walter jehne

Jul

2023

Must-see: Regenerating Life

“Regenerating life“: Great documentary by John Feldman on the role of vegetation and healthy soils for climate cooling and the strengthening of the small water cycle. It is a powerful told story, which looks at many aspects of nature’s role producing the right conditions for life. It tells another story of climate change, and the potential we have in changing the path towards the future.

It’s not yet available as such, but you can support the project towards public screening, including sub-titles, and get the access to the film.

My most important take-aways:

Walter Jehne: “Irrespective how many greenhouse gas molecules are in the air, the thing that determines the GHG effect is the amount of reradiation coming from the earth.”

Satish Kumar: “If you want to solve the problems of climate change, you dont’t need any technology, you don’t need anything else, you just take care of the soil.”

“So how come the earth has a beautiful temperature suited to life? It’s because life, the vast biodiversity which exists on the planet, cycles shape-shifting energy and energy transporting water through the soils and trees, through the atmosphere, and back again, warming and cooling, creating its own moist temperature control space. Earth wouldn’t have a temperature suited for life if it didn’t have life cycling water.“

Jul

2023

The role of barren surface for the greenhouse effect

An sentence from Walter Jehne, which I really found stunning:

“Irrespectiable how many greenhouse gas molecules are in the air, the thing that determines the GHG effect is the amount of reradiation coming from the earth. Because we have bared the soil, this soil will heat up much much more so than the soil protected with green vegetation. … We have created 5 billion hectares of man made desert and waste land.”

Think about the effect what the loss of 50% of (natural) forests, the creation of millions and millions of square kilometres of bare soil, of beton and asphalt, and the degenerated land has on the altered ratio of sensible heat to latent energy!

Feb

2023

Walter Jehne: Practically turning down the greenhouse to cool the Earth with 3 W/ m2 safely, profitably and in time – Climate Landscapes Conference

In October, we organized the international online Climate Landscapes Conference. Here is Walter Jehne’s presentation on »Practically turning down the greenhouse to cool the Earth with 3 W/ m2 safely, profitably and in time«.

It is important to understand that carbon, water and energy cycles on land are closely linked. Restoring atmospheric and terrestrial water cycles in vegetation, soils, and the atmosphere is paramount to cooling the planet. This is the only way to stabilize precipitation patterns and prevent floods and droughts – locally, regionally and globally. For this, more vegetation, more fertile soils, and water retention in land use are essential.

In general, we need a paradigm shift that values the hydrological and climate-cooling effects of vegetation in general and forests in particular, in addition to their carbon sequestration potential. The effects of vegetation cover on climate offer benefits that need to be more widely recognized and require a systems approach to make agriculture, forestry, and water management resilient for the times ahead.

Cycles of carbon, water, and energy can be influenced by increasing soil fertility, more vegetation, and water retention. These include regenerative land management practices such as year-round vegetation cover through intercropping and undersowing, reduced tillage, large-scale establishment of agroforestry systems, creation of retention areas, climate-adaptive forest conversion, and management of pastures using holistic grazing management.