Regenerative Agriculture

Regenerative landscaping practices will be one of the most direct solutions to solving our global warming problem before it becomes a climate catastrophe.

Soil and rain produce vegetation. Flooding erodes topsoil. Drought dries out vegetation which is then susceptible to wild fires thus speeding the process of erosion and ultimately promoting more floods. In a time when our biome is in distress from the cycle of flood, drought, fire, and flood, we should be looking to regenerative agriculture to temper the ecosystem back into it’s natural rhythm.

Transpiration, the process by which water is transferred from the soil through the root of a plant and back into the atmosphere could play an important role for restoring natural rain events across many of our lands on the west coast that have been devastated by drought and wildfire. A comprehensive strategy for re-greening affected areas needs to be laid out; essentially a pathway for the cycle of rain to be forged further inland. More regular rainfall will have a cooling effect, and stable vegetation will sequester countless tons of carbon back into the ground and promote soil health.

We need a master plan for regenerating the landscape across the United States starting with California. Earthworking techniques such as shaping berms and swales on contours of hills will slow water, prevent erosion, and help sink water into the ground thus recharging aquifers. But not even a well intentioned environmentalist can drop everything to save the world with no money. We always talk about creating jobs, but we must give serious thought to the kind of jobs we are creating. People need to be on a payroll to dedicate the kind of time and energy a plan like this needs. The state of California needs an army of people on par with Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps who can be employed to carry out a project of this magnitude.

Yes, there is hope for our world, but we need to identify what our priorities are and organize to achieve real solutions for this place we call home. Future generations depend on it. The time is now.