From Back Yards, to Front Yards, to Rooftops: The Role of Urban Agriculture in Mitigating Climate Change

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1 From Back Yards, to Front Yards, to Rooftops: The Role of Urban Agriculture in Mitigating Climate Change Philip Bogdonoff, Director, Washington DC Chapter Biodiversity for a Livable Climate bio4climate.org Tod Wickersham, President, Beneficial Results LLC tod.wickersham@beneficialresults.com Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit October 5 & 6, 2017

2 In Conclusion Build soil that sequesters carbon with the help of plants, soil microbes, and fungi Never leave soil bare! Keep the ground covered with living plants (or mulch), ideally diverse, multispecies cover crops between planting veggies/flowers/etc. Avoid/minimize tillage Eliminate pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and even synthetic fertilizers

3 In Conclusion (2) Work with homeowner associations and municipalities to implement the above practices on lawns, along roads, parks, and other land they own. Allow/support gardening in front yards, back yards, and roof tops Buy from local, organic, regenerative farms

4 Keeling Curve

5 Chloroplasts

6 Mainstream climate science Using biological processes may be the only way to reduce atmospheric carbon quickly enough to address climate effectively. The predominance of the physical sciences in climate studies has led to neglecting the power of biology in the climate equation. Photo: The Atlantic

7 The Solution: Putting Life to Work Photo: Africa Center for Holistic Management Eco-restoration is a familiar, safe, and highly promising response that is not yet at the heart of the global climate strategy.

8 The Biosphere Can Repair What We Have Broken... "Elbow Site," Africa Center for Holistic Management, Zimbabwe The plants in the 2009 photograph (right) represent carbon dioxide rapidly removed from the atmosphere and transformed into living matter - both aboveground and deep in the soils. This was achieved through careful management to restore the grassland ecosystem. The Africa Center for Holistic Management trains neighboring villages to do the same, those villages train their neighbors, and so on. This project is one of many (potentially thousands) worldwide that can do the work of soil building and carbon sequestration, and while resulting increased productivity is eventually self-sustaining, carbon farmers need funding for training and materials to get started.

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10 Lawns, or? In a study published in Environmental Management in 2005, researchers estimated there are 40 million acres of turf grass in the U.S., covering 1.9 percent of the land four times more lawn than corn! If kept well watered, it could use 60 million acrefeet of water a year. If treated conventionally, it can be the source of erosion, runoff of nutrients, pesticides, etc.

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12 Kentucky Bluegrass Big Bluestem Big Bluestem 6 Feet Buffalo Grass 10 Feet Big Bluestem

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14 Deep Biodiverse Soils - Excellent Infiltration CO2 ~ 280 ppm (pre ) (Just Right)

15 Regenerative Agriculture & Permaculture

16 What is Regenerative Agriculture? Regenerative Agriculture describes farming and grazing practices that, among other benefits, reverse climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity resulting in both carbon drawdown and improving the water cycle. February 16, 2017

17 Paul & Elisabeth Kaiser Singing Frogs Farm, Sebastopol, CA

18 Singing frogs farm

19 Forest Agriculture

20 FOREST AGRICULTURE Agroforestry Food Forest Forest Garden

21 FORESTED - BOWIE, MD

22 Turn Part of Your Yard "Lawn to FOOD FOREST In 5 Years, Natural Farming Permaculture Gardening into a Food Forest

23 Urban Farming San Antonio Makes Urban Farming Legal Throughout The City

24 Be Part of Fleet Farming Bike-Powered Farming Program Turns Lawns Into Urban Farms

25 Fleet Farming (2) Fleet Farming, a bike-powered, all-volunteer team of farmers in Orlando, Florida is turning wasteful, water-hogging lawns into mini urban farms to help boost local food production. Here's how it works: A landowner or renter with owner consent, can donate their chemical-free lawn to Fleet Farming. Once the site is assessed and approved for growing, Fleet Farms will schedule the installation of a food-producing plot at least 500 square feet in size. The "farmlette" consists of row crops grown directly in the ground. Each landowner must sign a two-year agreement with a suggested donation of $500 to the cover start-up costs. In exchange for the donation of their turf, hosts are allowed to harvest a share of the produce. Fleet Farming is responsible for maintaining the plot but the hosts are encouraged to pitch in.

26 Rooftops France Declares All New Roofs Must Be Topped With Plants Or Solar Panels

27 Up Top Acres in DC Elevate Your Eating We grow food on roofs - converting underutilized spaces into productive farmland and environmental safeguards. We create spaces for communities to interact with and learn about food, in order to establish agriculture as a fixture of city life.

28 The Vision: Carbon Farming Sequestering carbon in the soil: Stabilizes climate and weather patterns Restores biodiversity and soil health Re-establishes healthy water cycles Increases land fertility, food quality, and productivity Increases ecosystem and economic resiliency Brings sustainable, self-financing local jobs to millions, especially in developing countries There are many ways to farm carbon, depending on local conditions.

29 In Conclusion Build soil that sequesters carbon with the help of soil microbes and fungi Never leave soil bare! Keep the ground covered with living plants (or mulch), ideally diverse, multispecies cover crops between planting veggies/flowers/etc. Avoid/minimize tillage Eliminate pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and even synthetic fertilizers

30 In Conclusion (2) Work with homeowners associations and municipalities to implement above practices on lawns, along roads, and other land they own. Allow/support gardening in front yards, back yards, and roof tops Buy from local, organic, regenerative farms

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32 Earth from space