117: Eric Toensmeier on Carbon Farming.
Finding Solutions for Climate Change Mitigation in Our Own Soils.
Eric is the award-winning author of Paradise Lot and Perennial Vegetables, and the co-author of Edible Forest Gardens. He is an appointed lecturer at Yale University, a Senior Biosequestration Fellow with Project Drawdown, and an international trainer. Eric presents in English, Spanish, and botanical Latin throughout the Americas and beyond. He has studied useful perennial plants and their roles in agroforestry systems for over two decades. Eric has owned a seed company, managed an urban farm that leased parcels to Hispanic and refugee growers, and provided planning and business trainings to farmers. He is the author of The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agricultural Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security.
In this Podcast: Greg and Eric have a great conversation talking about carbon, climate change, permaculture and there are a few tidbits in here that even caught Greg by surprise.
Listen in and learn about:
- How his path started as an environmentalist in high school and a lecture on permaculture had a huge impact on him
- Some cool jobs or projects that he has done over the years
- How he believes human impact can truly be focused on making a positive impact
- How he got involved in his first book on which he was a co-author and which parts of it he likes best
- What he thinks professional ecological design looks like
- His explanation of permaculture
- What carbon farming is and why it is important to so many people
- The connection between climate change and carbon
- Why the carbon cycle needs human action to affect the greenhouse effect
- What natural processes we can use as gardeners and urban farmers to help
- How local food can have a worse carbon foot print than imported food and where the line can be
- What a tropical home garden is
- How much he learned while writing his book and how he is much more hopeful now than he was before he started
- What his own urban garden is like and how he got started with a friend to create a shared garden space on a tenth of an acre
- His challenges to the permaculturists and the native plant enthusiasts
- His advice on climate change mitigation and what podcast listeners can do about it
Eric’s Definitions:
- Permaculture: “Meeting Human Needs while improving ecosystem health” — Raptor Ferguson
- Carbon Farming: Agricultural practices that take excess CO2 from the atmosphere and safely store in organic matter in the soil or the biomass of perennials like trees.
Books that Eric Recommends
Now or Never: Why We Must Act Now to End Climate Change and Create a Sustainable Future
Permaculture One: A Perennial Agriculture for Human Settlements
Any of the Bill Mollison Books
Lost Crops of Africa: Volume I: Grains
Mansfeld’s Encyclopedia of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Except Ornamentals
Books written by Eric:
Paradise Lot and Perennial Vegetables, co-author of Edible Forest Gardens
How to reach Eric:
*Disclosure:
Some of the links in our podcast show notes and blog posts are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase, we will earn a nominal commission at no cost to you. We offer links to items recommended by our podcast guests and guest writers as a service to our audience and these items are not selected because of the commission we receive from your purchases. We know the decision is yours, and whether you decide to buy something is completely up to you.
