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Learning resources about soil carbon and biological work

Welcome! Thanks to seed grants from the Sustainable Future Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation, the Wellborn Ecology Fund, the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, the Dixon Water Foundation, and the New Hampshire Entrepreneur's Foundation, we are creating a collection of learning resources about soil carbon, biological work, agroecology, and holistic/regenerative land management for teachers, students, writers, faith groups, and other interested people. This page includes links to books, articles, groups, and media that we have found useful in our own learning processes. You can find curriculum and a monitoring guide at soilcarboncoalition.org/learn, and project ideas for 4-H and other groups at soilcarboncoalition.org/4H.

Please feel free to submit suggestions for this resource library. If you are interested hosting a professional development workshop for teachers, a Land Listeners Training for your community, helping with the the development of learning resources, or joining our soil-carbon-learning google group, please contact Didi Pershouse at landlisteners@gmail.com or (802) 785-2503. We are actively seeking additional funding for this project.

BOOKS: for General Public:

***Cows Save the Planet—Judith Schwartz (intro and first chapter frame larger issues well)

***Water in Plain Sight--Judith Schwartz

***The Last Ranch—Sam Bingham (a beautifully written narrative)

Grass, Soil, and Hope—Courtney White

The Soil will Save Us—Kristin Ohlson (nice chapter at end about urban soil carbon)

The Ecology of Care—Didi Pershouse

The Vegetarian Myth—Lierre Keith

The Third Plate—Dan Barber

Grass Productivity--Andre Voisin

For the Love of Land, Global Case Studies of Grazing in Nature’s Image—Jim Howell

Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web--Lowenfels and Lewis

Farmacology: Total Health from the Ground Up—Daphne Miller

BOOKS: Theory and Practice

***Measuring Soil Carbon Change: A Flexible, Practical, Local Method, by Peter Donovan (free pdf)

***Holistic Management—Allan Savory

***How to Not Go Broke Ranching--Walt Davis

Carbon Farming Handbook—(Australia)

UN: Wake up before it is too late: http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf

BOOKS: Academic/Scientific/Research

GeoTherapy—edited by Tom Goreau

Ecosystem Services and Carbon Sequestration in the Biosphere—Rattan Lal et al.

Also by Rattan Lal: Recarbonization of the Biosphere: Ecosystems and the Global Carbon Cycle (Google eBook) Soil Carbon Management: Economic, Environmental and Societal Benefits (Google eBook)

Carbon Sequestration in Forest Ecosystems (Google eBook)

Climate Change and Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration in Central Asia (Google eBook)

Carbon Sequestration in Urban Ecosystems (Google eBook)

Sustainable Intensification to Advance Food Security and Enhance Climate Resilience in Africa (Google eBook) (2014)

FACEBOOK GROUPS

Regrarians

Soil4Climate

Savory Institute

Soil Biology, Chemistry, and Physics

ORGANIZATIONS AND WEBSITES

Healthy Soils Australia Regeneration International Center for Food Safety Amazing Carbon (Christine Jones) The Savory Institute Africa Centre for Holistic Management The Soil Carbon Coalition Managing Wholes Holistic Management International—Co-founders of Savory Institute Biodiversity for a Livable Climate—Boston area meetups, workshops Soil Food Web Bionutrient Food Association The Carbon Underground Marin Carbon Project Regenerate Australia Women Caring for the Land—Midwest project, empowering female landowners in sustainable practices NOFA—Northeast Organic Farming Association, conferences, workshops.

VIDEO AND AUDIO: Overviews

Allan Savory Ted Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s_deserts_and_reverse_climate_change?language=en PBS “Earth: A New Wild: Plains” February 4, 2015, full length documentary. http://www.permaculturevoices.com/podcast/the-great-work-of-our-time-presented-at-pv2-by-john-d-liu-pvp103/

VIDEO AND AUDIO Restoration Projects

Regenerating the Grasslands of Patagonia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIoiC-FbN5g Soil Carbon Cowboys http://soilcarboncoalition.org/soil-carbon-cowboys Soil Restoration in Chihuahuan Desert Grasslands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsmoJsRWK0Q

VIDEO AND AUDIO: Framing and Concepts

The Nutritional Status of GMOs (Very important look at the effects of glyphosate on living systems) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiU3Ndi6itk An exploration of interconnections on Earth http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/earth-from-space.html

VIDEO: How-To

Water infiltration test: http://soilcarboncoalition.org/infiltration Soil stability test in a minute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=61&v=9_ItEhCrLoQ

VIDEO AND AUDIO: Conference Archives

Restoring Ecosystems to Reverse Global Warming, Tufts University, 2014 http://bio4climate.org/conferences/conference-2014/program/ Savory Institute Conference http://www.savoryinstitute.com/events/international-conference/2014-london-conference/ Grazing for Change Conference Videos: http://jeffersonhub.com/grazing-for-change-speaker-videos/ Grass Fed Exchange (these cost $75 per set) http://www.grassfedexchange.com/event_promos/ NOFA-Mass Summer Conference 2014 (soil carbon track) http://www.nofamass.org/audio/year

