Articles include: Oregon Utility Using Greenwashing and ‘Renewable Natural Gas’ To Push Back on Potential Gas Bans; New Government Report Highlights Federal Failures to Oversee Offshore Drilling [report is here]; New Lawsuit Challenges ‘Fast-Track’ Permits Used for Oil and Gas Pipelines Nationwide; Over a Half-million Americans Live Near Oil Refineries With High Levels of a Cancer-causing Air Pollutant, Report Finds [report is here]; Ugandan Farmers Whose Land Will Soon Become a Crude Oil Pipeline Pathway Lose Years of Livelihood; Climate Disinformation Database: Energy4US
Tag: farming
Studies: Farming, Insects, and Soil – 4 articles
CBC: How regenerative farming could help Canada meet its new carbon emission targets. Unconventional techniques can sequester carbon while improving soil.
Science Alert: ‘Wolf Packs’ of Predatory Bacteria Lurk in Our Soil, And They Play a Crucial Role. You might not have given much thought to predatory bacteria before, but a new study reveals that the behavior of these microorganisms plays a crucial part in the balance of nutrients and carbon capture in soil. The research has been published in mBio.
The Conversation: To help insects, make them welcome in your garden – here’s how. As a scientist whose research involves insects and as a gardener, I know that many beneficial insect species are declining and need humans’ help. If you’re a gardener looking for a new challenge this year, consider revamping all or part of your yard to support beneficial insects. Some gardeners choose native plants to attract and support helpful insects. Often, however, those native plants are surrounded by vast expanses of lawn.
Popular Science: Understanding plant biological clocks could boost future agriculture. Plants have their cycles, too—and knowing them could bring down how much water, fertilizer, and herbicide we use. But people aren’t the only living things with an internal clock—plants have them, too. And understanding their rhythms could make our food systems more sustainable and productive in the long run, according to a new study by British and Belgian researchers. As our climate changes, the population grows, and more resilient and sustainable food is needed, rethinking the way agriculture works is absolutely crucial for a sustainable and hunger-free world.
Study: Climate Crisis & Food Production
The Hill: Effective and profitable climate solutions are within the nation’s farms and forests. America’s farmers, ranchers and forest managers work with the earth every day, not on just Earth Day. And natural and working lands underpin our national economy — sustaining our food supply, generating timber and providing wildlife habitat, recreation resources and environmental benefits. But we also believe these stewards of our lands and forests can — and must — find better, more productive ways to address the risks that climate change poses to our future. More innovative federal farm, forest and climate policies must help in that process. Right now, climate change poses significant risks for farmers and our forests. These include warmer temperatures and extreme weather events that can directly increase the frequency and severity of many types of disturbances, including drought, wildfire and blowdowns, as well as exacerbate pests, diseases and other agents that further increase stress on ecosystems.
Sentient Media: Climate Groups Finally Recognize the Link Between Factory Farming and Climate Change. We’re celebrating our second Earth Day in the midst of a global pandemic, which, in just one year, has redefined the word “normal” for us all. Yet COVID-19’s disruption has also afforded us an opportunity to hit the reset button and establish a resilient, sustainable new normal. We’ve long counted on environmental groups to model what this sustainable future looks like—one where single-use plastics are rare and electric vehicles are business as usual. But what about our fragile food system, which has all but crumbled under the pandemic’s weight? Does the way the climate movement eats line up with its own sustainable values?
Crucially, a global shift away from meat, eggs, and dairy isn’t just a nice gesture to the planet; it’s essential for a livable future. The EAT-Lancet Commission warns that even if net-zero carbon is achieved for every other industry by 2050 if the food system remains unchanged, we will still fail to achieve the Paris Agreement. Fortunately, a new study in Nature revealed that a worldwide plant-forward food system could likely keep us within a 1.5 ºC temperature rise because of increased “carbon sequestration through ecosystem restoration.”
Studies: Humanity’s greatest ally against climate change is the Earth itself
Washington Post: Humanity’s greatest ally against climate change is the Earth itself. Ecosystems can draw down carbon and buffer us from the worst effects of climate change — but only if we protect them.
A 2020 analysis in the journal Nature Sustainability found that better soil stewardship could reduce emissions by at least 5.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide each year — about 15 percent of current annual emissions.
In a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), they concluded natural climate systems are capable of storing almost 24 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year — roughly two thirds of what people emit. About half of that sequestration would be cost-effective, meaning enacting the necessary protections would cost less than the consequences of keeping that carbon in the air.
Study: Farming and Food Systems – 2 articles
Mongabay: Food systems drive a third of greenhouse gas emissions, study estimates.
