78 results for tag: rock dust

Regrounding Regenerative Agriculture

Photo: Fowler Clark Epstein Urban Farm, Regenerative Design Group 2018 For decades, organic farming was considered the pinnacle of environmentally friendly agriculture. Now, another movement is gaining traction, one which goes a step beyond simply eliminating certain harmful chemicals or improving the living conditions of livestock. Regenerative agriculture sharply diverges from conventional agricultural methods, incorporating practices such as low or no-till planting, rotating crops, planting cover crops, livestock grazing, and applying compost and manure. By aiming to not merely avoid harming the environment, but in fact actively combat global ...

Prof. David Manning on Rock Dust: Quarries, Breweries and Beyond

Soils are a critically important natural resource, providing us with 90% of our food, lumber for construction, and natural fibers like cotton. Through plant and microbial activity, soils also play an essential role in shaping Earth’s atmosphere. The amount of carbon cycled through the plant-soil interface every seven years is equivalent to all the carbon in the atmosphere. Soils do all of this while only covering about a quarter of Earth’s surface. Sustainable soil management is therefore essential to mitigating climate change while preserving soil as a resource for future generations. It’s a complicated task. Soil science lies at the inters...

XPrize Foundation to Award $100M for Climate Change Solutions

Earth Day 2021 will herald the beginning of the most ambitious XPrize yet, and this time, the target is climate change. The XPrize Foundation was founded in 1994 with the mission to explore new frontiers, unleash human potential, and secure a healthy planet. This year’s contest is no exception. Elon Musk and the Musk Foundation have offered $100M, the largest incentive in XPrize history, for the teams demonstrating the most effective carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies. The $100M will be split across multiple prizes: three top prizes of $50M, $20M, and $10M, followed by 15 prizes of $1M each, as well as 25 scholarships for $200,000. Carbon ...

Minerals and Microbes: Remineralization on the Isle of Jersey

Glyn Mitchell carrying hemp grown at Jersey Hemp. The island of Jersey juts out of the English Channel just off the coast of Normandy, France. The people who live there don’t consider themselves part of the UK any more than they consider themselves part of France. It should come as no surprise, then, that the people of Jersey are taking their own approach to managing the natural resources that make the island unique in fighting climate change. One of the people at the forefront of moving Jersey toward a more sustainable future is Glyn Mitchell, a carbon farmer with the Carbon Farm Project. The project is part of Jersey Hemp, the first British-...

New UC Davis Center Paves the Way for Rock Dust Research

If the world were to judge soil remineralization based on what could happen, rock dust amendments might already be standard procedure for the world’s farmers. The potential to use rock dust as a carbon storage tactic for climate change mitigation is well known in the scientific community, in addition to its ability to improve agricultural yields and soil health. Benefits like these are enough to make any policymaker or farmer at least consider the use of soil amendment programs, but expectations alone are not adequate to persuade any party to go “all in.” Stakeholders include farmers, ranchers, politicians, business owners, and everyday ...

High School Student Brings Regenerative Agriculture to His Local Community

Logan Saenz, Mrs. Spencer, and community volunteers tend the Pembroke Park Agro-Eco Orchard. Logan Li Saenz, a senior at City of Pembroke Pines Charter High School in Hollywood, Florida, is passionate about many topics. He aspires to attend a college or university “up North” to study a mixture of physics, chemistry, and social justice issues dealing with student access to scientific education and challenging research opportunities. These issues hit close to home, as he is from a Hispanic family of Nicaraguan and Colombian descent. He has made a conscious effort to give back to his community and to support others like himself who have experien...

Grow Your Own Nutrition: Jon Frank on Minerals, Biochar, and Ramial Chips

This article is based on an interview of Jon Frank conducted by Joanna Campe. Nutrient dense foods are an essential component to a healthy diet, yet they can be difficult to come by. To address this issue, Jon Frank founded Grow Your Own Nutrition, a program focused on consulting people on growing their own nutrient dense foods wherever they are. This user-friendly program can be applied to any soil type. In an interview with Joanna Campe, Frank explained the methods he used to create this program, as well as the importance of soil fertility.   Dr. Reams and plant energy Dr. Carey Reams developed the Reams Biological Theory of Ionization, ...

Unf*cking the Future – Afforestation of Scotland with rock dust and biochar

(All photos courtesy of the Future Forest Company.)   Deep ecology inspires innovative business model Founding a company committed to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through forestry may not seem unexpected for someone who grew up on a dairy farm and studied ecology in university, but for Jim Mann, starting the Future Forest Company Ltd. marked a shift in his career. Mann spent decades as an entrepreneur focused on technology, retail, and leisure companies before turning his attention to climate change. The initial idea behind the Future Forest Company was to sequester carbon dioxide through reforestation and afforestation. ...

The Odyssey of Matteo Mazzola – Rock Dust for Regenerative Agriculture in Italy

Matteo Mazzola, founder of Terra Organica and graduate in Agriculture, holds seminars on regenerative agriculture on a regular basis in Italy and abroad. He works as a consultant and instructor at various farms, including the ISIDE farm, which he co-founded, employing the principles of Nutraceuticals and Agroecology. He has learned from world-renowned teachers, thus consolidating the principles of soil regeneration. “During my childhood I had my first contact with the world of agriculture,” Mazzola says. “The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency by John Seymour always permeated the walls of my home as a sort of magic symbol. Many memories ...

Get Real: David Munson, Jr. Wants Realistic Solutions to Climate Change

David Munson, a Dallas-based philanthropist, has formed the Get Real Alliance to pursue “realistic solutions” to climate change and other global issues. Rock dust and biochar play a central role. He lays out the ideas behind this alliance in his upcoming book, “Get Real: A Positive Solution to Climate Change.” In particular, he advocates for an increased focus on carbon sequestration in addition to carbon emissions, for a couple of reasons. First, he judges emission reduction to be difficult to achieve, and thus likely insufficient. Second, reducing carbon emissions reduces harm but doesn’t add anything positive. On the other hand, carbon ...