HBO’s critically-acclaimed miniseries Chernobyl has recently brought nuclear energy back into the limelight, to mixed[i] reviews[ii]. Although the show’s creator Craig Mazin stressed in a tweet[iii] that “the lesson of Chernobyl isn’t that modern nuclear power is dangerous,” some viewers[iv] have taken away that message regardless. There’s no question, however, that nuclear power has a…
Continue ReadingWe have already briefly encountered managed grazing, #19[i] on the Drawdown organization’s top 100 solutions to reverse climate change[ii], in our post on regenerative agriculture[iii]. Managed grazing is one of the four core practices of regenerative agriculture, because it can improve soil health, increase biodiversity and water retention, and sequester atmospheric carbon. In fact, Drawdown…
Continue ReadingHumans have harnessed the heat within the Earth for millennia, perhaps most notably in the ancient Roman baths that served as centers of city life. Far more recently, we have begun to draw upon this geothermal energy—from the Greek roots geo (‘Earth’) and thermos (‘heat’)—as a renewable source of power. The planet contains an astronomical…
Continue ReadingTrees—those tall, stately plants that provide shade from the sun in summer, crunchy fall leaves to traipse in during the fall, and evergreen garlands and holiday symbols that remind us of the warmth of spring in the depths of winter—are one of our most important allies in the work to reverse climate change. We need…
Continue ReadingConservation agriculture has much in common with regenerative agriculture, which we covered earlier in our breakdown of the Drawdown Organization’s top 100 solutions to reverse climate change. The primary reason why conservation agriculture is five spots lower on Drawdown’s rankings—#16 to regenerative agriculture’s position at #11—is that conservation agriculture allows for the use of synthetic…
Continue ReadingWe’ve already discussed the importance of tropical forests to mitigating the effects of climate change: though these beautiful ecosystems cover just 5% of the Earth’s surface, they store as much as one-quarter of the world’s carbon. This awesome ability is the primary reason the Drawdown Organization ranks tropical forests #5 on its top 100 solutions to…
Continue ReadingPeatlands — also known as bogs — are a unique type of wetland, named for the organic matter that forms when plants decompose in an oxygen-starved environment over hundreds and thousands of years[i]. The Drawdown organization describes peat as “neither solid ground nor water, but something in between[ii],” ideal conditions for preserving ancient ‘bog bodies’…
Continue ReadingCampaigns to “save the forests” usually focus on the tropical jungles epitomized by the Amazon basin. There are valid reasons for this: while rainforests take up only about 5% of the Earth’s surface, they store about 25% of its carbon. Their importance is thus far greater than their presence[i]. A full quarter of the…
Continue ReadingIn 2014, the Rodale Institute[i], an organic agriculture research center based in Pennsylvania, heralded[ii] a revolutionary technology with potential to store more than 100% of global annual CO2 emissions: The cost is minimal and is adaptable to local contexts the world over. It can be rolled out tomorrow providing multiple benefits beyond climate stabilization….
Continue ReadingSolar Energy: A Bountiful Harvest Solar energy has a lot going for it: it’s the fastest growing energy sector in the world — last year, it even grew faster than fossil fuels[1] — and analysts predict it will soon become the cheapest[2]. The sun’s energy is not only clean compared to fossil fuels —…
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