Climate and Us:
Some Ways We Can Repair the Climate and Support the Coast at the Same Time
“Almost all of the solutions compiled and analyzed here lead to regenerative economic outcomes that create security, produce jobs, create health, save money...”
Paul Hawkins’ team of 200 scientists, economists, and researchers made a list of the most effective things the world can do to repair the climate. Their book, Drawdown, shows that if we use many of these solutions at once, over the next short period of time, we can save a lot of lives.
Of all the solutions in Drawdown, the following are Hubs & Routes’ favorites because they are things we can work on right here on the Mendocino Coast. Many of them are “win-win” because they can improve our safety and quality of life at the same time that they help repair the climate.
As your Island’s Public Hub Leaders work with local farmers, Fire Councils and other leaders to set priorities and prepare for disasters, you can help them build these win-win climate solutions into your Island’s plans.
First set: Solutions that build healthy soil. These solutions store more water and carbon in the ground, moderate the local microclimate, grow healthy plants that make more oxygen, and reduce erosion.
(1) No tilling: Clip weeds and crops at ground level, and leave the roots & soil in place.
(2) Compost everything (aerobically) that can boost soil health. [This also keeps organic material out of (anaerobic) landfills, a second-set solution.]
“If food waste were a nation, it would rank third behind China and the U.S. as an emitter of planet-heating gasses.”
(3) Grow good soil in more places:
-within porous paving, including on lots, alleys, driveways, and parts of playgrounds
-within garden boxes acting as schoolyard projects, parking lot curbs, little free food stands, alley beautifiers, protectors of walkers & bikers, &c.
-on green, "living" roofs
(4) Protect Forests.
(5) Protect Coastal Wetlands: allow meadows of sea-grass to sequester CO2 and buffer us from waves, even as they migrate inland.
(6) Silvo-Pasture: intermingle trees and livestock.
(7) Managed grazing: avoid over-grazing and under-grazing, both of which hurt soil (eating a little meat occasionally is a good thing for the climate, if the animals are thoughtfully grazed).
(8) Other elements (besides #'s 6 and 7) of Regenerative/Conservation agriculture:
Use diverse cover crops, multiple crop rotations, and no poisons.
(9) Drip irrigation.
(10) Grow Bamboo: it's FAST to sequester CO2, strong as steel & concrete, & able to thrive on degraded soil. For fastest drawdown, cut the canes down to just above ground level, once per year. (It is also invasive, so strong borders or containers are important.)
(11) Traditional indigenous land-management practices (home gardens, pastoralism, agroforestry, fire management, communal forest management).
(12) Multi-Story Reforestation (plant diverse species of multiple heights together).
“Did you know that even if your group is too small to heal the whole world’s climate, you can improve the climate of the area where you live? Try it and see.”
Second set: Solutions that reduce the POTENCY of the green-house gases we put into atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an abundant greenhouse gas, and methane is up to 34 times more potent than CO2.
(13) Methane digesters: decompose organic wastes in an anaerobic environment and collect the biogas to burn into CO2 + water, and the digestant for fertilizer.
(14) Landfill methane: burn the methane arising from the landfill into CO2 + water before it escapes into the atmosphere as methane.
(15) Refrigerant management: contain and chemically treat gases from older A/C and refrigeration units, and replace units with those that use less potent gases.
Third set: Solutions that reduce the AMOUNTS of greenhouse gases we put into atmosphere by SUBSTITUTING clean-source electricity for fuel-burning.
(16) Distributed Solar, with some of its storage in e-vehicle batteries.
(17) Distributed Wind, with some of its energy storage in water pumped upward since our wind here changes direction too often to provide a steady current.
(18) Electric vehicles including cars, bikes, tractors, buses, charged by solar/wind.
Fourth set: Solutions that reduce the AMOUNTS of greenhouse gases we put into atmosphere by WISE USE of our resources (efficiency, conservation, making a little go a long way).
(19) Reduce imports and exports and thereby spend less energy transporting things.
“Some of us had grandparents who lived here using mostly what they could grow or make. This is a great time to refresh those skills.”
(20) Buy less, but borrow & share.
(21) Use Insulation on people (sweaters, hats etc.) and buildings.
(22) Build/retrofit Zero-Energy Buildings, Zero-Water Buildings, Living Buildings, & buildings meeting the "2030 Challenge."
(23) Eat food that is mostly local, made mostly of plants and free-range animal products.
(24) Reduce travel, especially by plane, with or without using tele-health & tele-work as substitutes. Consider using rewards for infrequent flying, etc. as motivators, at times when pandemics are not enough to keep us home.
(25) Boost walkability in towns, between towns, and through forests and farms, by maintaining safe routes and new & old rights-of-way.
(26) Boost bike-/trike-/stroller-ability of neighborhoods.
(27) Expand Public Transit and its connections to hubs.
(28) Re-use, Repair, Upcycle, Recycle Close To Home:
Choose high-post-consumer content paper; separate the waste streams; welcome industries that “mine nothing but trash piles;”enact Extended Producer Responsibility policies; teach children to mend cloth and work with metal.
(29) Make better plastics such as bio-& recycled, not from newly-mined fossils.
Fifth set: Solutions that Mostly Mitigate our Risk.
(30) Collect rainwater on every roof and store water at least on every block, if not at every building.
(31) Even in buildings that are not Water Net Zero, use water-saving devices, policies and habits. It is legal to re-use your shower-water and laundry-water; see here for an introduction to County policy, then go to mendocinocounty.org>Public Health>Environmental Health>Land Use>Graywater Design for more details.
(32) Move people up and out of harbors and other low-lying areas for their safety as oceans rise and heavier storms bring wilder waves and more erosion.
(33) Increase the setback between buildings/new roads and riverbanks/ocean cliffs.
(34) Build businesses and other groups to assist landowners to create fire-defensible space while also building soil. Build porous-paved fire-truck driveways in lawns and let grass grow through.
(35) Assist people to prepare and maintain "go-bags," first aid kits, escape routes and trails.
(36) Identify high-altitude points between every two rivers and equip them as flood refuges and windmill sites.
(37) Decentralize all resources so that climate refugees can pitch in, help and share rather than organize take-overs.