Towards a Geotherapy Institute

(Edited for this publication by Carter Haydu; Originally published: https://cologie.wordpress.com/2020/02/16/32-towards-a-geotherapy-institute-vers-la-creation-dun-institut-pour-une-geotherapie-en-francais-plus-bas/) Creating a Geotherapy Institute has re-emerged as an idea in recent weeks, energized largely thanks to Mackenze McAleer and his Geonauts — a company involved with the exciting new field of ‘graviculture’.   Geonauts joins the Geotherapy Institute cause Soil4climate’s Seth Itzkan and Karl Thidemann, promoters of Alan Savory’s holistic grazing ...

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The Ancient Native American Practice of Remineralization

Dr. Lee Klinger is an independent scientist living in Big Sur, California, where he serves as director of Sudden Oak Life, a movement aimed at improving the health of trees and forests in California and elsewhere through practice, education, and research. His research could change the way we think about our past, and our future. Recent research by Dr. Lee Klinger suggests that, far from being a new idea, remineralization has been integral to forest health in the California Sierras for hundreds of years. Using middens, strategic tree placement, and organic waste, ...

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New Research Examines Rock Dust’s Impact on Nitrogen Cycle

The nitrogen cycle is perhaps one of the least understood and most complicated of nature’s cycles, especially when basalt is added to the system, according to Rock Dust Local founder Tom Vanacore. He adds, this makes it a topic worthy of further investigation. Vanacore notes scientists in the U.S. Midwest have observed changing nitrous oxide levels when NPK and basalt were spread across conventional farms, indicating rock dust does interact with the nitrogen cycle. “They looked at water and saw an increase in nitrate concentrations in the bio-water. This is out in ...

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How Volcanic Rock Dust Can Save Tropical Soils

Basalt powder — mere volcanic rock dust — is proven to restore soil fertility and accelerate tree growth in Panama’s impoverished tropical soils, and it can work elsewhere. In Chapter 17 of Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase, esteemed biogeochemist Thomas J. Goreau and his colleagues highlight a simple, cost-effective method with revolutionary implications — one with the power to increase productivity of sterile tropical lands, thus reducing further deforestation by local farmers in ...

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To Love and Regenerate the Earth: Pioneer spotlight on Don Weaver

“Generous worldwide soil remineralization is not just another nice idea or ‘option’ to make the world greener, but a most fundamental climate-rebalancing and world-saving necessity.” These are the words of Don Weaver — ecologist, researcher, writer, organic grower, and long-time Remineralize the Earth advisor — in his 2009 open letter welcoming and appealing to the new administration of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. As with his outreach to the Obamas, Weaver has dedicated 40 years of effort to educating the public of the great need to ...

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Pioneer Spotlight: Acknowledging the contributions of sustainable agriculture consultant Steve Diver

Long-time agriculture and horticulture specialist Steve Diver has been an active proponent of the remineralization movement for many years. His scholastic training focused on the areas of horticulture, botany, plant physiology, and soil science, and in the years since, he has become a sought-after expert in those areas of study and the agriculture industry as a whole. Diver has spent his career thus far working in various agricultural capacities, including an 18-year stint with the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) as a specialist with the National ...

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Geotherapy: Can the Anthropocene Have a Second Restorative Phase?

  As proponents of remineralization since the  mid 1980s, we at Remineralize the Earth include ourselves as pioneers of regenerative agriculture. Dr. Tom Goreau always advocates on behalf of a combination of biochar and remineralization as part of a geotherapy strategy to sequester carbon and stabilize the climate. Joanna Campe   Super stable in terms of temperatures, the holocene era has allowed human civilizations to thrive for the last 10,000 years. But humanity’s massive greenhouse gas emissions, due in large part to agriculture and the ...

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Bread from Stones by Julius Hensel– Book Review

Bread from Stones   “Our most optimistic expectations are no less than the realization of an old dream: ‘What will fertilizing with stone dust accomplish? It will turn stones into bread, make barren regions fruitful, and feed the hungry.’” --Ward Chesworth and coauthors, quoting Julius Hensel [1]   Producing healthy, nutritious foods starts with creating fertile soils to support proper food growth. Dr. Alexis Carrel, a Nobel Prize winner, commented in 1912 that “minerals in the soil [...] control the metabolism of cells in plant, animal, ...

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Collaboration in the Caribbean – One Island’s Volcanic Ash Could Enrich Another Island’s Soil

Student and teacher John Mussington examining eggplant fruits to determine growth differences between plants grown in soil mixed with Monserrat volcanic ash vs the control.   A review of Chapter 19 from Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase.   In the Caribbean, two islands face economic and agricultural challenges due to their unique geology. Montserrat suffered a major eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano in 1995, which covered much of the island in ash and rendered the land ...

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The Big Blue — Seawater Concentrate for Abundant Agriculture

This is a review of chapter 27 from our book Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase. Available from CRC Press and Amazon. Close your eyes and think about the oceans: the ethereal blue light shimmering through seawater, the breaking waves kissing the shore, the colorful fishes swimming around reefs. Those deep blue areas not only provide breathtaking beauty; they also provide the resources that all life on earth depends on. About 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by the water of the ...

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