agriculture

Jul

2022

The Food System’s Carbon Footprint Has Been Vastly Underestimated

Scientists found in their study that the global food system was responsible for 16 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, or a third of all global emissions that year. This is a sharp contrast to the more narrowly defined agriculture sector of the IPCC’s categories for greenhouse gas inventories, which accounted for 5.3 billion metric tons in 2018, or just a tenth of the total.

“The national greenhouse gas inventories, [under] the IPCC guidelines, are breaking up the components of the food emissions, separating them, and burying them in [other] categories.”

The new analysis accounts for those emissions that the IPCC allocates to non-agricultural categories, including carbon dioxide from pre-production, like manufacturing fertilizer and farm equipment, and post-production emissions, such as food waste disposal, refrigeration, packaging, and transportation. It also includes as food-related emissions the conversion of natural ecosystems to agricultural land, which at nearly 3 billion metrics tons per year are the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions in their analysis.

Source: CivilEats

Jun

2022

Presentation: Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes

My presentation on “Working with plants, soils and water to cool the climate and rehydrate Earth’s landscapes“.

As it looks, we have a pretty exciting tool in the climate as well as agriculture discussion with multiple benefits: more vegetation (especially in agriculture; through undersowing, intercropping, agroforestry, but also through a different form of animal husbandry, forest conversion, water retention) means more fertile soils, more water storage capacity and infiltration, more nutrients, more habitat for insects & co, more … and v. especially a cooling (of the layers near the ground), heat loss into space, more clouds with more precipitation and more sunlight reflection, which in turn contributes to the cooling of the climate, as well as activates the small (weakened) water cycles.

In short, we can(t) work with nature to cool the climate, strengthen the small water cycles, and in the process make agriculture, forestry, and water management more resilient and “fertile.”

This talk is based on the findings of my UNEP article (exists in French, Spanish, Chinese too).

Jun

2022

The secret world beneath our feet is mind-blowing – and the key to our planet’s future

Very good article on the functioning of soil life and its importance for plant growth, the water cycle and the planet´s health.

Jun

2022

UN Report Says Humanity Has Altered 70 Percent of the Earth’s Land, Putting the Planet on a ‘Crisis Footing’

Agriculture is the biggest degrader of land, the authors say. Transforming farming practices could restore billions of acres by 2050 for less than is spent on developed-world farm subsidies.

May

2022

H2O – The molecule that made us

Very interesting documentary with impressive pictures around the big problem of dwindling water: “Water is the prerequisite for life. A few tiny drops are already enough to make a withered desert blossom anew. Water also played an important role in the emergence of early civilizations. Control of the resource gave humans clear advantages. But access to clean water is becoming increasingly difficult, and fear for the resource is growing. – A documentary series tracing our relationship with the “blue gold.””