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Free online lectures: Explore a world of ideas

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate

Through education, policy and outreach, our mission is to promote the power of the natural world to stabilize the climate and to restore biodiversity to ecosystems worldwide.

Collaborating with organizations around the globe, we advocate for the restoration of soil, and of grassland, forest, wetland, coastal and ocean ecosystems–along with the associated carbon, water and nutrient cycles – to draw down excess atmospheric greenhouse gases, cool the biosphere, and reverse global warming, for the benefit of all people and all life on earth.

Check out Bio4Climate's Compendium of Scientific and Practical Findings Supporting Eco-Restoration to Address Global Warming, seven issues, free download

http://bio4climate.org/

Didi Pershouse: The Ecology of Care

Thu, Oct 22, 2020

Didi Pershouse is the founder of the Center for Sustainable Medicine and has developed a practice and theoretical framework for systems-based ecological medicine—restoring health to people as well as the social and ecological systems around them. In her work she connects the dots between soil health and public health, and the role of beneficial microorganisms in maintaining a healthy climate both inside and outside the body. This talk about her work is moderated by Katharine Zywert, who researches social-ecological systems change and health at the University of Waterloo in Canada and is the co-editor of a new book, Health in the Anthropocene. This talk is part of the Life Saves the Planet lecture series. More info: https://bio4climate.org/

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Life Saves the Planet

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Tim LaSalle: Cure for an Ailing World

Thu, Sep 17, 2020

Tim LaSalle, a depth psychologist and former CEO of the Rodale Institute, has long followed the innovative work in the regenerative agriculture movement, a farming practice based on greatly improving the soil's biome to achieve a healthy biodiversity and greater food nutrient density while eliminating the need for soil augmentation, artificial or otherwise. As writer and environmental activist Wendell Berry once said, "Eating is an agricultural act." In this talk, Tim will address the barriers to a paradigm change that creates a radical shift in culture, education, policies and consumer patterns created from the way we have farmed for nearly 10,000 years. Photo courtesy of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

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Life Saves the Planet

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Judith Schwartz: Reindeer, Beaver, and Healing Nature With Nature

Thu, Aug 13, 2020

Our natural systems are under great stress. However, nature’s inclination is toward healing, and we can work with the logic of ecology to restore landscapes and waterways. Biodiversity for a Livable Climate hosts authors Judith D. Schwartz and Ben Goldfarb as they talk about regenerating landscapes—and the pivotal role of animals in earth healing. Judith’s new book, “The Reindeer Chronicles and Other Inspiring Stories of Working With Nature to Heal the Earth”, is published by [Chelsea Green](https://www.chelseagreen.com/?s=reindeer). This talk is part of the Life Saves the Planet lecture series. More info: https://bio4climate.org/

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Life Saves the Planet

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Alfred Brownell: How Liberians Fought Big Palm Oil To Protect Their Lands

Sat, May 9, 2020

Liberian environmental activist Alfred Lahai Gbabai Brownell Sr. tells the story of how indigenous peoples, local communities and environmental rights activists came together to halt the work of the world’s largest oil palm companies, who were responsible for causing deforestation and accelerating climate change in West Africa. This talk is part of the Blessed Unrest conference hosted by Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. See more conference information [**here.**](https://bio4climate.org/blessed-unrest-program/)

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Sven Pihl: Edible landscaping

Sat, Apr 25, 2020

Edible landscaping is the use of food-producing plants in the residential and public landscape. It combines fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, along with functional ornamental plants into aesthetically pleasing designs. Edible landscaping offers an alternative to conventional residential landscapes; edible plants can be just as attractive while producing fruits and vegetables. One can install an entirely edible landscape or incorporate some edible plants into existing gardens. In this talk Sven will cover different forms of Edible Landscape design from Foodscaping to Edible Forest Gardens and some history on this ages-old worldwide practice. **[Blessed Unrest](https://bio4climate.org/blessed-unrest-program/) ** is a conference that features speakers around the world offering a variety of practical solutions from nature. The aim is to encourage attendees and viewers to arrive at the conclusion that collectively we humans can change course to a healthy and bountiful planet for all.

