After reading an article at the Common Dreams website yesterday about La Via Campesina i googled the words 'organic gardening and carbon sequestration' The results were amazing even for a person who had a small organic farm for nearly 30 years. Of course my reason for creating and re-creating that garden was to feed a growing family healthy, inexpensive, very local foods. It worked, we have healthy happy hard working sucessful kids and now grandkids.But the topic dejour is climate change and the greenhouse gases we're loading into our commons. Why did we drift away from growing our food organically over the past half century. Why do folks fall so easily for the free lunch, get rich quick, something for nothing delusion? Partly, i think, because of the advertising industry's constant drumbeat that we can have our cake and eat it too. Partly because of the Western mindset that says we are above and apart from the mud between our toes. But mostly because industrial agriculture makes the rich richer while at the same time making us, our kids and our enviorment sicker.
Please, read up on organic gardening, organic foods in general, local foods and eating/shopping sustainably. Micheal Pollan's books are a first step, a great read and probably at your local library. The internet is another huge information resource. The links below lead to the science behind agricultural carbon sequestration and the people who live their lives touching our mother earth. Learn about green manures, about heritage seeds and seed saving. Grow your own organic produce, become part of the solution to our shared climate abuse. Turn on, Tune in, Drop out of the industrial agriculture paradigm that's such a big part of the destruction of our biosphere, if not for your own sake then for the sake of our kids and their kids and their kids...
La Via Campesina, the International Peasant Movement states that industrial agriculture is by far the biggest source of carbon emissions is based on a recent study that looked at all emissions from the global food system. Surprisingly, one-third of the emissions come from food processing and transport. The bulk of emissions come from land use changes - conversions of forest and grasslands - and from direct agricultural production like fuel use, fertilizers and tillage.
The Rodale Institute is a not-for-profit educational and research organization committed to sharing information globally about successful agricultural solutions to health and environmental problems.
Organic Farming Sequesters Atmospheric Carbon and Nutrients in Soils "The extent of carbon sequestration found and the impressive ability of organic systems to capture carbon are important results that should be used by policy makers when planning future agriculture development." Paul Hepperly, The Rodale Institute's research manager.
