Episode 340. We (Still) Need a Regeneration Revolution (Episode226)

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 5th of  June 2023.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

Soil

Today we’re going to discuss regeneration in particular regeneration of the soil and ecosystems. Over the last 50 to 75 years, basically since the second world war we’ve gone through a period of destruction. In effect a faustian bargain in which we gave up 1% of our topsoil every year in return for production returns.

Industrial Agriculture

We did this by using chemicals: chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides and herbicides and fungicides and it worked. There were lots of famines and people starving in the 1970s. A lot of the techniques developed with chemical inputs saved many people, kept them alive. But the cost! That bill is coming due and we need to pay for it now. If we wait, the cost will be so much higher. Continue reading →

Episode 339. Wet, Wet, Wet…

This is The ChangeUnderground for the 29th of May 2023.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

Rewetting

Rewetting peatlands is an important way to fight climate change. It helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and allows carbon to be stored in the soil. In a study in Ireland, researchers compared a rewetted peatland with a drained area. They looked at how much carbon was released or stored in both places over five years. Continue reading →

Episode 338. The Greatest Threat…

This is The ChangeUnderground for the 22nd of May 2023.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

Quote:

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned that a warming climatic event in the coming months, combined with human-induced climate change, will have far reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment. Continue reading →

Episode 333. Volcanoes, Climate and Cows

This is The ChangeUnderground for the 17th of April 2023.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

Food and soil health are intricately linked and the health of one directly impacts the health of the other. Soil is the foundation of our food system. The top six inches of the landmass and the fact it rains semi-regularly is what keeps us alive. 

The key words there are “semi-regularly”. Since the Holocene, 12-10,000 years before present, there has been climate variability but within fairly, relatively speaking, narrow extremes. For most of that time, human population levels were such that our impact was far less than it is today.  Continue reading →

Episode 332. Pear Blossom & the 6th IPCC Report!

This is The ChangeUnderground for the 27th of March 2023.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

The 6th IPCC Report, link in the show notes, was released last Monday. A day after I’d published the last episode, of course, so I’ve had a week to get my head around it and hopefully, distil it down to a more manageable yet still accurate summary. Also today as I was setting up the chook run for winter, expanding the run area and calling in the semi-feral chooklings who are between 10 and 16 weeks old, I noticed and remember we’re at the end of the second month of Autumn in the southern hemisphere, I noticed one of the pear trees had a spray of open blossom. Actually what I first noticed was the sound of bees then the flowers but what is going on??? Continue reading →