FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 2, 2014
CONTACT:
Katherine Paul,
Organic Consumers Association, 207.653.3090
FINLAND, Minn. – The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposal this week
that some are heralding as the “boldest single step the U.S. has
taken to
fight global warming.”
The proposal sets new limits for carbon emissions from gas and
coal-fired power plants. But it ignores one of the largest
sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution, industrial
agriculture. It also ignores one of the best solutions for
drastically reducing GHG emissions—carbon sequestration through
organic, regenerative farming and ranching methods.
Ronnie Cummins, international director of the Organic Consumers
Association, issued this statement in response to the Obama
Administration’s plan to cut GHG emissions:
“We’re pleased that President Obama has tackled the issue of
climate change. However, we call on the administration to expand
its focus from power plant emissions, to include plans for
reducing carbon emissions from traditional, conventional
agriculture, and to engage the farming community in addressing
climate change by creating incentives for sequestering carbon
through the use of regenerative organic and sustainable farming
and ranching practices.
“Conservative estimates show that conventional, industrial food
and farming accounts for roughly 35 percent of all carbon
emissions. Deforestation, driven mainly by cattle ranching, palm
oil production and GMO grains, accounts for another 20 percent.
“In addition to generating emissions, today’s industrial farming
practices have stripped the earth of its capacity to store
carbon. According to the
Rodale Institute, as recently as the 1950s, much of the
country’s Midwest farmland contained up to 20 percent carbon.
After several decades of industrial farming, those soils contain
only 1 or 2 percent carbon.
“Numerous
studies show that replacing industrial agriculture with
sustainable agricultural practices not only drastically reduces
the amount of carbon produced and released into our air and
water, but also can enhance soil’s natural ability to store, or
‘sequester’ the carbon.
“According to Dr. James Hansen, the world’s leading
climatologist, the earth’s soils, plants, trees and grasses
already naturally sequester over three billion tons of excess
CO2 every year. With a massive increase in photosynthesis,
reforestation and organic land use practices, global warming can
not only be mitigated, but actually reversed.
“Our growing organic movement is proving that we can not only
feed the world with healthy food, but we can also
reverse global warming, by capturing and sequestering
billions of tons of climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases in
the soil, through plant photosynthesis, composting, cover crops,
rotational grazing, wetlands preservation, and reforestation.”
BACKGROUND
A growing number of organic consumers, natural health advocates
and climate hawks are taking a more comprehensive look at the
fundamental
causes of global warming. And it’s led them to this sobering
conclusion: our modern energy-, chemical- and genetically
modified organism (GMO)-intensive industrial food and farming
systems are the major cause of man-made global warming.
A
recent study shows that sequestering carbon through
biological processes could really make a big difference – and
it’s not controversial. There are many different, relatively
easy, methods to encourage soil to trap carbon, and using these
approaches would also improve soil's ability to retain nutrients
and water, making it beneficial for additional reasons.
There are many
different processes that farmers use to increase soil
sequestration, including planned rotational grazing, water
management, and raising grass-fed beef.
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http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_30194.cfm