Timing is everything. I just finished watching the four-hour documentary Roots So Deep as my friends worry about having to evacuate from fire-ravaged areas around Los Angeles. To say I needed the hopefulness is an understatement.
So, I know everyone is feeling a lot of hopelessness around many things, including climate change. It seemed like a good time to bring in resources highlighting what is good and positive.
Let’s start with Roots So Deep. I’ve shared many of the YouTube shorts and recommended the first of Peter’s documentaries, Carbon Nation, so I’m not going to do a big sell here. I’m going to tell you that if you want to see a fact-filled documentary with solid science and watch people who you might think would never change how they view the world and absolutely embrace regenerative farming, this is worth your time. The fourth hour is the solid payoff. If you can watch it and not get teary, you’re better than I am.
It’s worth the rental fee, if only to give your soul a break from all the bad news. Rent it here.
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In other good news, several areas in the African Sahel region, where food often comes in the form of aid, people are taking back and healing the land. Creating an abundance where it used to be barren – and not that long ago.
Nov 13, 2024Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison journeys with the UN World Food Programme to the country of Niger in the African Sahel to see an innovative land recovery project within the Great Green Wall of Africa that is harvesting rainwater, increasing food security, and rehabilitating the ecosystem.
May 14, 2021In Mauritania, communities work hand in hand to make their land fertile again. A traditional technique called “half-moons” is used to reduce water runoff and trap the scarce rain inside the half-moons, thereby increasing water infiltration and improving food and fodder production.
Friends introduced me to an amazing woman in California who has been doing regenerative farming for decades, and she has sent me a link to a bunch of educational videos. Including their success in using AMP grazing in their vineyards to reduce chemical/water usage. Once I’ve waded through all those, I’ll share the ones I think will be of most interest.
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In the EV transformation across the world, there is so much good news, I really don’t have time to link to it all. But there are some good sources to follow. Electrifying, Fully Charged Show, Ecotricity NZ – I’m sorry to say, I don’t have a good resource for U.S. EV news. If you have one, put in the comments.
That’s it for climate news from me. I’d ask you to keep the comments positive or at the very least, don’t post your “theories and beliefs” without links to actual factual information. But I know that’s a fools errand these days.
I’m cross-posting this in several places, so hopefully people who may have wandered away from here and are interested might see it elsewhere.
Time to put the second coat of paint on the walls…
NOT an open thread
MagdaInBlack
I always love these posts from you, TaMara. Thank you.
grubert
Heres a fact: we; Humanity, has never been here before. Absolutely nobody knows how it will turn out. The most optimistic optimists and the most pessimistic pessimists will be wrong.
What is certain is it will be a big challenge.
West of the Rockies
Excellent post, TaMara! Here in NorCal we went solar three years ago. Our next car will be either hybrid (we’ve both previously owned one) or an EV (not Tesla). I hike a few times a week and try to pick up six pieces of trash each time. Leave a place a little better than you found it. We recycle pretty asiduously. There’s more we can do.
Don’t give up hope: hope leads to action and effort. Those lead to results.
zhena gogolia
Thanks, TaMara!
Jeffery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSPkcpGmflE
Almost 50 years ago, fried chicken tycoon David Bamberger used his fortune to purchase 5,500 acres of overgrazed land in the Texas Hill Country. Planting grasses to soak in rains and fill hillside aquifers, Bamberger devoted the rest of his life to restoring the degraded landscape. Today, the land has been restored to its original habitat and boasts enormous biodiversity. Bamberger’s model of land stewardship is now being replicated across the region and he is considered to be a visionary in land management and water conservation.
Steve Holmes
David Robert’s Volts Podcast provides lots of US climate news https://www.volts.wtf/podcast also Grist is good https://grist.org
Rachel Bakes
Thank you for these posts Tamara. I’ll take any good news I can find.
