How can those of us concerned about sustainability, climate change, and agriculture work toward the goal of becoming carbon-neutral? The start-up company Indigo Agriculture has developed a new project to use sustainable farming techniques to remove 1 trillion metric tons of carbon from the Earth’s atmosphere. The project, called the Terraton Initiative, advocates for regenerative agriculture, in which plants store carbon in the ground, instead of releasing it back into the atmosphere. This is a process called carbon sequestration, in which plants capture and store carbon in their body, and use the carbon to grow leaves, stems, and roots. Plants also release some of the carbon into the soil in the form of simple sugars. According to David Perry, CEO and director of Indigo Agriculture, carbon sequestration is the “single most actionable, immediate, and affordable thing we can do to impact climate change.”

Perry says that farming on average sequesters one percent of carbon, as opposed to untouched land, which captures between three and seven percent of carbon. But regenerative agriculture can bring farmers closer to the three to seven percent, says Perry.

The Terraton Initiative tries to bring together farmers, scientific researchers, businesses, investors, and nonprofits to achieve higher profitability, the most sustainable practices, and better consumer health.

To put together useful data, the Terraton Initiative analyzes tens of thousands of farms to correct data on carbon sequestration. It will release the data it finds to researchers and the general public in order to enable innovation.

Regenerative agriculture looks like a great way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to reduce climate change while at the same time growing food for people. On its own, this may not be enough to stop climate change, but put together with other methods for reducing CO2 emissions and removing CO2 from the atmosphere, regenerative agriculture could have a big impact on reducing carbon dioxide levels back to a point where they're manageable once again.

There are some very promising ways that sustainable farming can help combat climate change. We've researched these new developments and blog what we've learned in this post and the next. ​

Maybe you've seen the term "regenerative agriculture" around and you're wondering what it means.

According to Dr. Urvashi Rangan, Chief Science Advisor for FoodPrint, regenerative agriculture is "organic plus". Sustainable farming aims to only use the resources that are available; whereas regenerative agriculture focuses on "building health into the ecosystem," starting with increasing soil fertility, according to Rangan. Regenerative agriculture is a holistic approach that focuses first on the soil, and then after the soil, it takes into consideration the health of the animals, workers, farmers, and community.

Chemical-heavy farming techniques—as well as erosion from deforestation, and climate change—are causing a loss of topsoil around the world, which is making land less fertile. The United Nations estimates that if current rates of soil degradation continue, then all the world's topsoil will be gone in 60 years, which will be catastrophic for farmers' ability to grow food for people. With that in mind, we need to stop farming in ways that deplete the soil, and instead farm in ways that renew it. Healthy soil can act as a carbon sink by pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. If implemented worldwide, regenerative agriculture practices have the ability to sequester 50 parts per million of carbon dioxide over the course of a century.

Regenerative agriculture also helps make soil more resilient against weather extremes, such as flood and drought. This is especially important as weather extremes become more likely due to climate change. Regenerative agriculture also helps promote higher nutrient density in plants, which is important considering that climate change is expected to cause plants to suffer nutrient losses.

Thinking our own consumption habits is important for thinking about how we contribute to climate change. Maybe you already use reusable grocery bags, stopped using plastic straws, and switched to plant-based milks, and like me, you’re thinking “what else can I possibly do to help the environment?” Did you know that our diets have an impact on the planet?

Right now, producing the world’s food is responsible for about ¼ of human generated greenhouse gases each year. However, not all foods contribute to these greenhouse gases equally. The meat and dairy industry are among the biggest culprits. According to the New York Times, the meat and dairy industry contribute over 14% of the world’s greenhouse gases every year, which is almost the same as all of the emissions from every automobile, airplane, and ship in the world.

How does food production contribute to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions? Food production contributes to climate change when forests and natural landscapes are cleared to make room for new farms and more livestock, when cows and other livestock digest food they release methane, and when fossil fuels are used to operate a greater amount food production related machinery. 

Seafood and fish provide us with an interesting look into how food can help or harm the planet. Fish and other seafood potentially contribute the lowest amount of greenhouse gases as they feed naturally in the ocean and can be harvested in ways that are low fuel. Like other food, not all fish are equal contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. For example, a recent study found that wild fish like tuna, sardines, cod, and herring on average have a smaller carbon footprint than pork or chicken.

It is also useful to know the different ways farmed and wild fish and seafood contribute to climate change. Wild fish and seafood potentially have a small carbon footprint, however, currently, wild fish and being caught at their maximum level. For some types of fish, fish farms—called aquaculture—can be more environmentally friendly. For other fish and seafood, like shrimp, aquaculture can have a large carbon footprint. So, it depends on geography, farming practices, and type of fish or seafood being produced.

Organizations like Aquaculture Stewardship Council and Friend of the Sea are working to certify fish farms that practice environmentally friendly standards. While these certification standards aren’t perfect they are steps in the right direction for ensuring planet safe seafood and fish production.