ARTICLES: Overviews

Rodale Institute’s white paper: Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change: A Down-to-Earth Solution to Global Warming. Soil Carbon Sequestration in Conservation Agriculture: A Framework for Valuing Soil Carbon as a Critical Ecosystem Service http://www.fao.org/ag/ca/doc/CA_SSC_Overview.pdf

ARTICLES: Soil-carbon science in plain words

Christine Jones, interviewed by Acres Magazine http://www.amazingcarbon.com/PDF/Jones_ACRES_USA%20(March2015).pdf The Liquid Carbon Pathway: long-term carbon storage in soils. (see other articles at www.amazingcarbon.com) http://www.amazingcarbon.com/PDF/JONES-LiquidCarbonPathway%28July08%29.pdf http://scseed.org/wb/media/Liquid_Carbon_Pathway_Unrecognised_Dr._Christine_Jones.pdf Soil Carbon: Can it Save Agriculture’s Bacon? http://permaculturenews.org/2010/07/22/soil-carbon-can-it-save-agricultures-bacon/ Glomalin: Hiding Place for a Third of the World’s Stored Carbon USDA http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/sep02/soil0902.htm Lake Remediation Starts with Soil Restoration http://vtdigger.org/2014/03/06/jack-lazor-lake-remediation-starts-soil-restoration/

ARTICLES: Specific Land-Management Projects

Water storage in the soil and vegetation, Mexico:

http://planet-tech.com/blog/las-pilas-ranch

Before and after pictures:

http://planet-tech.com/blog/land-restoration-holistic-management

http://m.phys.org/news/2015-05-farmland-boost-carbon-sequestration.html

ARTICLES, Local Impact

http://www.anr.state.vt.us/anr/climatechange/irenebythenumbers.html

http://theweek.com/articles/554677/america-running-soilRoman

ARTICLES: Politics of Soil Restoration

http://www.rangemagazine.com/features/summer-15/range-su15-sr-cows_save_world.pdf http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-stone-drought-grass-fed-beef-20150520-story.html

ARTICLES: Framing and Concepts

Judith Schwartz http://e360.yale.edu/feature/soil_as_carbon_storehouse_new_weapon_in_climate_fight/2744/ Putting the Cookie Back http://www.grassfedexchange.com/article/43/ http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/foodclimate_med_32825.pdf http://postgrowth.org/fertile-health-parallels-between-sustainable-agriculture-and-sustainable-medicine/ http://www.greengardensgroup.com/2013/03/07/reversing-desertification-shows-living-soil-is-key-factor-in-environmental-health/ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/us/california-drought-tests-history-of-endless-growth.html?_r=0 http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-the-anthropocene-begin-in-1950-or-50-000-years-ago/

ARTICLES: Profiles and Projects

http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/women-over-65-own-nearly-a-third-of-iowa-farmland “How Cows (Grass-fed only) Could Save the Planet” Time Magazine, Jan 25, 2010.

ARTICLES: Academic Research

Teague: http://www.grazingbestprac.com.au/research/grazing/AGEE3851%20Grazing%20management%20impacts%20in%20north%20Texas%202011.pdf

ARTICLES: Compilations

Scientific articles on Holistic Management: http://savory.global/assets/docs/evidence-papers/portfolio-of-findings.pdf Case studies, profiles, and popular articles on Holistic Management: http://savory.global/assets/docs/evidence-papers/holistic-management-overview.pdf

ARTICLES to Wrestle with--What’s wrong with these pictures?

Thinking in parts rather than wholes: http://phys.org/news/2015-05-reveals-rivers-global-carbon.html Pill Bugs: http://news.sciencemag.org/sifter/2015/05/pillbugs-may-help-slow-global-warming Earthworms: http://ecowatch.com/2015/05/22/earthworms-save-climate/ Geoengineering: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/opinion/joe-nocera-chemo-for-the-planet.html?ref=opinion&_r=2

DATA MAPS

Map of Soil Carbon Change http://soilcarboncoalition.org/html/changemap.htm Map of Global Forest Change (with many layers of information) http://www.globalforestwatch.org/ Article about Global Forest Watch http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/02/9-maps-explain-worlds-forests Map of photosynthesis (NASA) over time http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/view.php?d1=MOD17A2_M_PSN Other NASA Maps (fires, aerosols, snow cover, rainfall, etc.) http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/?eocn=topnav&eoci=globalmaps Map of Application of Glyphosate and distance to schools https://api.tiles.mapbox.com/v4/ewg.m3fa5dp2/page.html?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiZXdnIiwiYSI6IlYxUUpUTlUifQ.87Ean7pyT-H6eapPSES_pA#7/42.892/-78.223