- A new study provides a comprehensive look at how food systems — from the growing of food to its distribution to its consumption and even its disposal — contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions.
- It suggests that food systems are responsible for a third of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions, reinforcing previous research that provided similar estimates.
- According to one expert, the dietary habits of people in developed nations can largely determine the greenhouse gas emissions in low-income countries, although the study does not explicitly state this.
- Experts say that reform is needed to make food systems more sustainable, and to function within the Earth’s planetary boundaries.
A new paper published in Nature Food paints a picture of food systems by providing an estimate of how much greenhouse gas (GHG) is emitted when food is produced, processed, transported, packaged, consumed, and even disposed of. It found that in 2015, global food systems were responsible for about 25% to 42% — or about a third — of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Civil Eats: Farming Through the Climate Emergency. ‘For those of us who tend the land, grow food, and steward ecosystems, climate change is playing out every day, every season, and in every extreme weather event.’ here used to be fog here. Growing up, my family’s land in Sebastopol, California was swampy in the winter and wet with dewdrops on summer mornings. When I started farming here 12 years ago, I relished the cool mornings that meant rows of lush broccoli, blood-red beets, and crunchy lettuces all summer long. I would spend half the day tending the soil under grey skies, wearing long sleeves to keep warm as much as to keep the sun off my skin. Back then, there used to be fog.
Improved management of farmed peatlands could cut 500 million tons carbon dioxide
Phys.org: Improved management of farmed peatlands could cut 500 million tons carbon dioxide.
Substantial cuts in global greenhouse gas emissions could be achieved by raising water levels in agricultural peatlands, according to a new study in the journal Nature.
Peatlands occupy just three per cent of the world’s land surface area but store a similar amount of carbon to all terrestrial vegetation, as well as supporting unique biodiversity.
In their natural state, they can mitigate climate change by continuously removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it securely under waterlogged conditions for thousands of years.
But many peatland areas have been substantially modified by human activity, including drainage for agriculture and forest plantations. This results in the release, from drained peatlands, of the equivalent of around 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere each year—which equates to three per cent of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by human activities.
The study in Nature involved authors from UKCEH, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the University of Leeds, The James Hutton Institute, Bangor University, Durham University, Queen Mary University of London, University of Birmingham, University of Leicester, Rothamsted Research and Frankfurt University. [No link provided.]
The Daily Climate, April 23, 2021
Articles include: GHG commitments from Biden; Miami sea level rise costs; Steel company and GHG goals; Texas and clean energy; clean energy loan risks; humanity’s friend against climate change; bitcoin and the environment; Canada’s biggest banks missing from net-zero pledge; Study: dangerous toxins in Alaska’s algae; Study: ocean currents are changing; farmers and climate change; homelessness in America.
Why Is Fashion Talking About Regenerative Farming?
New York Times: Why Is Fashion Talking About Regenerative Farming? Brands like North Face, Allbirds and Patagonia, as well as the Kering luxury group, are all about agriculture these days. Here’s the dirt.
Fashion, like politics, loves a buzzword — especially when it comes to the environment. Sustainability! Circularity! They just tripped off the tongue. And now there’s a new favorite in town: regenerative.
In January, the luxury group Kering, owner of Gucci and Saint Laurent (among other brands), was a co-founder of the Regenerative Fund for Nature, aimed at converting one million hectares (2.47 million acres) of land producing raw materials for fashion from regular farmland to regenerative agriculture in five years.
In February, the New Zealand Merino Company announced that it has joined with Allbirds, Icebreaker and Smartwool to create the first platform dedicated to regenerative wool.
Serious about climate change? Get serious about agriculture
The Hill: Serious about climate change? Get serious about agriculture.
Washington has come a long way since the great climate change debate of 2010 sent industries and environmental advocates back to their corners to plan the fight for or against the next big congressional showdown. Now it’s here — but it’s not the one I expected.
Instead of quibbling over whether and why to reduce carbon emissions, Congress is actively legislating how to do so.
Amassing as a bipartisan political force for policy change are the farmers, foresters and ranchers who are at once at high risk from a changing climate and poised to grow rural economies by being part of the solution. It’s no surprise that Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) have made the risks and rewards of climate change for agriculture a focus of their efforts and partnership.
The Daily Climate, April 6, 2021
Articles include: Orphan oil wells & climate change; lightning, wildfires, and the Arctic; farmland restoration; wage gap; alternatives for coal country; carbon flooding; O&G jobs disappearing; Texas winter energy disaster; diseases in Alaska; drought in Michigan and Arizona; fossil fuel subsidies.