Finally, perhaps one of the most important ways to use diet as a way to help the planet is to look at how other cultures eat. Taking a look at countries like Vietnam, India, and Lebanon, traditional foods offer a mixture of meats and vegetables. In Vietnamese Pho meat is used to enhance vegetables and grains in the soup. In India meat is present, but the star of the show are legumes. Lentils and beans are high in protein and fiber, can easily adapt to changing weather patterns, and can improve soil quality. Lebanese diets are similar to those of India and Vietnam as they emphasize variety. These are not a meatless diets, but rather includes meat along with a variety of vegetables, herbs, nuts, and grains.

These diets can be useful referents for thinking about how our diets could help the planet. Introducing more variety, eating less meat, and knowing more about where our food comes from are important steps to using foodways and eating habits to improve our planet’s health! 

For more resources check out: 
Healthy Hyna: https://www.healthyhyna.com/about-me
Quiz: How Does Your Diet Contribute to Climate Change? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/30/climate/your-diet-quiz-global-warming.html
Decolonize your diet: http://decolonizeyourdiet.org/about

-Anna Ortega

Here at Green Bridge Growers, our mission to provide sustainably grown food is driven by an ideology of social justice. We not only believe in the power of organic and green growing, but we also believe that our food should benefit our community. About 1 million people in the state of Indiana currently face food insecurity.  This means that there are people in our community that are at risk of facing or are currently facing some type of food insecurity. But what does that mean to be “food insecure”? Who is most at risk of being food insecure? How does our venture at Green Bridge hope to contribute to addressing this issue here in the Michiana area?

Food insecurity is defined as a lack of sustained access to healthy high quality food. It affects every community in the United States, but those most at risk of becoming food insecure are low income communities, people with disabilities, seniors and children, rural communities, and Black and Latino populations. Food insecurity is often related to the issue of food deserts. The USDA defines food deserts by their proximity to food providers and not by a communities access  or continued to healthy or culturally appropriate food choices.  

It is important to recognize that any community of people regardless of age, race, and ability are susceptible to food insecurity, however, it is impossible to look at the issue of food deserts without talking about racism and poverty, as food deserts are often found in communities of color and low-income communities. While about 23.5 million people live in food deserts, nearly half are considered low-income. While food insecurity can also be tied to economic and race issues, food deserts in particular highlight how necessary food justice is for at risk communities. Both food insecurity and food deserts are intersectional issues that require intersectional understandings for them to be properly solved.

Although these might seem like big issues to tackle, the first step is to become educated about food access inequality and the vocabulary used in relation to these topics. At Green Bridge Growers, we address food injustice in our work through supporting other small business in the area that provide locally and sustainably grown food to the wider community. We believe that by providing healthy affordable food to our community we are taking a big step towards addressing food insecurity and unequal food access by providing our community with the option to decide from where and from whom they purchase food.

For more resources on Food Justice, Food Insecurity, and/or Food deserts check out these websites:

https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/
https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-food-deserts
https://foodispower.org/

-Anna Ortega

At Green Bridge Growers, we enjoy making recipes with fresh ingredients. One of our favorite recipes to make is homemade salsa. In my opinion, opening up a jar of salsa from the store is nothing compared to making salsa with fresh ingredients.

Whenever I make homemade salsa, this is the recipe I use. It calls for 3 cups of chopped tomatoes, 1 cup onion, ¼ cup minced cilantro, 4 teaspoons jalapeño peppers, and ½ teaspoon salt. I usually skip the bell pepper, lime juice, cumin, and black pepper (although you can add these if you choose to), and I add a few cloves of garlic even though the recipe doesn’t call for it (because I really like garlic a lot, and I think garlic tastes really good in salsa). This recipe will give you chunky salsa, but if you want to reduce chunkiness, then you can put half of the chunky ingredients in a blender. In my opinion, there isn’t any other salsa in the world that can compare to this one, not even the salsas from authentic Mexican restaurants that I’ve had (although those are really good too).

I might add that when I use fresh tomatoes (i.e. locally grown and recently picked tomatoes from our own garden or the farmer’s market), the salsa tastes better than when I use tomatoes from the supermarket (which were probably shipped long distances and are probably technically not even fresh). So I encourage you to use fresh, locally grown tomatoes when possible. If tomatoes are out of season, though, then you can get some from the supermarket.

I hope you enjoy this salsa recipe as much as I do!

-Chris

So you’ve added koi (or another kind of fish) to your aquaponics system, and now your system is operational. At this point, you might want to consider adding aquatic plants to the tank where you keep the fish.

Aquatic plants provide oxygen for fish such as koi, so that the fish aren’t as dependent on air pumps to provide oxygen to the tank. They also help fight algae growth by limiting algae’s photosynthesis via their own photosynthesis. Pond plants also create shade for koi, which helps keep them cool when it’s sunny. And pond plants help to filter pond water, removing any nitrites or any other chemicals that might be poisonous for the fish.

Some examples of pond plants that are great at oxygenation include water lettuce, parrot’s feather, and cabomba.

Another kind of aquatic plant for koi is marginal pond plants. Marginal pond plants are plants that are potted and submerged a few inches in the water. These plants add greenery and beauty to the aquaponics system. They too help filter the water in the tanks, but they need a shelf to be placed on.

