From: Gay Nicholson <[email protected]>
Date: January 23, 2014 2:42:46 PM EST
To: ST list <[email protected]>, tc-hsc-l <[email protected]
>
Subject: [sustainable_tompkins-l] Save the Date! Understanding Our
Role in the Carbon Cycle with Peter Donovan on February 6
Reply-To: "Sustainability in Tompkins County" <[email protected]
>
Hello Listmates,
Sustainable Tompkins is partnering with Snug Planet and Ithaca
College to host this important talk about the role that soil carbon
can play in helping us stabilize our climate. We've been
interested in adding soil carbon projects to our portfolio for the
Finger Lakes Climate Fund, and this is a first step in learning
more about how to increase the rate of storage of atmospheric
carbon in the soil through land management practices.
Climate activists, sustainability advocates, landowners, elected
officials, planning boards, farmers, anti-fracking groups --
everybody has a role to play in activating this important tool for
counteracting climate disruption.
Join us on Thursday evening, February 6 at Ithaca College to get
the overview and understanding that you need for helping to guide
land management policies. Then sign up for the all-day workshop on
Saturday if you are a farmer, land manager, climate educator, or
policymaker needing a more detailed understanding. See all the
details below.
In support of climate stability,
Gay
Peter Donovan of the Soil Carbon Coalition is coming to Ithaca, NY!
Peter Donovan is the founder of the Soil Carbon Challenge, an
international (and localized) prize competition to see how fast
land managers can turn atmospheric carbon into soil organic
matter. He offers a vision for grassroots science and local
action: “it’s time to show with good data what’s possible, and
recognize those land managers who know how enhance soil water
capacity, production, and underground biodiversity.”
Peter facilitates workshops for scientists and nonscientists,
farmers and nonfarmers, climate activists and climate skeptics. The
workshops tell the fascinating story of why and how carbon cycling
was discovered, why the problem-solving orientation of most
individuals, organizations, and institutions camouflages the
opportunity to successfully manage wholes such as carbon and water
cycling, and what individuals and communities can do about it.
Please join us to explore the carbon cycle and its relationship to
our local landscape and decision-making processes.
Two opportunities to learn and share with Peter Donovan:
Public Talk: Understanding Our Role in the Carbon Cycle
Thursday, February 6 at 7:00pm
Textor Hall, Room 101, Ithaca College (map)
Free admission
Whether you have a 300 acre farm or a 300 square foot back yard,
your land management practices affect biological soil processes.
Want to learn more about the soil under your feet and its
relationship to global carbon and water cycles? This talk is a
great place to start, as it will provide an overview of topics to
be covered in more detail during the Saturday workshop. If you are
on the fence about attending the workshop, come to the Thursday
talk to learn more.
Workshop: Carbon Cycling and Soil Organic Matter
Saturday, February 8, 9:00am-3:00pm
SONG Common House at Ecovillage, Ithaca (map)
Suggested donation: $25-$35 (lunch included)
Space is limited, RSVP to Mary Kate Wheeler: [email protected]
Or via Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/687751897943669/
This workshop will delve into the evolution of human knowledge
about the carbon cycle and the social and environmental
implications of our current understanding. The workshop will be of
particular interest to individuals who are, or will be, managing
for more carbon and enhanced ecological function in their soils,
and to individuals/organizations working to promote sustainable
soil and water management in our region. Topics to be covered
include:
the major discoveries of the carbon cycle by western science from
1600s to the present; major shifts in understanding are ongoing
the separation of scientific disciplines that has contributed to
today's fragmentary and confused views of the circle of life
human influences on carbon cycling from Paleolithic times to the
present
why soils are the center of gravity of the circle of life, even
though oceans and rocks contain much more carbon
how and why carbon cycling is an emergent phenomenon or process,
resulting from the choices and metabolisms of trillions of
autonomous, self-motivated organisms, from humans to microbes
the deep relationship between carbon and water, in the soil pore
and in the atmosphere
the surprising implications of these changing understandings for
policy, decision making, leadership, and long-term investment.
Expected outcomes include gaining a deeper understanding of the
carbon cycle, identifying human opportunities to make a difference,
and developing a strategy that participants can employ to foster
positive change in our region. Workshop participants are invited
to join Peter on Sunday as he establishes a baseline plot for the
Soil Carbon Challenge on a local farm.
Events sponsored by Snug Planet, Good Life Farm, Sustainable
Tompkins and Ithaca College.
More information:
www.soilcarboncoalition.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfdKv9TXa_I
--
----------------------------------------------------
Gay Nicholson, Ph.D.
President
Sustainable Tompkins
109 S. Albany St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
www.sustainabletompkins.org
607-533-7312 (home office)
607-220-8991 (cell)
607-216-1552 (ST office)
607-216-1553 (ST fax)
[email protected]
