From Back Yards, to Front Yards, to Rooftops: The ... AWS
From Back Yards, to Front Yards, to Rooftops: The Role of Urban Agriculture in Mitigating Climate Change Philip Bogdonoff, Director, Washington DC Chapter Biodiversity for a Livable Climate philip.bogdonoff @ bio4climate.org
Tod Wickersham, President, Beneficial Results LLC [email protected] Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit October 5 & 6, 2017
In Conclusion • Build soil that sequesters carbon with the help of plants, soil microbes, and fungi • Never leave soil bare! Keep the ground covered with living plants (or mulch), ideally diverse, multispecies cover crops between planting veggies/flowers/etc. • Avoid/minimize tillage • Eliminate pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and even synthetic fertilizers
In Conclusion (2) • Work with homeowner associations and municipalities to implement the above practices on lawns, along roads, parks, and other land they own. • Allow/support gardening in front yards, back yards, and roof tops • Buy from local, organic, regenerative farms
Keeling Curve
Chloroplasts
Mainstream climate • Using biologicalscience processes may be the only way to reduce atmospheric carbon quickly enough to address climate effectively. • The predominance of the physical sciences in climate studies has led to neglecting the power of biology in the climate equation. Photo: The Atlantic
The Solution: Putting Life to Work
Photo: Africa Center for Holistic Management
Eco-restoration is a familiar, safe, and highly promising response that is not yet at the heart of the global climate strategy.
The Biosphere Can Repair What We Have Broken . . .
"Elbow Site," Africa Center for Holistic Management, Zimbabwe
The plants in the 2009 photograph (right) represent carbon dioxide rapidly removed from the atmosphere and transformed into living matter - both aboveground and deep in the soils. This was achieved through careful management to restore the grassland ecosystem. The Africa Center for Holistic Management trains neighboring villages to do the same, those villages train their neighbors, and so on. This project is one of many (potentially thousands) worldwide that can do the work of soil building and carbon sequestration, and while resulting increased productivity is eventually self-sustaining, carbon farmers need funding for training and materials to get started.
Lawns, or ? • In a study published in Environmental Management in 2005, researchers estimated there are 40 million acres of turf grass in the U.S., covering 1.9 percent of the land – four times more lawn than corn! • If kept well watered, it could use 60 million acrefeet of water a year. • If treated conventionally, it can be the source of erosion, runoff of nutrients, pesticides, etc.
BigBigBluestem Bluestem Kentucky Bluegrass
Buffalo Grass
6 Feet
10 Feet Big Bluestem
Deep Biodiverse Soils - Excellent Infiltration CO2 ~ 280 ppm (pre - 1800) (Just Right)
Regenerative Agriculture & Permaculture
What is Regenerative Agriculture? “Regenerative Agriculture” describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle. February 16, 2017
Paul & Elisabeth Kaiser Singing Frogs Farm, Sebastopol, CA
Singing frogs farm
Forest Agriculture
FOREST AGRICULTURE Agroforestry ● Food Forest ● Forest Garden
FORESTED - BOWIE, MD
Turn Part of Your Yard into a Food Forest • "Lawn to FOOD FOREST In 5 Years, Natural Farming Permaculture Gardening” • https://youtu.be/ng-VskDFPpM
Urban Farming • San Antonio Makes Urban Farming Legal Throughout The City
•
http://www.offgridquest.com/green/san-antonio-makes-urban-farming-legal-th
Be Part of “Fleet Farming” • Bike-Powered Farming Program Turns Lawns Into Urban Farms
• http://www.ecowatch.com/bike-powered-farming-program-turnslawns-into-urban-farms-1891135900.html
Fleet Farming (2) • Fleet Farming, a bike-powered, all-volunteer team of farmers in Orlando, Florida is turning wasteful, water-hogging lawns into mini urban farms to help boost local food production. • Here's how it works: A landowner or renter with owner consent, can donate their chemical-free lawn to Fleet Farming. Once the site is assessed and approved for growing, Fleet Farms will schedule the installation of a food-producing plot at least 500 square feet in size. • The "farmlette" consists of row crops grown directly in the ground. Each landowner must sign a two-year agreement with a suggested donation of $500 to the cover start-up costs. In exchange for the donation of their turf, hosts are allowed to harvest a share of the produce. Fleet Farming is responsible for maintaining the plot but the hosts are encouraged to pitch in.
Rooftops • France Declares All New Roofs Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels • http://realfarmacy.com/france-declares-new-roofs-must-topped-plantssolar-panels/
Up Top Acres in DC “Elevate Your Eating”
• We grow food on roofs - converting underutilized spaces into productive farmland and environmental safeguards. We create spaces for communities to interact with and learn about food, in order to establish agriculture as a fixture of city life. • http://uptopacres.com
The Vision: Carbon Farming Sequestering carbon in the soil: • Stabilizes climate and weather patterns • Restores biodiversity and soil health • Re-establishes healthy water cycles • Increases land fertility, food quality, and productivity • Increases ecosystem and economic resiliency • Brings sustainable, self-financing local jobs to millions, especially in developing countries There are many ways to farm carbon, depending on local conditions.
