Crowdfunding Campaign Launched for Conference on Restoring Ecosystems to Reverse Global Warming

LEXINGTON, Mass. - Oct. 3, 2014 - PRLog -- On October 2, 2014, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (BLC) launched a crowdfunding campaign in support of its landmark conference, “Restoring Ecosystems to Reverse Global Warming." The conference will take place at Tufts University on November 21-23, 2014. Tufts co-sponsors are the Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) and the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP).

More than twenty-five experts and specialists are scheduled as presenters and panelists in the two-and-a-half-day event on the Boston-area campus.  Three broad groups of speakers will be represented: (1) respected scientists who have studied the relationship between climate and the biosphere; (2) pioneering farmers and ranchers presenting practical methods to restore fertility to land while sequestering carbon to benefit the climate; and (3) activists working to build support for these ideas with policymakers and the public.  Interaction and sharing of knowledge will be integral to the structure of the weekend’s events, with varied panels and ample opportunities for interaction among speakers and participants.

BLC Executive Director Adam Sacks states, “This conference will convene a wide range of speakers, from academics to land managers to activists, to bring the power of biological restoration front and center in the climate conversation.” According to Sacks, “Natural environments, formerly viewed as victims of climate change, are today recognized as our main ally in the quest for a stable climate.”

The central focus of the conference is soil carbon, and the urgent need to capture excess atmospheric carbon in the soils. This approach is gaining wider acceptance, including broad support among advocates of eco-restoration and organic agriculture. It goes beyond mitigation and adaptation, and seeks to achieve the actual reversal of climate change.

In contrast to struggling conventional efforts to reduce emissions from fossil fuels, the conference’s focus on the biosphere is presented as positive and hopeful.  The weekend's organizers emphasize that benefits of increased soil carbon include expanded food and water security, return of biodiversity and an active soil food web, re-establishment of healthy water cycles and drought prevention, reversal of desertification, and revitalization of local communities and economies worldwide.

Author Judith Schwartz, one of the conference organizers, will be a presenter as well. She says, “When we look at climate and other environmental challenges, one thing we never talk about is nature’s desire to heal itself.” Schwartz’s 2013 book, Cows Save the Planet (published by Chelsea Green), has been one of the inspirations for the event.  Schwartz wrote about many of the climate-healing issues to be addressed at the conference.

High on the agenda is to emerge with a concrete action plan that can be disseminated widely and jumpstart a new climate conversation, one that includes coordinated and dedicated action on soil carbon sinks as well as emissions reductions.

The crowdfunding campaign is hosted by Indiegogo at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/restoring-ecosystems-t...  Proceeds from crowdfunding will help with media and outreach efforts to promote the event broadly and to engage new audiences, pay for materials and staff time, and provide scholarships for students and low-income attendees.

More information about the conference, with links for registration, can be found at http://bio4climate.org/conference-2014