Below: Planting for and with the next generation. 

From Pavement to Paradise: this spring Bio4Climate partnered with the BSC Group and the City of Worcester, to plan two large Miyawaki forests in urban areas of Worcester, MA. At the Worcester public library, the process started with the de-paving of a section of the parking lot. The Plumley Village planting drew participation from the families who live there. Starting April 27, over five days of planting, hundreds of community volunteers came together to plant hundreds of native trees and shrubs.

Alexandra shares, "Seeing pavement lifted from the native soil was a deeply emotional experience for Maya and me. It demonstrated that it is possible to de-pave and create conditions for the web of life to emerge through plant growth."

From a parking lot to a forest. From a lawn to a forest—transformation is possible. Urban settings are part of nature too and they offer unique opportunities for regeneration and biodiversity within our communities where increasing heat waves are becoming the norm. 

Can you think of a lawn or parking lot in your neighborhood where such a transformation could occur?

Read our blog post to learn more about these projects.

Life Saves the Planet

We are Going Big on Beavers

You probably already know that we are big on beavers here at Bio4Climate, you might even call us "beaver believers." Jim Laurie has taught us all that beavers are essential to the infiltration team, to hydrate the soil and create habitat. The last Biodiversity Deep Dive course, Beavers, Wetlands and Shorelines, dedicated 12 weeks to studying their role in ecosystems and climate.

Watch Pests or Partners? Beavers as Wetland Protectors and Climate Heroes,

our Life Saves the Planet, GBH Forum Network conversation for June.

This summer we are bringing these climate heroes front and center as we realize they also can play a critical role in wildfire management. Catch our conversation with Brock Dolman and Katie Lundquist and their impressive success in bringing beavers back to California on our Life Saves the Planet series with GBH Forum Network. 

According to Dr. Emily Fairfax, "throughout the western USA – specifically in fires in California, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, and Wyoming. Overall, riparian zones with beaver activity were three times less affected by wildfires compared to riparian zone without beaver activity. In short, places with beavers stayed green. Places without beavers? Not so much. Learn more about biodiversity and wildfires on our new webpage.

Our new Assoc Director or Regenerative Projects. Alexandra Ionescu is a fellow beaver believer. Over the past few months, she has been a Curatorial Fellow with Creature Conserve where she put together a webinar with diverse knowledge holders to create awareness of beaver-engineered landscapes and facilitated a “Read/Reflect/Create” club centered on diverse readings about beavers. You can watch the webinar here. Passcode is Beavers2024! She is attending BeaverCon in October 2024, where beaver advocates gather to share resources and will join Dr. Emily Fairfax for a field trip to the 2020 Cameron Peak Wildfire burn scars to observe how beaver dams and canals resisted the wildfire and created fire refugia. Meanwhile, check out the Beaver Institute for resources on human-beaver coexistence strategies and more.

Stay tuned as we look for opportunities to support beavers and share what you can do.

New Board Member

Off the Grid and on the Board

John Lambert, land and water steward, is our newest Board member at Bio4Climate

Welcome John Lambert to the Board of Directors

If John Lambert's name sounds familiar it may be because you recognize Jan Lambert as the founder of Voices of Water or perhaps you caught his presentation at the Redesigning Our Communities conference sharing how his family live off grid for over a decade. John has been a good friend to Bio4Climate for a long time, and we are delighted that he will be working with us on the board.

In 1976 John and his wife Janice Lambert purchased 30 acres of undeveloped land and built an off-grid homestead where they raised their two daughters quite comfortably without electricity for ten years. John has lived all his life in rural New Hampshire, getting his start in engine repair in the US Army and becoming an instructor. He has been a car dealer and a bicycle dealer. His automobile dealership was the sole North American recipient of the Fiat Chrysler 2015 environmental award for energy efficiency and one of only five dealerships in 2013 with the EPA energy star award. John’s late wife Janice was the founder of Voices of Water, which became part of Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. John carries on her legacy as the project coordinator for Voices of Water, leading water retention education and projects. He still lives in their off-grid homestead, with the addition of a little solar power.

Education

Healing Our Land & Our Climate!

Healing Our Land & Our Climate course by Hart Hagan. Registration is still open.

What if we could deal with the causes of climate change and at the same time deal with its effects? What if we could prevent flooding, drought and wildfires and at the same time cool our climate quickly and safely? And what if we could start this process in our own home landscape, where we don't have to wait for a change in government policy?

In Healing Our Land & Our Climate (The Course), we are exploring how gardeners, landowners, farmers, ranchers and foresters around the world are restoring ecosystems and producing healthy food for humans and our fellow species, while simultaneously cooling their local environment.

Instructor Hart Hagan is an environmental reporter who has produced nearly 400 radio shows and over 250 videos since 2018. He is the founder of Water & Climate, a Facebook group with over 4,500 members. Hart brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and packs every class with a rich download of useful information for your garden, your land, your conversations with your neighbors, and any advocacy you want to engage in. 

Students become part of a community of like-minded people with lively class discussions and an on-line Google Group for sharing resources and further conversation. 

Registration is still open and class recordings are made available each week.

"Restoring nature is our only climate solution,"

says Richard Heinberg

Nature’s solutions to climate change are gaining traction in the climate conversation. Author Richard Heinberg recently published an article entitled Restoring Nature Is Our Only Climate Solution.

Heinberg brings added credibility to our key message. He is a highly regarded expert on our energy and climate crisis with fourteen books and hundreds of articles written on our energy predicament, a senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, in great demand as a speaker at conferences worldwide, and has been quoted and interviewed by numerous media outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Time, National Geographic, Al-Jazeera, NPR and C-SPAN.

