A Farmer’s Conscious Mediation

Walking Down The Aisle. © Copyright 2012. Alice Merkel Photography. All Rights Reserved.

A Farmer’s Conscious Mediation: Enable Life & Recycle Carbon Emissions

By Glenn Gall, Climate Activist and Farmer based in Oberlin, Ohio

Preparing for 350.org's Silver Anniversary on April 7, 2013

“If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, ... CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm....  If the present overshoot of this target CO2 is not brief, there is a possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects.” - Dr. James Hansen, et al, 4-7-2008

How time flies!  It's been twenty-five years since the earth’s atmosphere climbed to and stayed above the milestone, and threshold, 350 ppm CO2 level, up from 280 or so a couple centuries ago.  Over the last 25 years, the CO2 level has continued to climb, and is now approximately 395 ppm.

There are now approximately 800 gigatons (Gt) of atmospheric carbon (carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere), and there were around 600 Gt when the atmosphere had less than 300 ppm CO2.  Well over 100 Gt carbon would have to be removed from the atmosphere and added to biomass and soil for us to reach or go below 350 ppm CO2.  That will take more than just reducing Greenhouse gas emissions, which has been where most of the stop-global-warming effort has been focused.

Five years ago, when Dr. Hansen and colleagues disclosed 350 as the limit, there was considerable buzz around the idea and the number.  In the last couple of years, that buzz and activity has given way to preventing two degrees of rise in temperature instead.  It is baffling that we could ignore dire warnings of “irreversible catastrophic effects” that remaining above 350 brings.  If the target is overshot, do we simply slow down or stop?  We are already in trouble.  We need to reverse our course immediately!

Burning the fossil fuels that used to be living things creates CO2 and water.  Photosynthesis is more or less the reverse, turning CO2 and water vapor back into life.  It pulls CO2 out of the atmosphere.  Generating enough more abundance of vegetation can actually draw down atmospheric carbon levels, picking up where emission reductions leave off.

Rapid growing trees and shrubs can capture carbon and store it indefinitely if maintained.  Likewise, grassland species which feed the soil and result in stable topsoil humus that can, if well managed, rapidly recycle the carbon we have emitted and left in the atmosphere. It makes sense to enable more life while recycling our carbon emissions.

There may be significant emission reductions this decade, but whether or not that happens, we can still foster more life.  Not only will that draw carbon out of the atmosphere, but it can help make our planet more resilient, reduce or reverse desertification, prevent extinctions, reduce flooding and drought impacts, and feed people, all desirable outcomes even if global warming weren’t an issue.  Generating more life is an enormous opportunity, and our only real, safe way to reach or go below the 350 threshold.

Fortunately a sea change in our understanding and practice has begun.  There are many who are working tirelessly to share what they know and help others grow healthy, more nutritious crops without harmful chemicals, harvest rainwater in the soil so that plants can grow, and provide more abundant landscapes, while annually sequestering tons of CO2 per acre.

Perennial systems are one key.  Grasses can be managed to rapidly grow topsoil.  Trees, shrubs, forbs, all can provide food and other necessities without topsoil erosion while sinking and sequestering carbon.

On his “pasture cropping” farm in in New South Wales, Australia, Colin Seis sequesters thousands of tons of CO2 per year, while economically and ecologically growing food.  Not only that, there are now over 2000 other practitioners of his Pasture Cropping system in Australia.

That kind of impact is monumental and earth changing.  Australia’s soils are well on their way to capturing more CO2 then emitted on the continent. Seis and followers are showing us how effective we can be if we let nature work for us.

Can more of us commit to promoting carbon farming methods like these, or to helping farmers with their chores or marketing, or to becoming farmers?

Imagine the impact of such commitments. This spring, let us recognize that we have been in the danger zone for 25 years too long, understanding that we have been made aware of the danger five years ago.

We are now on a powerful trajectory, one that will empower thousands and millions more holistic, carbon sequestering farmers, and their customers, aids, and agents, and that will take us below the danger level.  Because of this, let us celebrate that we are enabling a stable climate for all foreseeable generations.

Does your farm capture more carbon that is emitted, or do you help or support such a farmer or farmers?  Does what you do account for more carbon sequestered than you emit?  Are you committed to enabling more stable soil and biomass carbon in the not too distant future?

If so, consider organizing a celebration for April 7, 2013, the fifth anniversary of the recognition of 350 as a limit for a healthy planet.

With enough support, we won't be waiting another 25 years to see 350 ppm, or a stable climate, and all that it brings.

About the Author:

Glenn Gall is an independent climate activist and farmer living in Oberlin, Ohio.  If you throw a Returning To 350 Party, please let us know by posting your announcement details to the Silver Anniversary 350.org Facebook Page.

Learn more about 350.org "founded by U.S. author Bill McKibben, who wrote one of the first books on global warming for the general public, and a team of university friends." - From the page at http://350.org/en/story

- Betsey Merkel, Publisher For Social Business Relevance