I have so much information tucked away – including some dramatic changes in cooling – which as the planet heats, becomes a bigger problem and emissions contributor. There is also a lot of news out on batteries, new EVs and everyone’s favorite – fixing the grid (if you’re not following David Roberts Volts podcasts, I highly recommend, he covers most of those innovations) I really have not had time to aggregate any of it properly for posts.
But, there are two documentaries out that address regenerative farming. There is more and more data that if we heal the soil, carbon capture solutions reveal themselves.
This one is free to watch on YouTube:
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The Roots So Deep Documentary is now available to rent. It’s on my list, though I wanted to wait until I knew I could watch it uninterrupted.
They have a plethora of free video excerpts and interviews with folks who have moved to AMP grazing or are thinking of it, and their research so far, here: Roots So Deep videos
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And for those of you who watched Kiss The Ground (still available on Netflix) and found it thoughtful, they have a follow-up coming soon:
It has some limited showings, but I suspect it will have a streaming home soon.
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And finally, I LOVE everything about this project. And it can be replicated anywhere.
That’s my quick hit for today. Busy ahead, I’ll check in when I can.
Despair only limits future action – Simon Clark
This is a doom and gloom free thread. Share any climate solution stories you have encountered, and I’ll bookmark them for future posts.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you! Looking forward to reading/watching further.
NeenerNeener
Isn’t this related to what somebody talked Jeremy Clarkson into doing on one of his fields at Diddly Squat Farm? It worked out relatively well during a challenging summer for growing crops and he didn’t have to buy fertilizer for that field.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
I have something on residential solar but it’s not happy. It’s definitely an issue about climate solutions that could have a happy ending…
159 for the sta,ps.
I live in the asshole state of Indiana. The farm land around here is shit. It’s been so used up it looks like sand in most places. Whatever they get out of it goes right to fodder or fuel. There are lots of NO ON SOLAR FARMS all over the place.
While out driving I saw a herd of cattle under a big oak tree. I had a revelation. Why not erect solar panels higher than ground level in cattle fields so the cattle have some shade and shelter from the rain and sun? That way the “farm land” issue is resolved, the cattle get some relief and the farmers can sell back the energy they created in the fields.
TaMara
@159 for the sta,ps.: If you google that, there are some great videos of folks doing just that! It is an excellent use of panels/shade/livestock.
Ruckus
@159 for the sta,ps.:
Don’t the plants in the ground to feed the cattle have to have sun to grow?
And no I am not in any way knocking solar, to me it is one of the things that we absolutely need. The future is not burning more stuff to better electrify our cars and so on. But the plants need sun to grow and prosper. We should have solar panels on homes, buildings, anywhere we can but solar farms might possibly hurt other things. Likely very much less than burning stuff to create electricity but solar on roofs seems to be a pretty good compromise. Of course there is a bit of land in this country that gets snow which might adjust the amount of electricity generated. Still solar is relatively cheaper over all and better for the overall ecosystem.
delphinium
Enjoyed that last Food Forest video-really inspiring and a great way to engage people in their neighborhoods. Will check out the other videos later. Thanks for these!
Skippy-san
The vultures are circling. The only consolation of climate disaster is that it will take Trump Humpers too. https://nypost.com/2024/07/06/us-news
TaMara
@Ruckus: Solar panels are generally slanted to get southern exposure – pasture grasses will get east/west/northern exposure. Again, there are videos of folks doing just that in their pastures that will answer most questions.
TaMara
@Skippy-san: I see reading comprehension is not in your set of skills.
dnfree
Thank you for keeping these posts and this information coming! Good to have something positive to think about.
TaMara
Ok, back to grindstone. Hopefully
someone will be by– oh, look, just in time, WG with an open threadsometime soon.Skippy-san
@TaMara: When the fascists come to power, they will not care about climate change. When SCOTUS kills all remaining regulations, businesses will suck the last remaining dollars and then leave the rest of us to suffer.
