Simple Actions Everyone Can Take, Starting Today, to Restore (Sequester) Carbon in the Soil and Mitigate Climate Change
Authored by Elizabeth Henderson
Eat organically grown food
Buy from local farmers who are organic and trade fairly
Use organic methods in your own garden or window box
Turn your yard into a carbon sink by doing some of the following:
Do not use synthetic nitrogen fertilizers
Make your own compost by mixing food and yard waste or sign up for a compost collection service
Increase biodiversity
If you must use pesticides, use organic pesticides that are not toxic to soil microorganisms – focus on prevention of pests
Reduce the area of lawn that you mow
Add white clover, birdsfoot trefoil, or native grasses for drought tolerance
Set your mower to 3 – 4 inches and leave grass clippings on the lawn
Preserve or add native plants
Observe the natural landscape and apply nature’s lessons
Grow more vegetables and flowers and less grass
Plant nitrogen-fixing cover crops in the walkways, such as white clover
Water infrequently and never more than 1″ per week including rainfall
Turn off automatic sprinklers
Divert roof run-off to low-lying areas or rain barrels
We can all start sequestering carbon today and every bit helps For more information on Soil Carbon Restoration: go to https://nofa.org/soil-carbon/
Authored by Elizabeth Henderson, retired organic farmer, author, activist and a long-time member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association. She co-authored with Robyn Van En Sharing The Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture and other books and has served on the Board of Directors of NOFA New York and the Agricultural Justice Project.
