As an overview of the global state of carbon farming, Eric also discusses the reality of what we can do, through dietary practices and engaging in our own food production, to create change. For those of you inclined towards policy and top-down approaches, you’ll hear plenty of possibilities of how you can move the conversation in your community and with your legislators.

Find out more about Eric at perennialsolutions.org, and The Carbon Farming Solution at ChelseaGreen.com.  

Given the range of topics touched on regarding climate change, the resources below include not only those that Eric mentioned, but also a number of previous interviews with Dr. Laura Jackson, Keefe Keeley of The Savanna Institute, small-scale farmers Lee and Dave O’Neill at Radical Roots, and the market farmer Jean-Martin Fortier, as well as Jerome Osentowski of Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture. In the conversation with Jerome, he even touches on the impacts he’s seeing of climate change after his many years in the high altitude environment of Colorado where CRMPI calls home, and the focus of his decades of work on greenhouses.

As I put together the notes for this show, I’m left thinking about how to move forward in a meat-reduced world and have questions I need to answer. How viable is meat on leftovers? What systems do we need to implement to capture food waste so it gets to animals instead of the refuse bin? I should have expected to be left with more questions after speaking with Eric, so am going to keep digging into this and will share more as I find it. I would like to have Eric back some time to continue the conversation about permaculture and food production on marginal land.

If you have questions about this or anything else we covered in today’s conversation, leave a comment below. 

Resources
The Carbon Farming Solution Project Drawdown
Perennial Solutions
The Center for Agroforestry at the University of Missouri Agroforestry at Virginia Tech
IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Trees on Farms by RJ Zomer, et al. (PDF)
Savanna Institute
Steve Solomon - Gardening When It Counts
John Jeavons - Grow Biointensive
Legal Pathways to Carbon_Neutral Agriculture by Peter Lehner and Nathan Rosenberg (PDF)
Diet for a Small Planet

Related Interviews 
Dr. Laura Jackson - Modern Agricultural Systems 
Keefe Keeley - The Savanna Institute 
Jean-Martin Fortier - The Market Gardener 
Dave and Lee O'Neill - Radical Roots Farm 
Jerome Osentowski - The Forest Garden Greenhouse

This conversation leads to thoughts on preserving native ecosystems, the creation of novel ecosystems, the role and influence of exotic species, human disturbance, and the forces of erosion. We're also asked to examine our own role we have in tending the wild, and what responsibility, if any, we have to domesticated species such as chickens? In doing so, can we take back the stewardship of our own habitat?

Voices you'll hear include:
Eva Taylor of Ironwood Farms
Zach Elfers of Nomad Seed Project
Ben Weiss of Susquehanna Permaculture
Jason Godesky of The Fifth World
Nicole Luttrell of Wind Song Farm
Claudia Joseph of New York Permaculture Exchange
Seppi Garrett of Seppi’s Place
C. Dale Hendricks of Green Light Plants
Dr. Christopher Huvos

Resources
Timothy Lee Scott - author of Invasive Plant Medicine
Tao Orion (Her Facebook Page)

Related Interviews
Tao Orion - Beyond the War on Invasive Species  
David Homgren - On Permaculture

With a background in plant and soil sciences, Mary has spent the last several years working with conservation organizations in South America, Latin America, and Mexico to work on mitigating the impacts of climate change on local populations by aiding communities to gain access to funds and help return wealth to their home region. My desire to speak with Mary arose from my conversation with Rico Zook on practicing permaculture internationally. Her experiences are very different from someone who would teach around the world and lend a different perspective. We discuss that and how to get involved, however, a large part of our conversation is about climate change and the need to build human relationships through communication. Mary's travels allowed her to see firsthand the disruptions occurring because of climate change. In a world where we control our environment with a push of a button and choose what to eat based on what's at the supermarket, or local restaurant, these problems are not self-evident, but they are coming. To understand that, and make the changes to solve these problems, we need to care for the people involved and communicate clearly from their own perspective and their experiences to bridge the gap between ourselves as individuals and build relationships with communities. However, our conversation is not without hope. The roots of Permaculture are bifurcated between the indigenous knowledge of the past, and the growing understanding afforded by science brought into a synergistic holistic system that values the world, people, and all life. Permaculture provides ways to find and implement solutions for the changing world. Thankfully, there are governments and organizations that are beginning to see that we have a way.

How do I get involved with International Permaculture?

• Become Knowledgable: Read and Research
• Match your skills to the organizational needs
• Volunteer
• Learn additional languages.

Resources
Watershed Resource Consultants
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degredation (REDD)
Terra Genesis International
Wildlife Conservation Society
Winrock International