In Conclusion • Build soil that sequesters carbon with the help of soil microbes and fungi • Never leave soil bare! Keep the ground covered with living plants (or mulch), ideally diverse, multispecies cover crops between planting veggies/flowers/etc. • Avoid/minimize tillage • Eliminate pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and even synthetic fertilizers
In Conclusion (2) • Work with homeowners associations and municipalities to implement above practices on lawns, along roads, and other land they own. • Allow/support gardening in front yards, back yards, and roof tops • Buy from local, organic, regenerative farms
Earth from space
Tod Wickersham, President, Beneficial Results LLC [email protected] Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit October 5 & 6, 2017
In Conclusion • Build soil that sequesters carbon with the help of plants, soil microbes, and fungi • Never leave soil bare! Keep the ground covered with living plants (or mulch), ideally diverse, multispecies cover crops between planting veggies/flowers/etc. • Avoid/minimize tillage • Eliminate pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and even synthetic fertilizers
In Conclusion (2) • Work with homeowner associations and municipalities to implement the above practices on lawns, along roads, parks, and other land they own. • Allow/support gardening in front yards, back yards, and roof tops • Buy from local, organic, regenerative farms
Keeling Curve
Chloroplasts
Mainstream climate • Using biologicalscience processes may be the only way to reduce atmospheric carbon quickly enough to address climate effectively. • The predominance of the physical sciences in climate studies has led to neglecting the power of biology in the climate equation. Photo: The Atlantic
The Solution: Putting Life to Work
Photo: Africa Center for Holistic Management
Eco-restoration is a familiar, safe, and highly promising response that is not yet at the heart of the global climate strategy.
The Biosphere Can Repair What We Have Broken . . .
"Elbow Site," Africa Center for Holistic Management, Zimbabwe
The plants in the 2009 photograph (right) represent carbon dioxide rapidly removed from the atmosphere and transformed into living matter - both aboveground and deep in the soils. This was achieved through careful management to restore the grassland ecosystem. The Africa Center for Holistic Management trains neighboring villages to do the same, those villages train their neighbors, and so on. This project is one of many (potentially thousands) worldwide that can do the work of soil building and carbon sequestration, and while resulting increased productivity is eventually self-sustaining, carbon farmers need funding for training and materials to get started.
Lawns, or ? • In a study published in Environmental Management in 2005, researchers estimated there are 40 million acres of turf grass in the U.S., covering 1.9 percent of the land – four times more lawn than corn! • If kept well watered, it could use 60 million acrefeet of water a year. • If treated conventionally, it can be the source of erosion, runoff of nutrients, pesticides, etc.
BigBigBluestem Bluestem Kentucky Bluegrass
Buffalo Grass
6 Feet
10 Feet Big Bluestem
Deep Biodiverse Soils - Excellent Infiltration CO2 ~ 280 ppm (pre - 1800) (Just Right)
Regenerative Agriculture & Permaculture
What is Regenerative Agriculture? “Regenerative Agriculture” describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity – resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle. February 16, 2017
Paul & Elisabeth Kaiser Singing Frogs Farm, Sebastopol, CA
Singing frogs farm
Forest Agriculture
FOREST AGRICULTURE Agroforestry ● Food Forest ● Forest Garden
FORESTED - BOWIE, MD
Turn Part of Your Yard into a Food Forest • "Lawn to FOOD FOREST In 5 Years, Natural Farming Permaculture Gardening” • https://youtu.be/ng-VskDFPpM
Urban Farming • San Antonio Makes Urban Farming Legal Throughout The City
•
http://www.offgridquest.com/green/san-antonio-makes-urban-farming-legal-th
Be Part of “Fleet Farming” • Bike-Powered Farming Program Turns Lawns Into Urban Farms
• http://www.ecowatch.com/bike-powered-farming-program-turnslawns-into-urban-farms-1891135900.html
Fleet Farming (2) • Fleet Farming, a bike-powered, all-volunteer team of farmers in Orlando, Florida is turning wasteful, water-hogging lawns into mini urban farms to help boost local food production. • Here's how it works: A landowner or renter with owner consent, can donate their chemical-free lawn to Fleet Farming. Once the site is assessed and approved for growing, Fleet Farms will schedule the installation of a food-producing plot at least 500 square feet in size. • The "farmlette" consists of row crops grown directly in the ground. Each landowner must sign a two-year agreement with a suggested donation of $500 to the cover start-up costs. In exchange for the donation of their turf, hosts are allowed to harvest a share of the produce. Fleet Farming is responsible for maintaining the plot but the hosts are encouraged to pitch in.
Rooftops • France Declares All New Roofs Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels • http://realfarmacy.com/france-declares-new-roofs-must-topped-plantssolar-panels/
Up Top Acres in DC “Elevate Your Eating”
• We grow food on roofs - converting underutilized spaces into productive farmland and environmental safeguards. We create spaces for communities to interact with and learn about food, in order to establish agriculture as a fixture of city life. • http://uptopacres.com
The Vision: Carbon Farming Sequestering carbon in the soil: • Stabilizes climate and weather patterns • Restores biodiversity and soil health • Re-establishes healthy water cycles • Increases land fertility, food quality, and productivity • Increases ecosystem and economic resiliency • Brings sustainable, self-financing local jobs to millions, especially in developing countries There are many ways to farm carbon, depending on local conditions.
In Conclusion • Build soil that sequesters carbon with the help of soil microbes and fungi • Never leave soil bare! Keep the ground covered with living plants (or mulch), ideally diverse, multispecies cover crops between planting veggies/flowers/etc. • Avoid/minimize tillage • Eliminate pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and even synthetic fertilizers
In Conclusion (2) • Work with homeowners associations and municipalities to implement above practices on lawns, along roads, and other land they own. • Allow/support gardening in front yards, back yards, and roof tops • Buy from local, organic, regenerative farms
Earth from space
