The Carbon Underground CARBON-TO-SOIL Project by TheCarbonUnderground
Pitch
Crowd-sourced, app-driven, global effort moving carbon from the air into the soil which regenerates soil and boosts agriculture & ranching
Description
Summary
What if…
The biggest threat
facing the world
was no longer a threat?
What if…
Climate change
was reversed
in our lifetime?
Not simply slowed down,
but actually reversed.
Imagine what that would do for the world.
It was the people of the world that did it
— not governments or corporations?
And what if…
Rethinking how we grow it, how we treat
our soil, and how we plan to feed the
planet can actually restore nature’s ability
to re-sequester carbon presently
contributing to climate change.
It’s possible.
And it all begins with food.
Introducing The Carbon Underground’s SOIL-TO-CARBON Project.
Did you know…
Industrial Agriculture
contributes more carbon
to the atmosphere than
the burning of fossil fuels.
And Industrial Agriculture
traps the carbon in the
air by destroying the soil,
and thereby natures’ ability
to draw it back down.
Industrial Agriculture
makes our food supply
less secure.
Restoring our soil can
begin to reverse
climate change
almost immediately
while creating a more
secure food supply.
It’s simple.
Every acre/hectare of healthy soil
has trillions of live organisms that need
carbon to survive. They get that carbon from
the roots of plants that bring it down from
the atmosphere.
(Remember photosynthesis?)
What actions do you propose?
Now, any citizen in the world can help fight
climate change by transforming
unhealthy soil to healthy soil.
Plus, we get healthier food, healthier
people, huge water savings and a boost
to farmers and economies around the
world.
How does it work?
Industrial agriculture kills those carbon-eating
organisms, releases additional carbon into the
atmosphere and shuts down nature’s ability
to bring it back — thus trapping carbon in the
atmosphere.
If we restore the soil, nature will quickly and
happily begin to draw down carbon, put it back
where it belongs (and where nature wants it), and
use it to grow us more food.
This is what
The Carbon Underground’s
CARBON-TO-SOIL PROJECT
Does.
The Carbon Underground is already working to accelerate this
transition by partnering with businesses, governments, scientists,
farmers, ranchers and citizens from around the world.
The Carbon-to-Soil Project is designed to give everyone on earth the
chance to join together to draw down carbon from the atmosphere
and help solve the single greatest threat facing the planet.
We are.
“Simply reducing CO2
emissions will not
stop climate change.”
— Dr. Steven Chu former Secretary of Energy
No waiting for technological breakthroughs.
No waiting for government policy agreements.
No waiting for corporations to change.
Making our soil
healthy again can help
reverse it!
And best of all this solution is people-driven!
Reversing climate change:
1 farm,
1 ranch,
1 acre,
1 hectare,
1 person at a time.
Nature wants her carbon back. Let’s help her draw it dowThe Carbon Underground is dedicated to reversing climate
change by accelerating the restoration of our farms, ranches,
and grasslands enabling the soil to draw down carbon from the
atmosphere.
Here's how it works.
An individual donate a nominal sum ($5 or more) to adopt a square meter of damaged land.
The Carbon Underground is partnered with organizations
around the world that will restore it. We’ll even show you how
much carbon we’re drawing down from the atmosphere.
And the carbon will come back — (ton after ton after ton…)
Who will take these actions?
By working with many of the world’s leading scientists in soil and
carbon sequestration, The Carbon Underground has created
projects and partnerships with corporations, governments,
universities, and food organizations with the goal of restabilizing
the climate within a generation
The CARBON-TO-SOIL PROJECT Partners include:
The United Nations
Live Earth
Global Artist Jason Mraz
Cohu Entertainment
(International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements)
Patagonia
Applied Ecological Services, Inc.
The Nature Conservancy
Kiss The Ground
The Biochar Company
The Baltic Sea Action Group
and farming organizations from around the world.
The list is growing.
Any citizen on the planet can support regenerative agriculture by adopting a hectare.
And any farmer or rancher in the world can participate—producing more organic produce and ranch products, improving global health, lower costs…and contribute to REVERSING (not just slowing down) climate change.
Where will these actions be taken?
Initial projects include:
Project A:
Restore 700,000 acres of grain-producing farmland and
draw back 4 million tons of CO2 per year!
Project B:
Restore 500,000 acres of corn and wheat farmland and
draw back 1-3 million tons of CO2 per year!
Project C:
Train 4,000 farmers in Haiti to use techniques that will
draw CO2 back down and help farmers earn more money!
Initial projects are in Finland, the U.S., South Africa and Costa Rica.
Additional projects have been identified for funding across the Globe.
How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?
If approximately 15% of arable land was converted to regenerative agriculture, it is estimated we could return carbon in the atmosphere to pre-industrial levels.
What are other key benefits?
More organic farm and ranch products.
Healthier citizens.
Strengthened economies.
Stabilized climate.
What are the proposal’s costs?
$5 (minimum) per person which will fund the transition farmers/ranchers wanting to transition from industrial to regenerative agriculture.
Time line
Project around the world are ready to commence the moment we launch and citizens begin adopting hectares of farm and ranch land that will convert from industrial to regenerative methods.
The average approximate time for transitioning is 2 years from industrial to regenerative methods.
Related proposals
References
Studies have been done around the world proving that this
can put carbon back into the soil quickly. Plus, healthy,
carbon-rich soil will allow us to grow healthier food, protect
our water resources, and clean our air.
Supporting our work are:
The UN.
The World Bank.
The Rodale Institute. Scientists
Major universities around the world
(many of whom attended a major conference on regenerative agriculture
this June in Costa Rica co-hosted by The Carbon
Underground.)
There is a vast amount of research that has already been done on the ability of soil to sequester (and re-sequester) CO2 and provide a powerful driver in reversing climate change. Many of these studies are ongoing, but the results have already proven significant enough to warrant calls-to-action from the United Nations and the World Bank, among many others, to support regenerative farming techniques.
http://rodaleinstitute.org/our-work/farming-systems-trial/
http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/foodclimate_51242.pdf
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-kopald/nature-wants-her-carbon-b_b_6173358.html
http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/25/arizona-state-short-film-drought-soil/
By:
TheCarbonUnderground
