How does loss of coastal vegetation drive disappearance of summer rains? Can restoring the forest on as small a parcel as 10 x 10 km bring back the rain to an area it has fled? Climate change is as much about soil moisture and land use as it is about CO2.
How do we deal with political sensitivities around land ownership? What is the “true value” of land? What do we do wrong with metrics? Are the ecological and economic crises actually design flaws?
Can we (should we) separate regeneration of land from regeneration of community? These are some of the topics author Judith Schwartz touches on in this interview with with Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep.
They share stories about Vermont, Spain, and China. They discuss Commonland’s work in Spain and how inspiration is an important return on their investment.
They talk about Judith’s books including the upcoming volume with a working title of “Restoration Flash Mob: The Curious Persons’ Guide to Earth Repair”.
Give a listen and leave give us your reactions below.
Judith’s Books and Articles:
- Water in Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World
- Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth
- Takeaway from the UN Biodiversity Report: Time to Give Nature Some Love (and other columns by Judith on Common Dreams)
- There’s another story to tell about climate change. And it starts with water (The Guardian)
Links to Judith online:
References from the discussion:
- Professor Millán M. Millán
- Debt: The First 5000 Years , David Graeber
- Commonland
- Alvelal project in Spain
- Ecosia – search engine that plants trees
- Jane Jacobs – Cities & the Wealth of Nations
- Rights of Nature, Stop Ecocide, Polly Higgins
- Jeff Goebel
Bonus note from Judith:
Professor Millán M. Millán took part on a panel organized and hosted by Timothy Sexauer, creator of the Muse Ecology Podcast at the Global Earth Repair Conference in May 2019. The eight scientists and writers on the panel explain the crucial yet underdiscussed “other leg” of anthropogenic climate change: land use and it’s effects on climate, making it clear that restoration of climate order necessitates protecting and restoring ecosystem function and hydrological cycles. The panelists are Charles Eisenstein, Professor Millan Millan, Didi Pershouse, Walter Jehne, Zach Weiss, Neal Spackman, Minni Jain, and Judith Schwartz.
The panel also discusses how shifting our land use involves a shift from the mythos of separation and dominance that has characterized civilization for millennia to a narrative of a beautifully complex interconnected living Earth of which we are a part.
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