216 results for author: Joanna Campe
Book Review – Rocks for Crops
In the book Rocks for Crops, agrogeology is defined as the “study of geological processes that influence the distribution and formation of soils and the application of geological materials in farming and forestry systems as means of maintaining and enhancing soil productivity for increased social, economic and environmental benefits,” or as Professor Peter Van Straaten aptly puts it: geology in the service of agriculture.
Professor van Straaten has been one of the leading figures in agrogeology for more than 30 years. He has carried out numerous geological studies investigating rocks in Africa, a body of work that he describes in his book Rocks ...
World Soil Day: December 5, 2016
Tom Goreau: Dr. Tom Goreau, keynote speaker at Tufts University's Biodiversity for a Livable Climate conference: “Restoring Ecosystems to Reverse Global Warming,” November 22nd, 2014.
In November 2016, the Commonwealth Secretariat held a conference about its Initiative on Regenerative Development to Reverse Climate Change as part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. At that conference, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland asserted that “our priority is to move from agreement to action,” and called for "pioneering approaches" to climate change. The Commonwealth Secretariat is an intergovernmental organization with ...
Landmarks in Geotherapy
The Commonwealth at global climate talks.
Recent weeks might be seen in history as a turning point for the geotherapy movement. As Seth Itzkan of Soil4Climate explained at the Cambridge Climate Congress 2016, we now have two teams fighting global warming. They are not playing against one another, but rather attacking the problem from different angles: sources and sinks.
In blue, we have the Sources team: those trying to build a low carbon economy, promoting renewable energies, electrification of transportation, new life style and urbanism, and green industries or industrial ecology. The Sources team has made great progress in the ...
Agrogeology: Geology in the Service of Agriculture
Prof. William Fyfe: Photo from the Earth Science Department of University of Western Ontario.
Farmers have long recognized the importance of soil health in delivering bountiful harvests and nutritious food. A healthy soil hosts a diverse community of microorganisms and provides an array of nutrients; it requires aeration and sufficient water supply for plants.[2] Yet soils around the world are increasingly degraded by poor land management and industrial agriculture. Fortunately, solutions to this problem can be found in agrogeology.
Agrogeology is “geology in the service of agriculture,” in the memorable words of Professor Peter van ...
Growing Better Cacti with Remineralization: Ongoing Research in the Quilombola Communities of Northeast Brazil Part I
Fernanda de Paula Medeiros with a farmer of Lajedão dos Mateus.
Far out in the semi-arid region of Bahia in northeastern Brazil, several communities strive to make a livelihood out of agriculture and ranching. This is a region with fertile soils, but the ability of the communities to thrive off of this natural resource is undermined by their historical background and the dearth of another vital resource – water.
To this end, two agrogeologists joined with two nonprofit organizations and formulated a plan of action to introduce agroforestry and sustainable organic farming to the communities. The project started started back in ...
Agroecology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sustainable Agriculture
Driving across the nation, one is frequently greeted with monotonous farmlands growing only one or two types of crops. This landscape is the product of industrial agriculture: large-scale, external input-reliant production systems favoring human-imposed control over nature. In the past few decades this type of production has taken over much of the agriculture in the United States and is also a common mode of production in many other parts of the world. It has been implicated as the driving factor of a plethora of social and environmental problems, such as eutrophication (overgrowth of plant life in waters due to excessive nutrient runoff), biodivers...
Soil: The Foundation of Mineral Nutrition and Optimal Health
The FAO recently published a great infographic in the link between soil health-plant health-human health, the basis of mineral nutrition. Animal scientists and veterinarians have known this for years and I have been studying the importance of soil mineral nutrition for almost 2 decades.
In 2004, I was fortunate to spend time with Dr. Joel Wallach, a veterinarian and naturopathic doctor when he was lecturing in Australia. This meeting brought to life the intricate link between soil health-plant health-human health. I was able to interview him at that time and I was reminded of this interview after reviewing the FAO infographic.
One of ...
Olafur Eliasson’s Glacial Mud Art at Versailles
Olafur Eliasson. Glacial rock flour garden, 2016, glacial rock flour. Palace of Versailles, 2016. Photo: Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy of the artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York © Olafur Eliasson.
Remineralization and high art combine in a new major installation by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. His previous work has crossed paths with remineralization before. The prime example is his work “Ice Watch”: during the 2015 COP 21 Climate Change Conference in Paris, he placed 12 car-sized chunks of Greenland glacier to melt at the Place du Pantheon.[1] “Ice Watch” was a collaboration between Eliasson and Profes...
Greenland’s Glaciers as Rock Dust Mills
After glacial rock flour is formed, glacial melting carries it to deltas like the one shown above. Photo by Minik Rosing.
The University of Copenhagen is studying glacial mud as a source of minerals for soil.
There is more than one way to remineralize the Earth, as Minik Rosing and his team of researchers at the University of Copenhagen are showing. They have recently embarked on a three-year project in Greenland to study glacial mud for use in remineralizing depleted soils. The key ingredient is “glacial rock flour,” which forms when Greenland’s glaciers shift, grinding rocks into powder as a mill grinds wheat into flour. With a ...
Third International Conference taking place in Brazil in November
Embrapa Temperate Climate Research Center in Pelotas - Lowland station.
Three years after the Second Brazilian ‘Rochagem’ Congress in 2013, Remineralize the Earth’s executive director, Joanna Campe, has been invited once again to attend the Third Stonemeal Congress, to be held this year at the Embrapa Temperate Climate Research Center in Pelotas. RTE hopes to send V. Miranda Chase, coordinator for our online research database, to the four-day event from November 8-11, 2016.
The conference will bring together individuals from all backgrounds - scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs, teachers, academics, experts, and officials - to present and ...
