SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Rallying with Pope, Climate Justice Campaigners Hail 'Shovel-Ready Solution'
"What is this magic solution?" activist asks demonstrators on National Mall. "You're standing on it. It's the soil."
Sep 24, 2015
An hour after Pope Francis spoke to Congress and issued "a call for a courageous and responsible effort [...] to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity," a rally on the National Mall highlighted a "shovel-ready solution" to the climate crisis.
Speaking at the Moral Action on Climate Justice demonstratoin Thursday, Larry Kopald, co-founder and president of organization The Carbon Underground, said it's "a solution that will put carbon back in the ground, a solution that will feed us better, make us healthier, create jobs, and even boost our economy."
"What is this magic solution?" he asked. "You're standing on it [...] It's the soil."
Kopald and his organization are not alone is calling for soil to be seen as part of a climate solution, with organizations including the Center for Food Safety, Organic Consumers Association, the Rodale Institute, and Vandana Shiva's Navdanya also touting the approach. Regenerative agriculture's ability to heal soil was also the focus of the Regenerative International Conference in Costa Rica this June, as well as the Soil Not Oil International Conference held earlier this month in Richmond, California.
Kopald explained the problem with the dominant method of food production, saying, "Industrial agriculture techniques have destroyed most of the soil. Seventy percent of the soil on earth is dead or dying, and all of that carbon that should be in the soil is now stuck in the atmosphere causing climate change."
But healthy soil fed through agroecological methods can be an effective carbon sink, he explained.
"Here's the good news: If we restore that soil, we can bring that carbon back. We can fix the climate. There are a billion acres of land in the U.S. alone used to grow food," he said. "If we restore those acres, if we restore that soil, we we bring down 3 billion tons of carbon back from the atmosphere [...] every single year."
The current system in which "subsidies [are given to ] to farmers using chemicals destroying our soil and causing climate change," needs to stop, Kopald continued, with the subsidies instead going "to farmers who are willing to restore our soil, and feed us better food, and help reverse climate change."
"We need to tell President Obama and the next man or the next woman who lives in the White House that we've got to stop focusing on the problem and start focusing on the solution," he said, urging rally attenders to send a message to lawmakers to "fix the soil, fix the climate."
The event, which organizers stated on their website invited people to "join thousands of people of all creeds, colors and faiths, on the National Mall in asking our world leaders to #FollowFrancis to take bold action for climate justice," also included speeches by the Moral Monday movement leader Rev. William Barber, Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo, and the musician Moby.
Twitter users captured parts of the event with the hashtag #FollowFrancis:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
agroecologyenvironmentmoral mondayorganic consumers associationpeople powerpope francisreligionwilliam barber
An hour after Pope Francis spoke to Congress and issued "a call for a courageous and responsible effort [...] to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity," a rally on the National Mall highlighted a "shovel-ready solution" to the climate crisis.
Speaking at the Moral Action on Climate Justice demonstratoin Thursday, Larry Kopald, co-founder and president of organization The Carbon Underground, said it's "a solution that will put carbon back in the ground, a solution that will feed us better, make us healthier, create jobs, and even boost our economy."
"What is this magic solution?" he asked. "You're standing on it [...] It's the soil."
Kopald and his organization are not alone is calling for soil to be seen as part of a climate solution, with organizations including the Center for Food Safety, Organic Consumers Association, the Rodale Institute, and Vandana Shiva's Navdanya also touting the approach. Regenerative agriculture's ability to heal soil was also the focus of the Regenerative International Conference in Costa Rica this June, as well as the Soil Not Oil International Conference held earlier this month in Richmond, California.
Kopald explained the problem with the dominant method of food production, saying, "Industrial agriculture techniques have destroyed most of the soil. Seventy percent of the soil on earth is dead or dying, and all of that carbon that should be in the soil is now stuck in the atmosphere causing climate change."
But healthy soil fed through agroecological methods can be an effective carbon sink, he explained.
"Here's the good news: If we restore that soil, we can bring that carbon back. We can fix the climate. There are a billion acres of land in the U.S. alone used to grow food," he said. "If we restore those acres, if we restore that soil, we we bring down 3 billion tons of carbon back from the atmosphere [...] every single year."
The current system in which "subsidies [are given to ] to farmers using chemicals destroying our soil and causing climate change," needs to stop, Kopald continued, with the subsidies instead going "to farmers who are willing to restore our soil, and feed us better food, and help reverse climate change."
"We need to tell President Obama and the next man or the next woman who lives in the White House that we've got to stop focusing on the problem and start focusing on the solution," he said, urging rally attenders to send a message to lawmakers to "fix the soil, fix the climate."
The event, which organizers stated on their website invited people to "join thousands of people of all creeds, colors and faiths, on the National Mall in asking our world leaders to #FollowFrancis to take bold action for climate justice," also included speeches by the Moral Monday movement leader Rev. William Barber, Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo, and the musician Moby.
Twitter users captured parts of the event with the hashtag #FollowFrancis:
An hour after Pope Francis spoke to Congress and issued "a call for a courageous and responsible effort [...] to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity," a rally on the National Mall highlighted a "shovel-ready solution" to the climate crisis.
Speaking at the Moral Action on Climate Justice demonstratoin Thursday, Larry Kopald, co-founder and president of organization The Carbon Underground, said it's "a solution that will put carbon back in the ground, a solution that will feed us better, make us healthier, create jobs, and even boost our economy."
"What is this magic solution?" he asked. "You're standing on it [...] It's the soil."
Kopald and his organization are not alone is calling for soil to be seen as part of a climate solution, with organizations including the Center for Food Safety, Organic Consumers Association, the Rodale Institute, and Vandana Shiva's Navdanya also touting the approach. Regenerative agriculture's ability to heal soil was also the focus of the Regenerative International Conference in Costa Rica this June, as well as the Soil Not Oil International Conference held earlier this month in Richmond, California.
Kopald explained the problem with the dominant method of food production, saying, "Industrial agriculture techniques have destroyed most of the soil. Seventy percent of the soil on earth is dead or dying, and all of that carbon that should be in the soil is now stuck in the atmosphere causing climate change."
But healthy soil fed through agroecological methods can be an effective carbon sink, he explained.
"Here's the good news: If we restore that soil, we can bring that carbon back. We can fix the climate. There are a billion acres of land in the U.S. alone used to grow food," he said. "If we restore those acres, if we restore that soil, we we bring down 3 billion tons of carbon back from the atmosphere [...] every single year."
The current system in which "subsidies [are given to ] to farmers using chemicals destroying our soil and causing climate change," needs to stop, Kopald continued, with the subsidies instead going "to farmers who are willing to restore our soil, and feed us better food, and help reverse climate change."
"We need to tell President Obama and the next man or the next woman who lives in the White House that we've got to stop focusing on the problem and start focusing on the solution," he said, urging rally attenders to send a message to lawmakers to "fix the soil, fix the climate."
The event, which organizers stated on their website invited people to "join thousands of people of all creeds, colors and faiths, on the National Mall in asking our world leaders to #FollowFrancis to take bold action for climate justice," also included speeches by the Moral Monday movement leader Rev. William Barber, Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo, and the musician Moby.
Twitter users captured parts of the event with the hashtag #FollowFrancis:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.