       Photos by Adobe Stock

Our two-year partnership with Richard Heinberg and the Post Carbon Institute on our series Redesigning Our Communities for Life After Fossil Fuels elevated several messages including our rapidly declining fossil fuel supplies and the power of restoring ecosystems and biodiversity to cool communities and abate other climate impacts. Speakers from around the country also discussed the urgent need to grow and distribute food locally, and the strategies local leaders are using to redesign their communities for life after fossil fuels.

"Machines won't save us," Heinberg said, as he laid out the strengths and drawbacks of the various technological solutions. After providing some insight into how nature maintains the planet’s large and small water cycles, Heinberg stated “The obvious solution: restore nature’s cooling cycles. Re-vegetate the planet, thereby increasing evapotranspiration. Restore soils so they hold more water. And get rid of pavement wherever possible.”

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Heinberg concluded by saying "Restoring nature isn’t just our best climate solution, it’s our only solution." 

He acknowledged Bio4Climate and Christopher Haines for inspiring and supporting him with this article. Christopher Haines is an architect, Bio4Climate Leadership Team member and author of Greenhouse Gases: True but Not the Whole Truth, published in the Journal of Sustainability Education.

You can read the full article, published on Resilience.org, here: Restoring Nature Is Our Only Climate Solution.

Muddy Boots & Helping Hands

Bio4Climate in the Community

Two key things we have learned from growing our Miyawaki program are: 1) experiential learning is the best way to shift one’s view of the world, and 2) taking part in even the smallest experiences of restoration and regeneration empowers us with agency and inspires hope.

So, we have been looking for more ways to get out there and do something. A group of students in Jim Laurie’s Biodiversity Deep Dive classes who are local to the Cambridge area have been getting out and learning and exploring. All of Jim’s students are forever part of the Symbiosis Team and this might be the Cambridge hyphae of the team, with special thanks to Nonie Valentine for organizing the events. Here are a couple of their adventures to inspire you. If you are local, you can join future trips which are shared on our Meetup page.

Biodiversity Day, Jim Laurie shares life in pond water while Maya gives a tour of the Miyawaki forest.

Photo by Alexandra Ionescu

John Lambert helped to arrange a special tour of Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in Woodstock, NH. The tour was led by Dr. Denise Burchsted, who is featured in Leila Philip’s book Beaverland : How One Weird Rodent Made America. Dr. Burchsted is a fluvial geomorphologist who studies “the shapes of water — more specifically, the way rivers move through and transform landscapes,” as Leila writes. Dr. Burchsted focuses on river discontinuity, particularly due to beaver dams and log jams. John Lambert put together a very good video of the day which you can enjoy here.

How to bring more wetlands to urban areas? We visited a floating wetland project created by a team which included our very own Alexandra Ionescu in Providence, RI and learned from the project lead, Gabriel Cira, of the Emerald Tutu floating wetlands project in Boston. 

Voices of Water

A splash of refreshing summer reading

How can we find cool insights as we dive into a summer of heatwaves and weather extremes? It hasn’t always been this way. Many of us remember carefree summers with morning dew on the grass or a breeze by the beach or river. Everyone knows it’s cooler by the water! Nations and communities have favorite songs, music, and art expressing awe at water’s life-giving impact. Young folks, too—just look at their Instagram or TikTok posts, filled with selfies near the waterside.

At Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, we delve into the vital theme of water and its impact on our lives. Join us! Choose one or more of these five must-read books for July, all focused on the theme of water.

Nothing has a more significant impact on modern life than water or its lack. How do urbanites find water in the concrete jungle? When we look around for a stream running through our neighborhoods, we may come up dry. How do you follow water if you’re not near the beach?

Compendium Notes

"What is causing record-shattering heat?"
Christopher Haines reports

With global temperatures reaching the critical 1.5C degrees of warming for over 12 months in June of 2024, heat is one of the most important issues of our day. Biodiversity for a Livable Climate has been a leader in looking at how land management directly affects global heating. Most recently Christopher Haines, a member of our Leadership Team and researcher, has published "What is causing record-shattering heat?" on Resilience.org.

You can learn more in Our Compendium of Scientific and Practical Findings Supporting Eco-Restoration to Address Global Warming, Vol 3 No 2, January 2020, brings together some of the best research. Here are a couple of relevant findings:

• A single full-grown tree has the cooling power of 10 air conditioning units [Kleerekoper 2012], and a patch of woods in a city can make even a broiling summer day feel fairly pleasant. Wooded areas of Washington DC are 17F degrees cooler than areas of the city with no trees on a hot summer day [NOAA 2018]. “For cities, an annual investment of $100 million in urban tree planting could create enough shade to cut average temperatures by 1°C for 77 million people around the world” [Global Commission on Adaptation 2019: 31].
  
  
• Another tendency of urban ecosystems is to generate surplus heat, creating an urban heat island (UHI), due to reduced vegetation cover (thus, reduced cooling effects of evapotranspiration) and increased surface area absorbing solar energy (buildings, roads, etc.). This UHI effect in turn increases the use of air conditioning by 3-8% in the US, the additional energy use for which represents a positive feedback, which increases global warming. By contrast, increasing vegetation cover in cities reduces the UHI effect, while also removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, thus representing a negative feedback, which reduces global warming.

Last But Not Least. . .

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All contributions help in our vital work to build a livable climate that sustains into the future. Many thanks!

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