BeautifulPlumage
These are great posts, TaMara, thank you for putting them together. The beaver pond restoration info in a previous post was very heartening.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Okay, this isn’t a happy one but it’s an issue that everybody should be aware of:
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21092023/inside-clean-energy-utilities-rooftop-solar-competition-profits/
Utilities fight widespread and robust residential solar installations, they just don’t say it out loud per the piece. I’ve got a friend in NM who’s been active in residential solar “opening up” lobbying and pushing back. He first put me onto how utilities, aided by feckless public utility commissions, go to great lengths to hamstring residential solar.
I’ve seen it first hand here in Denver with my setup and at least a dozen others, most of whom decided not to do it based on how limited they are by our utility.
The disconnect is that municipalities like Denver are enacting “lectricity-this-and-lectricity-that” mandates one the one hand and on the other are saying “rooftop, residential solar will help so much with this”, all the while the utility is in effect severely limiting what can be installed.
If you look at Xcel’s overall energy portfolio over the last 7 years, one thing has not changed one iota, solar. It was 6-7% of their portfolio in 2017 and it’s that way now. Wind growth has been huge because they own it. They don’t own my rooftop.
This doesn’t have to be doom and gloom if voters tell their state politicians to back up all the typical greenwashing statements they like to make by enacting real regulatory change that facilitates more rooftop solar and less of Xcel’s fat profits.
TaMara
@Skippy-san: Pie is really good.
And you are welcome to not comment in any of my posts- climate or otherwise again.
Trolls are not welcome and will be outed as such. Bye-bye
BeautifulPlumage
@Skippy-san:
Oh FFS. Do you have to piss & shit everywhere? Take a hike.
TaMara
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: XCEL is the devil and Colorado’s public utility commission is at best, spineless, at worst, complicit.
Skippy-san
TaMara
@BeautifulPlumage: Pie is good. And the cupcake with the duck, that one is especially good. 😉😘
BeautifulPlumage
@Skippy-san:
And what makes you think she isn’t already aware? You just want to fling your poo around. Into the lie locker now.
ETA that’s supposed to be pie, but lie also works!
Bupalos
Thanks for this. Regenerative agriculture and forest farming are big parts of my life. We need folks to show how this can work to heal the planet and give people a better more resilient way of life.
Skippy-san
@BeautifulPlumage: There is no comment for you to respond to. I deleted it.
mokum
No doom and gloom, and maybe helping the climate:
Sheep running through the center of Maastricht (Netherlands), where we moved two years ago. They are being brought from one meadow/park area to another, where they keep the vegetation very short. Only once a years the parks are being mowed, for the rest the sheep come a couple of times. There are amazing meadows right in the middle of town, with orchids and other amazing plants.
trollhattan
Patagonia, the outdoor gear company, has their own food line that emphasizes sustainable and regenerative methods. Also, fabric fiber farming (say that three times fast). Some info here.
https://www.patagonia.com/regenerative-organic/
They’re a relatively big player and are not on the stock exchange, if you get my drift.
TBone
@TaMara: not exactly new but good news.
EU passes landmark nature restoration law
The hero of this story is rogue Austrian minister Leonore Gewessler, whose last-minute vote saved the proposal. It’s a dramatic victory for conservationists, ending a months-long deadlock among member states. The new legislation sets a target to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea by the end of the decade. The Guardian
Dan B
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Seattle has municipal electricity. We own it. Seattle City Light is encouraging residential solar because “clean” hydro is tapped out. We installed solar PV in 2010 and it was paid off three years ago. Now I get a check for $2,500 every year. Denver should be much better than cloudy Seattle
How much would your check be in Denver? $3,000, $4,000?
TaMara
@TaMara:
@Ruckus:
@159 for the sta,ps.:
I think, since we are talking about it, I’ll pull some resources together on fun places for solar panels, including the vertical placement for a future post. Thanks!
Dan B
@TaMara: Solar PV in Arizona on farms improves yields.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Dan B:
There would be no check because Xcel won’t let any rooftop solar build be anywhere close to even reaching 100% of your capacity. They make it clear they don’t want *any* residential, rooftop solar putting energy into the grid. None.
