Partnering with California’s longstanding native tribes and restoring stewardship can bolster solutions to today’s climate challenges. We spoke to Geneva EB Thompson, Deputy Secretary for Tribal Affairs, who explained how traditional ecological knowledge can reduce risks of natural disasters while promoting biodiversity and carbon sequestration.
Native seed restoration is an ongoing project meant to scale up the collection, cultivation, and distribution of native plant seeds to meet California’s goal of conserving 30% of its land by 2030 and help ecosystems become more resilient to climate change. This week, we spoke with Mr. Pat Reynolds, Heritage Grower’s General Manager, about Heritage Growers, a non-profit that aims to reproduce native plants through farming.
As cities around the world grew in size, population, and development over the past decades, green spaces receded and ecosystems were damaged. Restoring urban waterways to support habitats threatened by climate change has become a crucial step in sustaining the prosperity of nearby communities. We spoke to Nick Wesley, the executive director of Urban Rivers, an organization installing floating gardens and eco-parks on the Chicago River, about his goal of seeding new, climate resilient habitats for local wildlife.
Weather complications have always been a major concern to farmers around the world. Crops’ frequent exposure to freezing temperatures or extreme heat often prevent farms from operating at optimal capacities, with farmers having to devote extra resources in irrigation and sheltering to counter the effects of crop loss. Agrivoltaics, the co-location of solar panels and regenerative agriculture to help maintain crop yields and protect biodiversity while simultaneously increasing solar output, emerges as a promising solution. We invited Byron Kominek, owner and manager of Jack’s Solar Garden in Colorado, to share with us about spearheading sustainability-minded land utilization and agricultural practices.
Wetlands, especially coastal salt marshes, provide crucial ecosystem services including biodiversity preservation, water regulation, carbon storage, and climate regulation. Human activities have degraded many of these ecosystems, but restoration projects, such as those at Cape Cod National Seashore, aim to rejuvenate affected marshes and restore their vital functions.
Agroecology is a science that melds western academics with traditional, indigenous farming knowledge. The goal is to form a cohesive understanding of sustainable agriculture using concepts such as biodiversity and nutrient recycling to create a farm system that functions much like an ecosystem.