Let’s take a second to talk about soil. Wait! Don’t go! It’s not as boring as it sounds, we promise! Actually, it is one of the biggest superheroes in our fight against climate change…
If we are going to have any chance of saving the planet and reversing climate change, we NEED to be proactive in 2 ways. We need to stop emitting carbon into the atmosphere by developing alternative energies AND we need to be actively sequestering the carbon that is already in the atmosphere.
Over the last few weeks we have been learning a lot about soil, and the role it can play in reversing climate change.
We have always known that composting is important to save excess food waste from going into landfill and emitting carbon. We know that healthy soil is the key to growing the best and most nutritious plants. And we know that if we continue the way we are going, the world could run out of healthy topsoil in 60 years.
But this week, we learnt just how important soil is in reversing climate change. The soil that we are currently using for farming is almost completely devoid of microorganisms (the organisms that actually store carbon). When we plough soil in traditional farming practices, this actually releases carbon into the atmosphere… a lot of it.
But when regenerative agriculture is used and the soil becomes healthy again, not only does this soil keep hold of its carbon, it actually pulls a huge amount of carbon from the atmosphere. This type of soil also holds much, much more water, drastically reducing flooding and the amount of watering needed to grow food.
Food plays a HUGE part in soil health. I know what you’re thinking, “maybe I should stop eating so many plants?”. This is actually the worst thing you can do. Half of the world’s food crops (such as soy, wheat and corn – which are the biggest culprits for tilling soil and using farming practices such as mono culture and pesticide use that deplete soil) are fed to livestock that are raised for meat, eggs and dairy. So eating meat contributes, not only to resource depletion and carbon emissions, but also to soil depletion and the degradation of potentially carbon sequestering soil.
One factor that increases the health of soil and its carbon sequestering super powers is compost! Compost is a triple threat. We save food that would otherwise be sitting in the landfill releasing carbon, we put nutrients back into the soil and into the food we grow, and the soil created from the compost will actually be sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.
AMAZING right!? We think so! At the Root The Future Festival, not only will you be able to buy planet friendly and cruelty-free food, but Oklin will be bringing their magical 24 hour composter for any food scraps from the vendors or visitors at the festival.
As many of our vendors will be using compostable packaging like Siamleaf , you will also be able to put your used packaging into the composter when you are finished eating all the delicious plant-based food!
Want to know more about the Plant-Based & Sustainability Festival? Head over to our Facebook Event page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/336953844215015
If this has peaked your interest, have a watch of this amazing documentary on the impact that regenerative soil techniques can have on our world.