They’ll throw out reasons for that but as my friend in NM has said, it’s BS. And as the piece I linked to, it’s all a smokescreen because it would cut into profits.
Now, if Xcel could build solar farms like they build wind farms, they’d do it because they’d own the source.
You’re right, if we owned the utility ala rural electric co-op or like you describe, it would be way different. Thus, our only recourse is to beat on our elected officials…who all yammer at great length about “green” but ultimately, fall short.
Jinchi
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Sounds similar to whats going on with PG&E here in Ca. They’re constantly renegotiating with the state how much they need to reimburse homes with rooftop solar. There was a brief surge in home solar about 6-8 years ago, but that seems to have ended.
I heard rumors that the state was going to incentivize solar for new construction, but I’m not sure if anything passed. At this point virtually every school and many businesses have put in solar in their playgrounds and parking lots.
Glidwrith
@Jinchi: SDG&E has indulged in the same shenanigans for at least 15 years when we put in our solar. The installation company specifically informed us they wouldn’t install more than 80% of our needs because of them. It was an under the table blackmailing scheme, because otherwise the installers wouldn’t be allowed to stay in business.
ColoradoGuy
I’m with United Power, which is a public service co-op. They’ve changed from a provider with a 32% renewable portfolio to a new one with 48% and rising.
I’m shopping for a new heat pump with a Cold Climate Energy Star rating … units that get this rating use the heat pump all the way down to 5F! Very different than the 19-year-old unit that transitions to gas backup at 45F.
The choices are between a Trane XV18 or Daikin Fit, both with the Energy Star rating and the same transition temperature.
Solar would be attractive in this area … we get plenty of sun in Colorado … except that rooftop solar panels double the cost of replacing a roof (the panels have to come off the roof, the old roof gets removed, the new roof goes on, and the panels go back on again). My little area in Erie is Hailstone Alley, and I’m on my 3rd roof in 19 years (big storm last year). With the declining price of panels, most of the cost of a solar array is the labor, not the panels themselves.
dnfree
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
When we put our solar panels on our house, in Illinois, ComEd restricted our output to be 110% of what our average annual usage was. How it works is that we draw from ComEd and we supply to ComEd and we get credit for what we supply beyond what we use. Then at the end of April every year, the balance is zeroed out. So far that has resulted in them wiping out our excess production, not in them forgiving us using too much.
This seems convoluted, but the result is that we pay a small amount every month that’s basically a connection fee (around $17 currently), regardless of our usage. And we don’t have to go through a process of reporting “profit” to the IRS and paying taxes on it, because there is no excess.
I understand from neighbors that ComEd is now allowing them to put on more panels than 110% would restrict them to, but I don’t know how that works with the tax and “profit” situation.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@ColoradoGuy:
Where in Erie? Or more accurately “which development?” :)
I ask cuz we have friends there in a 7-year old place. Nothing but roof and he wanted to install enough solar to power the development. Okay, I exaggerate just a little. But he had the roofage to do it.
Utility company said not in a million years. I thought he was dealing with evil Xcel but maybe not. I’ll hafta ask him tonight when I see him.
Chris T.
@ColoradoGuy:
Also, new (still rather experimental) heat pump designs are getting COP (Coefficient Of Power) ratings as high as 8 or 9, vs the usual 3.5 or so.
We swapped out a natural gas furnace (with existing forced air system) for heat pump here in Bellingham WA so that we now have cooling as well. It’s cheaper to run even when it’s cold out. Alas, it’s not super-efficient like the above experimental systems…
Chris T.
@dnfree: Rocky Mountain Power in Utah were pretty evil about solar PV as well, so on the Utah house, back in 2010 or so, I put in a minimal (2 kW of panels) system.
Under PG&E in Calif I was able to put in a 6 kW DC (really ~5.5 kW in other words) system. That worked well price-wise until PG&E got new tariffs put in place. I’m hopeful that it’s still working reasonably well for the new house owners (who probably aren’t charging up an EV and running a compute farm).
Here in Bellingham (far north Washington state) our particular house is heavily tree and mountain shaded. You have to go too far away from our house to get to one of the sunny spots…