MagdaInBlack
I subscribe to this guys you tube (as well as Roots So Deep.) Even tho I live in the suburbs, my heart is still on the farm.
https://www.youtube.com/@gregjudyregenerativerancher/featured
MJN
I always enjoy and learn from your climate posts, TaMara, and today’s post is no different. The results of the restorative project in Niger are so promising. Hopefully, that Green Wall in Africa will be completed one day. Thanks for some good news.
WTFGhost
I think you just said that grazing *cows* near *grapes* reduces chemical and water usage, thereby allowing more wine per capita, and vastly improving the lives of people who need to take their yeast poop in the form of sour grapes.
Uh… don’t forget to tip the wait staff…?
Yutsano
I tried to find some information about the number of electric cars that are available and got slightly overwhelmed by what I saw. Seems like every manufacturer is wanting in on the EV game now.
MagdaInBlack
@WTFGhost: Also improving the quality of the steak that goes with some of that fermented (sour) grape.
Another Scott
GreenCarReports/news seems like a decently up-to-date site.
Thanks for these posts Tamara.
Best wishes,
Scott.
hitchhiker
All new information to me, thanks so much. Sharing with people who need a boost today.
RevRick
Serendipity here, since our church had its Green Team meeting after worship today. We discussed four things. First, an art contest sponsored by the the UCC to engage children and youth. Second, a book study of Cathedral on Fire. Third, following up on recommendations from the PA Department of Environmental Protection, specifically looking at options regarding the financing and installation of solar panels. Fourth, developing a Climate Hope Affiliate program in the PA-7 House District to lobby federal and state legislators and to create a media campaign to support a movement.
Torrey
This is amazing, and just the kind of good news I needed now. Thank you!
West of the Rockies
Where is everyone?
Another Scott
@West of the Rockies: 👋
Yeah, it’s been kinda quiet this afternoon. Maybe everyone is finally getting their Xmas tree out to the curb (like I just did).
Best wishes,
Scott.
TaMara
@Another Scott: I just gave my wreath (pieces) to the ducks. They do love a recycled Christmas tree.
TaMara
Thanks for the links, everyone; they are great.
MagdaInBlack
@TaMara: That never occurred to me when I had ducks. What do they love to do with them/it ?
TaMara
@MagdaInBlack: They eat the needles. Which surprised me. And then of course, they like to lay in the branches, too.
TaMara
And to the surprise of no one, I now have to go clean paint off the kitten.
MagdaInBlack
@TaMara: No kidding? I wish I’d known that then. The chickens recycled kitchen scraps and out of date left-overs. Ducks were bug patrol.
Bill Arnold
Interesting piece. Top-line paragraphs quoted. Is mostly interviews with ten leading experts. (bold mine)
Experts: What to expect from China on energy and climate action in 2025? (9 January 2025)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@West of the Rockies: We went to a gathering of our secret cabal of Democrats. We’ve had a lot of medical stuff this year, so we’re grateful we’re all more or less standing.
Kristine
Good news much appreciated.
I’ve read here and there that there’s no turning back wrt environmental action and green tech (EV, solar, etc) because too much money is headed in that direction. I want to believe it’s true, but bloody crypto and AI have complicated matters.
moonbat
Many, many thanks, TaMara. This content is food for my soul.
sab
@West of the Rockies: I am cooking dinner with a mask on since I just got a cold and don’t want to imfect the spouse. It is very weird to cook without being able to smell or taste anything.
On the other hand, wearing a mask and rubber gloves makes washing the stepkid’s workclothes (oil soaked machinist) much pleasanter. His new washing machine arrives this week.Yay!
something fabulous
Thank you for this, TaMara! I have liked those other short pieces, too. I know nothing about farming, so it is very cool to see. And now the international stuff too! Thanks for warning off the nay-sayers: it might’ve meant fewer comments, but worth it!!
Barry
For oily clothes, I would suggest soaking them in a bucked of vert soapy water, then hand rinsing them in the morning.
glc
Status