Tag Archives: climate change

Episode 299. Too Small To Matter?

This is The ChangeUnderground for the 23rd of May 2022.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

We hear the argument here in Australia and I’m sure it pops up elsewhere that we’re only x% of global emissions. What happens if we spend the money and change but the US, China and India don’t? 

The fact that the x% quoted and it varies from 1 to about 2.5% doesn’t take into account our coal and liquified natural gas exports because they’re being burnt somewhere else by someone else really destroys the argument. 

But let’s look at the question. What if we transition to 100% renewables and zero emissions? Continue reading →

Episode 265. Floods, Levees and WTF?

This is The ChangeUnderground for the 26th of July 2021.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

Floods

If there is a rule of thumb with flood defences it is this: any levee will be overwhelmed by a flood no one expected.

With the floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands during the last week questions will be asked. Things like: Why weren’t people warned earlier? Why wasn’t this planned for? Is this really related to climate change? Continue reading →

Episode 259. My path to No-Dig

This is The ChangeUnderground for the 7th of June 2021.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

This is My Story And Maybe Yours Too.

Way back in 2004, I caught a chest infection that just wouldn’t lift. After about four months, I ended up one night in Accident and Emergency at our local hospital. Chest X-rays revealed pneumonia. That night, the 25th of August, I “left the building”, twice. The next morning was the turning point, even though it didn’t feel like it at the time. Home ten days later but physically wrecked. Continue reading →

Episode 245. Rain, Dirt and Soil

This is The ChangeUnderground for the week ending 15th of February 2021.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

The variations in climatic conditions continue. 136 mm in twenty four hours was very welcome, that’s about 5 and a third inches in the old money. The surprising thing was the lack of run off and pooling on the surface of the fields. I knew things were thirsty but this is quite astonishing. That we had rainfall soaking into the soil rather than pooling and running off as it did our first winter here tells me we are getting more life into the soil. More spaces within the soil profile for rain to find its way into. Always nice to have some positive feedback, I just have to keep a weather eye out in case I’m simply bias confirming and missing something that’s actually happening. I think we’re ok but then I would think that wouldn’t I?  Continue reading →

Episode 243. Matching Climate and Crops

This is The ChangeUnderground for the week ending 25th of January 2021.

I’m your host, Jon Moore

Decarbonise the Air, Recarbonise the Soil!

Now this  crops/climate thing is getting to be a little trickier as time passes. The last two years here in the North West of Tasmania have been 300mm down on the average rainfall. In Australia, as a rule of thumb, the average rarely represents any one year’s actual rainfall. It’s the midpoint between the drought and the wet years. Things aren’t in drought here but they are drier than they could be. And a month to six weeks without rainfall doesn’t do the pastures nor the crops much benefit. Continue reading →

Episode 197. Fires and Rebellion

This is the World Organic News for the week ending 6th of January 2020.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

We’ve seen some strange things politically since 2016. Brexit and Trump spring to mind. The yellow vest and now general strike in France and, of course, the Hong Kong demonstrations.

What all these things seem to have in common is a reaction to, not so much the centre as the establishment. After 40 odd years of privatisation, outsourcing and a growing disparity between the ultra rich and the rest, a backlash occurred. In the Hong Kong case it was against the establishment on mainland China and for different reasons but a backlash against the establishment nonetheless. Continue reading →

Episode 190. Climate Change & the USDA

This is the World Organic News for the week ending the 21st of October 2019.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

This week we’re focusing on the front line with a piece from Politico in the US entitled: ‘I’m standing right here in the middle of climate change’: How USDA is failing farmers.

Quote:

ROCK PORT, Missouri — Rick Oswald is standing on the doorstep of the white farmhouse he grew up in, but almost nothing is as it should be.

To his right, four steel grain bins, usually shiny and straight, lie mangled and ripped open, spilling now-rotting corn into piles like sand dunes. The once manicured lawn has been overtaken by waist-tall cattails, their seeds carried in by flood waters that consumed this house, this farm and everything around it last spring.

End Quote Continue reading →

Episode 184. 20 Years and More, We Knew!

This is the World Organic News for the week ending the 2nd of September 2019.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

I still get surprised when it happens but sometimes I run out of podcasts to listen to myself. During this last week I went looking for some content and stumbled upon and old series that ran for 40 years on the BBC World Service. I thing called The Farming World. I flicked through the listings until I found something which peaked my interest. Agroforestry Success Stories. It contained the usual matter. Planting trees works. A mix of tree lines and cropping works, livestock under trees works. All fairly straightforward stuff. It was when I heard the presenter say: “As we approach the millennium…”  that when my ears really pricked up. I hunted through the material available to discover this gem of an episode was from….    1996. 23 years ago! Even then the results had been proven. Less water use, greater productivity, improved soil health and as we know now, much improved soil carbon.  Continue reading →

Episode 168. The Revolution Takes Shape!

This is the World Organic News for the week ending the 13th of May 2019.

Jon Moore reporting!

Decarbonise the air, recarbonise the soil!

As you may recall I finished last week’s episode in a bit of a frustrated funk. We know we have to do, we have the techniques to do it but our political classes are still fighting battles from 15 years ago. 

So this past week has been one of deep contemplation, discussion with peers and a moment of satori, a moment of enlightened clarity. 

Let me explain. Looking at the “big” things that have changed parts of society in this millennium I came to a conclusion. Single use plastic bags from supermarkets being banned, incandescent bulbs being withdrawn from sale and the wonders of separating household waste for collection all have a few things in common.  Continue reading →