Human-caused climate change started not only with burning fossil fuels but with our exploitation of the Earths’ soil. Indigenous societies, many with sophisticated agricultural systems structured around knowledge of environmental limits, were often violently displaced from their land or forced to accept European farming models. As colonialism and extractive practices spread globally, land was, for the first time, exposed to the plow. After just a few decades of intense tillage by plowing, 50% of the original organic matter in the planet’s soil was oxidized and released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
Land use, deforestation and industrial farming contributes about 25% of the global greenhouse-gas emissions today
Fortunately, land-use practices can be one of the most-substantial solutions to the climate crisis, given the ability of the soil to sequester and hold carbon. A tablespoon of soil contains billions of microbes which collectively hold more carbon than all animals combined.
Billions of tons of carbon sit underground, three times more than in the atmosphere. Microbes are the key to carbon sequestration, as they transfer organic matter from plants and animals into soil. This process builds soil fertility while extracting carbon from the atmosphere and locking it away.
With the advent of industrial agriculture, it is estimated that we have lost 133 billion metric tons of carbon from the soil.
To keep warming to 1.5 degrees C. and preserve a livable planet, we need to both dramatically reduce our emissions and achieve widespread carbon sequestration. The acclaimed Project Drawdown shows in its data no other way as effective in addressing global warming as capturing carbon dioxide from the air through photosynthesis and the growing of plants and trees and other vegetation. Yet mono-crop, industrial-style farming practices of tilling, leaving land bare, use of chemical herbicides, pesticides and amendments and long-distance transporting of crops are significantly adding to our GHG emissions.
Conversely, regenerative agriculture practices can extract and sequester carbon. Healthy soil needs and stores carbon. Regenerative agriculture practices are most often cost-saving over time, safer for the farmworkers, “low-tech,” and employ local knowledge. These practices can restore degraded land, improve water retention, reduce flooding, provide more nutrient-rich food, improve air and water quality with reduced use of toxic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, protect pollinators, create local, balanced ecosystems, promote crop resilience, disperse heat, reverse climate change and reconnect people to the land. Regenerative agriculture involves several basic practices: minimal soil disturbances, organic production, compost application, the use of cover crops and crop rotation. Regenerative practices take different forms; some involving grazing livestock with grasslands and food trees, and others resembling the Hawaiian ahupua‘a system.
There is maturing global scientific consensus around the need to transition away from industrialized agriculture to regenerative practices, as well as the ability of regenerative practices to match the yields of conventional methods, especially in a less-climate-stable world. The landmark International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development is the most-comprehensive and rigorous assessment of agriculture to date. The IAASTD’s most-salient conclusion is that a radical transformation of the world’s food and farming systems — especially the policies and institutions that affect them — is necessary if we are to overcome converging economic and environmental crises and feed the world sustainably. It found that small-scale, diversified farming is responsible for the lion’s share of agriculture globally, and that “the greatest scope for improving livelihoods and equity exists in small-scale, diversified production systems in developing countries. On the other hand, 60% of U.S. farmland is used for GMO corn and soy that is used for animal feed, fuel and corn syrup. These bigger farms have bigger problems, including substantial greenhouse-gas emissions, and are more vulnerable to climate impacts.
To learn more about the benefits of regenerative agriculture, tune in July 14, 6 p.m., to the monthly remote Climate Action Forum. To register online forum go to bit.ly/rootsofclimatechange Those registering for the July forum — “The Roots of Climate Change : Solutions in the Soil,” will have free access to the documentary “Kiss the Ground.”
This movie gives a good explanation of how regenerative-agriculture practices benefit the environment, although it oversimplifies both the problem and the solution and falls short of addressing the deeper, extractive systems and cultural-supremacy mentality that birthed the destructive land practices in the first place.
Other documentaries that give greater attention to the role of Indigenous regenerative farming are “Gather” and “Tending the Wild.” The forum can also be viewed on live on the Zero Waste Kaua‘i Facebook page. For more information on Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition or to get involved, email kauaiclimate@gmail.com.
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Laurel Brier is involved with the Kaua‘i Climate Action Coalition, previously known as Apollo Kaua‘i. The KCAC meets the third Monday of the month at 5 p.m. KCAC joins with Surfrider and Zero Waste Kaua‘i to offer a monthly educational series on the climate crisis and related topics the second Wednesday of the month on Zoom and the ZWK Facebook Live page.