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Precious Phiri: Building Community During Confusion and Uncertainty

Sat, Apr 25, 2020

Precious Phiri grew up in Zimbabwe and discusses her evolution as a trainer in Holistic Management and community facilitation. Her work focuses on working with rural communities and collaborating with networks in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security for people, livestock and wildlife – and most recently, to address the corona virus. This talk is part of the Blessed Unrest conference hosted by Biodiversity for a Livable Climate. See more conference information [**here.**](http://https://bio4climate.org/blessed-unrest-program/) Image courtesy of Pixabay

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Life Saves the Planet

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Roland Bunch: Improving Food Security of Smallholder Farmers

Sun, Apr 19, 2020

Increasingly frequent droughts are destroying food production levels in the more drought-prone half of sub-Saharan Africa. Although most people have attributed this gathering crisis to climate change, about 80 percent of the cause of the droughts is that fallowing – a process of allowing the forest to grow for fifteen years or more to replace the soil’s organic matter — isn't happening. This problem has in turn caused a huge drop in soil organic matter and a resulting lack of rainwater absorption rates. The good news, however, is that there exists an extremely simple technology, called “green manure/cover crops,” that can reverse these soil organic matter losses within just a few years, at virtually no cost to the farmers. Putting all that organic matter back into the soil sequesters tremendous amounts of carbon. In fact, if all the world’s farmers and ranchers were to sequester as much carbon/acre/year in their soils as tens of thousands of smallholder African farmers are already doing, they would sequester, long-term, over 50 percent of all the carbon the world needs to sequester in order to reach the goals of the Paris Climate Accords. **[Blessed Unrest](http://https://bio4climate.org/blessed-unrest-program/)** is a conference that features speakers around the world offering a variety of practical solutions from nature. The aim is to encourage attendees and viewers to arrive at the conclusion that collectively we humans can change course to a healthy and bountiful planet for all. Image courtesy of Flickr

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Food and Wellness

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Janot Mendler De Suarez: Haiti’s “Green Pearl” Initiative

Sat, Apr 18, 2020

Janot Mendler De Suarez describes the community-driven “Green Pearl” initiative that aspires to transform Haiti from one of the poorest, most insecure and degraded countries in the world to a flourishing mosaic of Green Pearls. At the same time charting a new path for the humanitarian sector, rooted in the power of humanity to turn vicious cycles into virtuous cycles, all through people-centered creativity and community engagement. The new bottom line? Restoring and even enhancing the productive function of healthy resilient ecosystems. De Suarez's talk is part of the **[Blessed Unrest conference](https://bio4climate.org/blessed-unrest-program/)** featuring speakers around the world offering a variety of practical solutions from nature. Image: Pixabay

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
Ronnie Cummins: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Accomplishments

Sat, Apr 18, 2020

Over the past two decades, environmental activist Ronnie Cummins has served as director of US and international campaigns dealing with sustainable agriculture issues including food safety, genetic engineering, factory farming, and global warming. In this talk Cummins focuses on what individuals and small groups have done and continue to accomplish in these realms. Cummins also tells his own stories about co-founding the [Organic Consumers Association](https://www.organicconsumers.org/usa) (OCA) and its Mexico affiliate [Via Organica](https://viaorganica.org/). He will also discuss the obstacles to building sustainable systems and how people have overcome them in creative and personal ways. Cummins' talk is part of the **[Blessed Unrest conference](https://bio4climate.org/blessed-unrest-program/)** featuring speakers around the world offering a variety of practical solutions from nature. Image courtesy of Flickr

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate
The Curious Person's Guide to Earth Repair: Regenerating Soil and Water Landscapes

Thu, Dec 12, 2019

Over the past year, the public has grown increasingly aware of the ways we have inadvertently harmed the biodiversity and ecosystems upon which life depends. The United Nations having declared [2021-2030 the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration](https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/new-un-decade-ecosystem-restoration-inspire-bold-un-environment-assembly) presents the opportunity for a global focus on regenerating natural systems. Journalist and author Judith D. Schwartz has travelled widely to find people who are successfully restoring healthy soil and water ecosystems. She talks with Cambridge, MA activist Nicola Williams about her research as well as a forthcoming book about the global ecosystem restoration movement. Photo: ["Red pouch fungus" Tony Wills](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_pouch_fungus_01.jpg) [[CC BY 2.5](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5) ]

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Biodiversity for a Livable Climate