permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Remineralize the Earth | Launching Our New Research Database
http://remineralize.org/2016/08/launching-our-new-research-database/

Launching Our New Research Database

Remineralize the Earth is proud to announce the launch of our new research
database, click here <http://remineralize.org/publications/>, the only
online research database dedicated to soil remineralization. An important
means of promoting this mission is to make research relating to soil
remineralization as easily accessible as possible to gardeners, farmers,
scientists, and policymakers. With the launch of our database, there is now
a single, convenient resource that gives the public access to a wealth of
academic studies and other articles which demonstrate the benefits of soil
remineralization.

Our mission is to see the planet Earth rejuvenated with strong, healthy,
remineralized soils that produce nutritious and delicious food for all
people and sequester carbon. Soil remineralization is the process of adding
finely crushed rock dust to unhealthy soils in order to bring back macro
and micro nutrients lost through weathering and unsustainable farming
practices. The articles in our database include scientific research that
has tested different types of rock dust, on different soils, with different
crops. These studies show how adding rock dust systematically increases
yields and regenerates soil fertility. Other papers describe how adding
rock dust to soils is an effective and inexpensive way to trap carbon from
the atmosphere by increasing microbial life and boosting plant growth. The
reports in the database cover projects and practical case studies that have
utilized remineralization to alleviate poverty and protect the environment.

We encourage people from all over the world to use our database in order to
grow healthier gardens, to increase yields for agriculture, and to advocate
for policies that protect environmental resources. The purpose of our
database is to serve all of those who want to learn more about how soil
remineralization can help alleviate poverty, improve human health, mitigate
climate change, and protect the environment. Soil remineralization is
important to everyone from farmers and gardeners to scientists and
policymakers.

Our database is available in English, and every document in it is hosted
with permission. Achieving this result posed challenges: the research
related to remineralization was originally published in several different
languages, and the copyrights were held by many different authors and
groups. A team of volunteers from many different countries and
backgrounds—but united by a desire to serve the environment—worked together
to make the database a reality. Omid Afzalalghom and Michelle Ottmann each
translated a large number of documents. Jayme Severance took responsibility
for proofreading the translated documents. Giovana Dubocq was able to
contact the authors and get permission for Remineralize the Earth to
provide all of these documents to you, free of charge. Thanks to their
service, we are now able to launch our database.

This database is an ongoing project. New research is being published. 2013
was the last major conference on remineralization in Brazil, and the next
conference is in 2016. The majority of conference researchers comprise the
field of *agrogeology*, defined as geology in service to agriculture.
Agrogeologists collaborate with and are part of the agroecology movement
around the world. Each conference produces about 70 – 80 research papers,
most of which need to be translated into English. The number of articles on
remineralization is growing. We will keep working to increase the number of
research studies available, and our aim is to have 200 studies in the
research database by the end of 2017. We are dedicated to maintaining a
single platform that offers the most comprehensive, up-to-date online
research database dedicated to soil remineralization.

We welcome any constructive feedback, so please do not hesitate to contact
us with your comments. If you believe that this effort is valuable to you
and to our planet, we would tremendously appreciate your support. We are a
volunteer-based organization with limited resources. We appreciate
contributions small and great!





*Miranda Chase* is an Environmental Policy Researcher, with a BA in
International Relations and MSc in Integrated Water Management. She is a
PhD candidate for the UMass program on Global Governance and Human
Security, and is a research fellow from the IGERT program of the National
Science Foundation. Her research mainly concerns sustainable development in
rural communities of the Amazon basin. As a coordinator for RTE, her goal
is to provide a state-of-art database with reliable information about
remineralization as a sustainable, effective and affordable solution to
agriculture worldwide. This knowledge can assist scientists and policy
makers, farmers and gardeners, and the general public in making better
environmental decisions.