Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - [permaculture] Soil Carbon Challenge

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: loren luyendyk <loren@sborganics.com>
  • To: Permaculture Listserve <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Soil Carbon Challenge
  • Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 03:00:50 +0000


In 1938, University of Missouri soils professor William
Albrecht noted that soil organic matter is perhaps the most important
national resource, and that it should rank at the top of conservation
policy.

It has taken a long time, but increasing numbers of people are now in
agreement with
Albrecht, as we realize the following:

1. Atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to rise, indicating a serious change
in the earth's carbon cycle.

2.
The ratio of inputs, such as fossil-fuel-dependent nitrogen fertilizer,
to crop yields has gone way down, as has the ability of soils to
moderate flooding and drought or sustain biodiversity.

3. Nutritional density of mass-produced food has declined precipitously.

Soil
organic matter, which is mostly carbon, is the hub or axis of the
terrestrial carbon cycle, and it is where these three trends intersect.

For
us, the year 2010 saw the beginning of the Soil Carbon Challenge with
Tony and Andrea Malmberg from Union, Oregon becoming the first entrants:

http://soilcarboncoalition.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=12&qid=3985

And
January 2011 will see the start of the California Grassland Carbon
Challenge. As the Challenge branches out, we look forward to more local
partnerships, and more capacity to perform, correlate, and sustain
accurate monitoring of changes in soil carbon, as well as recognize
those who are turning atmospheric carbon into water-holding,
fertility-enhancing soil organic matter. Our ability to implement the
Challenge, in the United States and in other countries, depends on local
champions and local partnerships -- people who want to increase soil
carbon, and show what is possible with good monitoring that is shared.

On
Monday, January 24th 2011 we will be cosponsoring a meeting at Joe and
Julie
Morris's ranch in San Juan Bautista, California. You are invited to
participate. Learn from some of the successes already, such as the Marin
Carbon Project, and help devise ways forward. This is a participatory
meeting, facilitated by Jeff Goebel, and will concentrate on the whys
and hows of increasing soil organic matter in grasslands.

You may register online at

http://soilcarboncoalition.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=13&qid=3985

or RSVP to me by replying to this email or calling me at 541-263-1888.

Thanks
much to our donors in 2010, whose contributions gave leverage and
momentum to our volunteer work. (It's not too late to become a 2010
donor to the Soil Carbon
Challenge: www.soilcarboncoalition.org on the lower right, and offline
contributions can be pledged as well.)

Both soilcarboncoalition.org and managingwholes.com
are full of articles, links, resources, and videos about the carbon
cycle and biosphere processes, conflict and consensus, low-stress
livestock handling, and examples of holistic management.

best wishes for 2011

Peter Donovan
Soil Carbon Coalition


Loren Luyendyk
(805) 452-8249
www.sborganics.com
www.surferswithoutborders.org





  • [permaculture] Soil Carbon Challenge, loren luyendyk, 01/02/2011

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page