http://soilnotoilcoalition.org/2015-international-conference/about-the-conference/
Soil Not Oil International Conference
Friday-Saturday, Sept. 4-5, 2015, 9:00 am
Memorial Civic Center Complex, 403 Civic Center Plaza,
Richmond, CA 94804
Focuses on Regenerative “Carbon Farming” to Mitigate
Climate Change
Dr. Vandana Shiva keynote speech is on Friday,
Sept. 4, 7:00 pm
International conference on agriculture and climate change, Soil Not
Oil, Sept. 4-5, in Richmond, CA, features speakers Vandana Shiva, Fritjof
Capra, Anna Lappé, former EPA senior scientist Ray Seidler, soil
scientist Rattan Lal, agro-ecologist Miguel Altieri, environmental and
land use attorney Claire Hope Cummings, and others.
Richmond, CA (July 29, 2015) Getting to the root of global
climate change, the 2015 Soil Not Oil International Conference will bring
together farmers, ranchers, scientists, policy makers, NGOs and community
leaders on Sept. 4-5, 2015, at the Memorial Civic Center Complex in
Richmond, CA, to explore how sustainable, regenerative agriculture
practices can help mitigate the planet’s global warming.
Soil Not Oil speakers include, from left: Dr. Vandana Shiva,
Fritjof Capra, Anna Lappé and Ronnie Cummins.
“The goal of the two-day conference is to provide practical
information, research, and networking to help society create a more
vibrant, healthy future via better farming practices. Along with reduced
reliance on fossil fuels and increased availability of green energy, we
need to shift to carbon farming to mitigate climate change,” said Miguel
Robles, conference organizer and Director of the Biosafety
Alliance.
Vandana Shiva Headlines Conference
Inspired by Dr. Vandana Shiva’s book, Soil Not Oil, the 2015
Soil Not Oil International Conference examines the crisis on food
security while highlighting the role of oil-based agro-chemicals and
fossil fuels in soil depletion and climate change. The conference will
focus on practical carbon farming solutions including cover crops,
planned grazing, compost application on range land, tree planting and
other holistic land use practices.
The conference will feature a keynote address by Dr. Vandana Shiva on
Friday, Sept. 4, 7:00 pm, along with presentations featuring noted soil
scientist Rattan Lal; author Fritjof Capra; environmental and land use
attorney Claire Hope Cummings; Earth Guardians director and youth leader
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez; author Anna Lappé; agro-ecologist Miguel Altieri;
Adelita San Vicente Tello, Ph.D., director of Seeds of Life; Regeneration
International and Organic Consumers Association co-founder Ronnie
Cummins; John Roulac, CEO and founder of Nutiva; and other international
leaders, farmers, researchers, climate change experts, and environmental
and food justice advocates.
“We are pleased to host this important gathering in the San Francisco Bay
Area, the heart of the organic food industry,” said Richmond-based John
Roulac, founder and CEO of organic food leader Nutiva. “To secure a
livable planet we need to both de-carbonize energy and re-carbonize our
soils via regenerative agriculture.“
Carbon Farming Defined
Carbon farming (also known as regenerative agriculture) is an
agricultural system that improves the rate at which CO2 is removed from
the atmosphere and converted to plant material and/or organic matter in
the soil. Today, mainstream industrial food and farming and unsustainable
land use generate the
majority of all greenhouse gas emissions, with carbon that is
stripped from the soil ending up in our atmosphere and oceans, creating
acidic conditions that threaten plant and animal species. In removing
carbon from the atmosphere and oceans by implementing the practices of
regenerative organic agriculture, we can sequester carbon into the soil
and expand the soil’s water-holding capacity.
As a 2014
Rodale Institute report states, “Organically managed soils can
convert carbon CO2 from a greenhouse gas into a food-producing asset.” In
fact, says Rodale after conducting more than 30 years of ongoing field
research, regenerative, organic farming practices and improved land
management can move agriculture from one of today’s primary sources of
global warming and carbon pollution to a potential carbon sink powerful
enough to sequester 100% of the world’s current annual CO2
emissions.
Or, as the
Wall Street Journal reported in May 2014, “Organic practices could
counteract the world’s yearly carbon dioxide output while producing the
same amount of food as conventional farming…”
About the Soil Not Oil Coalition
The conference organizer,
Soil Not Oil Coalition, is a cross-sector, multi-ethnic alliance of
over 60 organizations, scientists, farmers, businesses and individuals
coordinated by the Biosafety Alliance to promote research and further
understanding to optimize soil carbon sequestration and sustainability to
aid in the development of adequate food production for future generations
and to help reverse of the effects of global warming. We believe that
restructuring land management practices is key to combating climate
change, restoring water cycles, reducing global environmental pollution,
stopping ocean acidification, re-establishing biodiversity, improving
food production and revitalizing local economies across the planet. For
more information, registration or volunteering opportunities visit
www.soilnotoilcoalition.org, and follow us on
Facebook and
Twitter.
Soil Not Oil Conference
Sponsors include Nutiva, Dr. Bronner’s, RSF Social Finance, Good
Earth Natural Foods, Burroughs Family Farms, International Development
Exchange, Organic Consumers Association, Regeneration International and
Food Democracy Now.
- See more at:
http://soilnotoilcoalition.org/2015-international-conference/about-the-conference/#sthash.30JwwKMm.dpuf
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie@sbpermaculture.org
http://www.sbpermaculture.org
P
Please consider the
environment before printing this email