THE LECTURES
The webinar series includes four lectures, hosted at 1:30pm on four separate Sunday afternoons. See content and days below.
Each lecture will take 60 minutes of in-depth knowledge in an accessible format, plus 30 minutes of discussion, questions, and brainstorming. Talks build on each other. While there will be a repetition of core concepts as a refresher, regular attendance is recommended. Payment is on a gliding scale, please support Thorsten’s and our organization’s work as you can.
1) How the biosphere self regulates its climate: April 5th ’20
Did you know that all of life’s greatest innovations required collaboration and symbiosis, not competition? That vegetation actively builds a “soil sponge” that regulates water’s behavior? That in landscapes with intact soil sponge, rainfall variability hardly ever leads to flooding and drought? That plants cool their local environment by transpiring water? Indeed, that can drastically temper the global greenhouse locally. Temperature, moisture, wind patterns, and rainfall are all influenced by how we manage our landscapes — an overlooked opportunity in the debate how we can confront the global environmental crisis.
2) Regenerative agriculture for biosphere self regulation: April 19th ’20
Agriculture covers more landscape area than any other land use. How we do agriculture thus also determines whether our landscapes fare in a changing climate. New findings in how the soil actually works are leading to a massive shift in understanding of how we can produce food – with deep implications for how we farm and manage our lands. Learn about the fungal or “mycorrhizal” revolution, and how regenerative farming principles foster these fungi for crops and livestock. And learn about our local leaders in this regenerative revolution!
3) Food systems for biosphere regeneration: April 26th ’20
Farmers depend on markets for their products. The “rules of the game” that connect farmers with these markets define what farmers can afford to care about, what farmers can do, and what they cannot do. Biosphere regeneration through agriculture can only happen if food systems transfer the right values between farmers and consumers. This talk discusses barriers, opportunities and steps for establishing a food system that works for regeneration, with considerations for regulators, citizens, small businesses, donors,and regional governance.
4) Transforming land management, and ourselves, for biosphere regeneration: May 3rd ’20
Humans are very effective in engineering and managing complicated systems – it took us one century form using a steam engine to setting foot onto the moon. At the same time, we struggle with managing complex systems that self-regulate at all scales, starting with our immune system and guts or soil, community and watersheds dynamics, up to the global climate. This talk highlights strategies how we can holistically manage complexity and how we may better align our personal impacts with the needs of our only planet.
Recent Comments