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71% of the Earth’s surface is water, and almost 97% of that water is in our oceans.[i] Pushed and pulled by winds, the moon’s gravitational pull, and the Earth’s rotation, all 320 million cubic miles[ii] of ocean water is constantly on the move, generating a huge amount of mechanical energy.   For the most part,…

Number 30 in this series is large methane digesters[i], a comparatively low-tech climate solution designed to capture the methane produced when human and animal waste and other organic matter decompose. Doing so prevents this greenhouse gas, which is as much as 86 times more potent[ii] than CO2, from entering the atmosphere. Moreover, the biogas[iii] (usually…

Carbon dioxide (CO2) tends to grab the headlines when it comes to greenhouse gases, but more and more attention is being paid to the effects of methane (CH4). While it’s true that carbon dioxide lasts far longer in the atmosphere—centuries to methane’s average of 9 years[i]—methane actually warms the planet 86 times as much[ii]. Moreover,…

The abbreviation SRI can stand for a number of things: Socially Responsible Investing[i], Scholastic Reading Inventory[ii], even the Stanford Research Institute[iii]. In climate and agricultural circles, however, SRI stands for System of Rice Intensification[iv]: a revolutionary method of growing rice developed by a French Jesuit in Madagascar in the 1980s. From humble beginnings in the…

Multistrata Agroforestry   We tend to divide forests into floors and canopies, paying little attention to what lies in between. Yet forests have multiple layers[i], from grasses and shrubs to trees that have not yet—or never will—reach the heights of the canopy (known as understories). While each plant in any given layer has its own…

Improved Rice Cultivation   20% of all calories[i] consumed worldwide comes from the humble rice grain, feeding approximately 3 billion people each year. Up to 20%[ii] of all methane (CH4) emissions each year also comes from rice—representing 10%[iii] of the agricultural sector’s yearly greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (1.5%[iv] of the global total). While methane does…

At first glance, district heating and cooling (DHC) sounds like the most modern of technologies. However, these networks of pipes that convey heated or cooled water into and between buildings have been around as far back as ancient Rome[i], where they were used to heat thermal baths, temples, even greenhouses.   DHC has come a…

“The default mode of all land is regeneration.”[i] Land is resilient: when degraded, it rebounds, regaining its ability to sustain life. Over the last century, however, land degradation—defined by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization[ii] as “any diminishment of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning that negatively impacts the provisioning of ecosystem services and ultimately impedes…

When we say the wind blows, we’re actually referring to the currents of a vast and powerful ocean of air. Unlike its watery counterpart, however, wind can be found—and thus harnessed—everywhere across the Earth’s surface. In the specific language of the wind power industry, it’s found both on and offshore. On Drawdown’s list of top…

Food nourishes human life, but cooking can be deadly. That’s the stark reality for 3 billion people[i]—40% of the world’s population—because of their stoves. In much of the developing world, households still use rudimentary stoves powered by charcoal, coal, and manure, and these fuels release deadly particulate matter. Household air pollution, in fact, is the…