permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

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Subject: Marin Carbon Project 'Soil Carbon Study Results Release'
From: "Darren Doherty" <darren@permaculture.biz>
Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:38:17 +1100
To: "permacultue discussion list" <pil-pc-oceania@lists.permacultureinternational.org>, "Permaculture List" 
<permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>

G'day,

Following is an note from Andrew Fynn, Project Officer with the Marin Carbon Project. Andrew attended a Keyline Design 
Course I led in Two Rock, CA last November 2007, that was successfully convened by the Regenerative Design Institute 
(over 100 people for a 3 day event). That was followed by me introducing the idea that Carbon markets should be 
developed locally 1st and then globally, so as to encourage local generation of sequestration funds, which are then to 
be used on farm for regenerative system development..this would then be followed by moves to attract global voluntary 
offset funds. The incentive with our approach that the more regenerative you are the more carbon you sequester, the more 
funding you get for doing so. And so the Marin Carbon Project was born. One of the project's main sponsors said, "You 
can come and visit your Carbon!".

This had to start with some reality though. My close colleague and friend Abe Collins (www.carbonfarmersofamerica.com) 
and I led facilitated workshops with targeted stakeholders of various educational, governmental, and organic 
agricultural sector institutions to determine the best way forward. We used a facilitation method normally reserved for 
conflict resolution where 'best and worst possible outcomes' were at times uncomfortably 'extracted' with questions of 
the 'effects on Marin County of not building soil carbon versus building' it were asked among a many others. The main 
determinations that came out of this process were around how much and for what price could atmospheric carbon be stored 
in the agricultural soils of Marin County? This led to a 16 farm study by the University of California, the results of 
which are going to be released on October the 7th.

A parallel though much larger and broader study is also being conducted across the US through Cornell University and was 
designed by Abe Collins. This will determine on these farms the agronomic potential of using a whole range of soil 
carbon procedures that are currently known to us. The metric of this is enormous, though will have as a base parameter 
the use of Holistic Management® Planned Grazing (AKA Management Intensive Grazing) and Yeomans Keyline Plowing.

Those of us currently involved in the 'Soil Carbon movement' are naturally looking forward to the outcomes of this UC 
Marin & Sanoma study, so we have some planning baselines in moderately brittle environments. Interestingly Dr. Christine 
Jones (www.amazingcarbon.com) will be releasing the results of a similar Australian study in November 2008 at the 
Australian Carbon Farming Conference in Orange NSW....

Our informed hope is that there will be big lift in activity to get a lot of this excess atmospheric carbon back where 
it should be: in the ground helping to improve the mineral and water cycles of our planet.....

Below is the open invitation to the Marin Carbon Project event:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From: Andrew Fynn [mailto:andrew@marincarbonproject.org]

Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 2:47 PM
To: Andrew Fynn
Subject: MCP at CFDA Sacramento, Oct 7 Noon



Dear All



I am pleased to announce that the Marin Carbon Project's Whendee Silver will present information about soil carbon 
sequestration and preliminary results from MCP's soil survey (carried out on Marin and Sonoma rangelands), in Room 133 
of California Department of Food and Agriculture, 1220 N Street, Sacramento at Noon on Tuesday 7 October.



Please attend if you can, or pass on this email to others.



What is the true potential for carbon sequestration in California rangelands? Which land management practices can help 
achieve that?  Future MCP research could help answer these questions and quantify

the role of soil carbon sequestration as a response to the mandated targets 
of AB 32.



If you have questions about the location of the seminar, please contact CDFA's Merry Wells at 657-4956. If you have any 
other questions, please contact me.



Best regards



Andrew Fynn



Andrew Fynn
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
--
Hooroo,
Darren J. Doherty

Australia Felix Permaculture
Broadacre Permaculture Design & Development
International Certified Permaculture Education

Web: http://www.permaculture.biz
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Blog: http://www.australiafelixpermaculture.blogspot.com/

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skype: permaculture.biz

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