Land/Sea Use adaptations

AS CLIMATE CHANGE MAKES GROWING SEASONS LESS PREDICTABLE, SCIENTISTS DIG INTO A NOVEL APPROACH TO BOOSTING CROP RESILIENCE

<embed> https://ensia.com/articles/crop-plants-resilience-climate-change-food-security </embed> Allison Gacad @allisongacad June 2020 Ensia

Epigenetic modification of plants shows promise for enhancing food security — but we still have a lot to learn

Both Mackenzie and Springer are interested in the role that epigenetic mechanisms — the biological processes that activate and deactivate genes — may play in this dynamic balance between yield potential and yield stability. If breeders could enhance plants’ ability to flip the switch as environmental conditions change, it could make it possible to (for instance) activate physiological changes that enhance drought tolerance only when needed, avoiding the ding on productivity.

Mackenzie’s “trick” is to use RNA interference to silence a gene called MSH1, which is found in the plant cell’s plastid — a compartment that has the ability to sense stress. She and her colleagues discovered that when they suppress MSH1 in a parent plant, epigenetic regulation kicks in, and gene expression is altered in a way that allows it to better respond to stress.

Spreading rock dust on fields could remove vast amounts of CO2 from air

<embed> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/08/spreading-rock-dust-on-fields-could-remove-vast-amounts-of-co2-from-air </embed>

The rock dust approach, called enhanced rock weathering (ERW), has several advantages, the researchers say. First, many farmers already add limestone dust to soils to reduce acidification, and adding other rock dust improves fertility and crop yields, meaning application could be routine and desirable.
Basalt is the best rock for capturing CO2, and many mines already produce dust as a byproduct, so stockpiles already exist. The researchers also found that the world’s biggest polluters, China, the US and India, have the greatest potential for ERW, as they have large areas of cropland and relatively warm weather, which speeds up the chemical reactions.

Methane and Arctic Thawing

Methane and Arctic Thawing- William Hall 11/11/2019 The excellent video linked here describes the Russian effort to rebuild the Pleistocene fauna of Siberia to geoengineer the taiga to increase its reflectivity and break up winter snow cover to substantially delay melting of the permafrost and associated release of massive quantities of CO₂ and methane. The proposal makes a substantial amount of sense, and is under active scientific study to verify the validity of the approach. Time challenged as I am, I watched it through.

U.S. Farmers Plant Crops You Won't Eat in Climate Change Fight

Bloomberg 8/15/2019

Like most plants, cover crops convert carbon dioxide into organic material within the soil through the process of photosynthesis. Indigo is offering a payback program for farmers who regularly put land under cover crops, or use no-tillage and other regenerative practices. They’re measuring the carbon content of fields for growers, and paying them $15 to $20 a ton for the carbon they can identify.
Illinois farmer Steve Stierwalt started using cover crops four years ago. Last year, they were about half the crops he planted. He hasn’t seen higher yields yet, he said, but he sees the crop primarily as "armor" for the soil, protecting it “against more intense weather -- either too much rain or not enough rain. Cover crops have made a difference that way,” he said.

Tree Planting 'has mind-blowing potential' to Tackle Climate Crisis

<embed>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/04/planting-billions-trees-best-tackle-climate-crisis-scientists-canopy-emissions</embed>

Planting billions of trees across the world is by far the biggest and cheapest way to tackle the climate crisis, according to scientists, who have made the first calculation of how many more trees could be planted without encroaching on crop land or urban areas.

Living with Climate Change: Assessment of the Adaptive Capacities of Smallholders in Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia

<embed>https://www.scirp.org/Journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=92605</embed>

The general well-being and adaptive capacity of farmers to the prevailing climate change and variability impacts in the study area were mainly determined by the human, natural, financial, social and physical resources and how well they are looked and accessed. These resources vary across agro-ecologies. The results showed that enhancing the adaptive capacity of farmers can modulate farmers’ vulnerability to climate change risks by lowering the potential impacts. To come out with tangible solutions, adaptation intervention should pass through the process of farmers’ perception of climate change, their intention towards the change and their capacity to adapt the change.

This Sci-Fi Plan To Beat Rising Seas Could Change The Way We Live – If It Works

<embed>https://www.huffpost.com/entry/floating-cities-united-nations-sea-level-rise-climate-change_n_5cb082eee4b0ffefe3af4fd0</embed>

This floating prototype may not be as fantastical as it sounds, even in a country where pastureland stretches for miles around. As sea levels rise, and there is ever less land for a growing urban population, this farm could be a precursor to entire floating cities in the future.

Native Americans Bringing back the Bison

<embed>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/12/how-native-american-tribes-are-bringing-back-the-bison-from-brink-of-extinction</embed>

On 5,000 hectares of unploughed prairie in north-eastern Montana, hundreds of wild bison roam once again. But this herd is not in a national park or a protected sanctuary – they are on tribal lands. Belonging to the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of Fort Peck Reservation, the 340 bison is the largest conservation herd in the ongoing bison restoration efforts by North America’s Indigenous people.