Floating plants are ones that float on the surface of the water. An example is the water lily. The pad floats on the surface of the water, and the stem and roots extend down into the water. Water hyacinth and azolla are other examples of floating plants.

To prevent the koi from eating all your pond plants, you have a few different options. One is to build a shelf into the edge of the pond or fish tank. Put a potted plant on the submerge board to create the appearance of a natural pond plant, and then put stones over the soil to protect from rooting koi. But you will still need a barrier between the koi and the plant. You may need to stack stones or rust-proof wire around the pot.

Smaller plants you can float in the water simply by putting a flotation ring around their pot. But for plants like water lilies that have long, extended roots, consider putting wire mesh around the stems to protect against hungry koi.

In our experience, happy koi also need to receive immune boosters to help their overall health. We provide our fish with vitamin C and garlic to keep them healthy and prevent disease. Another step we take to ensure the health of our fish is to get to know their habits and behaviors and to treat any problems from the start. We enjoy our koi and hope that if you venture into aquaponics, you will too!

For Autism Acceptance Month, we share an essay originally published in Olliebean by Judy Endow, an autistic adult who is well-known a leading advocate for those on the spectrum. Our team thought her insights are especially important because they focus on the assets of autistic individuals and what they contribute to the community. With this piece, you'll see why Judy is one of our favorite bloggers writing about the need for widespread acceptance and awareness of those with disabilities. 

"One thing that happens when a person is diagnosed with autism is that people start evaluating how that person doesn’t measure up. In fact, this needs to happen in order to receive an autism diagnosis. A diagnosis is important in terms of securing needed supports and services.

The measuring doesn’t stop after the diagnosis is received. As autistic children grow up they are assessed and measured many times over and for good reasons. Every needed support and service means the autistic must “qualify” to receive it. If an autistic child needs help in school they must meet the criteria to receive an Individualized Educational Plan – basically a plan with goals and outcome measures to put the student on the path towards the free and appropriate education that he cannot be denied according to law in the United States.

All of this is good and makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is when we take these measures of shortcomings and use only these shortcomings to think about autistics. When this happens autistics are thought of only in terms of their deficits and difficulties. While being found lacking and having deficits and difficulties as measured against typically developing peers is of utmost importance in the diagnostic realm and in terms of getting educational, medical and support services, this is not the sum total of an autistic person.

This is very important because what we need to have a diagnosis along with the medical, educational and support services that follow are very different from what we need to have a meaningful and productive life. I will make this personal now, using my own life for you to see an example.

You see, I get my diagnosis and supports based on what’s wrong with me, what I can’t do, and what my difficulties are in daily life. These things are easily measured against the neurotypical norm. So, that is how most of my life I have only known who I wasn’t and what I couldn’t do.

“Because there is not a good way to measure the things that make me be me those things go unmeasured. Instead I am measured by the yardstick of what makes you be you and am found to be lacking” (Endow, 2013. pg. 44).

But then, just like you, I live out my daily life according to what I CAN do, what I am good at and what I enjoy in my day.

In my everyday life as an adult it matters a whole lot what I CAN do because my capabilities have allowed me to earn a living. It matters more in my life today that I can write books, do public speaking and run my own consulting business than it does that my speech was delayed, I was institutionalized as a child or have a classic autism diagnosis.

It matters today what I am good at and what I enjoy because this has led not only to me running my own business, but in addition is the basis of my friendships with others and the hobbies and interests I pursue. Together, my work and my friends intersect with my hobbies and interests, bringing me a full life with a depth of meaning.

Autism is my diagnosis and indeed is so pervasive that it cannot be separated out and thus, I not only have autism as a diagnosis, but I am autistic in my identity. My diagnosis is about who I am NOT and what I cannot do – a measure of my limitations, deficits and difficulties.  Being an autistic woman is about who I am – a human being who IS, who CAN and who DOES – measured by living a full life in her own way in this world.

I had to learn how to outsmart the hard of my autism to live a full life as an autistic. It took several decades. Today my life is about who I am and what I CAN do. It is about the real relationships with colleagues, friends and family. Today I still have limitations, difficulties and deficits, but they do not define me. Instead they inform me. I can plan my life accordingly, ensuring supports, down time and accommodations so I can be the human being I want to be in this world. Today I have a full and meaningful life. I am content and happy and I am still just as autistic as I have always been.

My advice for younger autistics and for those who love and support them would be to look at who you ARE as a human being. Ultimately, this will become more important than your autism. Most of the time people around autistic children focus in on what they cannot do so as to make those areas of life better. In doing so autistic children grow up knowing who they are not. This is not a good basis for living a meaningful adult life because as adults, our work, our friends and our pastimes are based on who we are, what we can do and what makes us happy.

Therefore, I think it is of utmost importance our children learn this along the way. It took me most of my life to learn this. I hope by writing about it people supporting today’s autistic children will be sure to teach them who they ARE in this big wide world because one day that will become more important than their diagnosis of autism."

REFERENCES
Endow, J. (2013). Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009). Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally published in Olliebean August 14, 2014.