Environment Resources

Resources: Documents, Reports and Webinars

This section holds newsletters and documents that you might want to use for sharing information on the work of the Charter for Compassion's Environment sector. As we produce flyers and brochures they will be added here and PDF files will be made available so that you can reproduce the materials as needed. Also, reports from regularly scheduled partner calls will be posted.

Documents

A conversation with Jennifer Wilhoit

The World Talks “Climate Change” – An Existential Conversation

Earth Day Speaker Series and Presentations 2016

Reconnecting with Nature (Environment, Spirituality)

Earth Charter

Green World Charter

Charter for Animal Compassion

Reports

Webinars

Conservation and Regenerative Practices

Restoring soil to address climate change
by David R. Montgomery, The Conversation, August 13, 2019; Posted in phys.org
Photo Credit: June 2013 Eric Barsness, USDA NRCS South Dakota

It's time to take soil seriously. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states with very high confidence in its latest report, land degradation represents "one of the biggest and most urgent challenges" that humanity faces.

The report assesses potential impacts of climate change on food production and concludes that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels will reduce crop yields and degrade the nutritional quality of food.

To avert climate catastrophe, the report warns, people need to make changes in agriculture and land use. In other words, it's no longer enough to wean society off of fossil fuels. Stabilizing the climate will also require removing carbon from the sky. Rethinking humanity's relationship to the soil can help on both scores. Read more

Soil Regeneration
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo Credit: //www.flickr.com/people/160831427@N06">USDA NRCS Montana Soil Survey

Soil regeneration, as a particular form of ecological regeneration within the field of restoration ecology, is creating new soil and rejuvenating soil health by: minimizing the loss of topsoil, retaining more carbon than is depleted , boosting biodiversity, and maintaining proper water and nutrient cycling.^[1] This has many benefits, such as: soil sequestration of carbon in response to a growing threat of climate change,^[2]^[3] a reduced risk of soil erosion,^[3] and increased overall soil resilience.^[1] Read more

Soil Carbon Sequestration Impacts on Global Climate Change and Food Security
By: R. Lal, et al. Science 304, 1623 (2004); DOI: 10.1126/science.1097396

The carbon sink capacity of the world’s agricultural and degraded soils is 50 to66% of the historic carbon loss of 42 to 78 gigatons of carbon. The rate of soilorganic carbon sequestration with adoption of recommended technologies de-pends on soil texture and structure, rainfall, temperature, farming system, andsoil management. Strategies to increase the soil carbon pool include soil resto-ration and woodland regeneration, no-till farming, cover crops, nutrient manage-ment, manuring and sludge application, improved grazing, water conservationand harvesting, efficient irrigation, agroforestry practices, and growing energycrops on spare lands. Download the PDF to read more

Protecting trees
The Morton Arboretum https://www.mortonarb.org/

In urban areas, trees need people to value, preserve, and care for them. One of the purposes of The Morton Arboretum's Community Trees Program is to help communities develop a base of public support to make sure trees are valued, protected, and included in future plans. The ongoing community care of trees is often called tree stewardship. Read more

The Science of Trees

Trees in the Arts

Trees in the News

Australian Firefighters Saved Ancient Pine Trees From the Bushfires During a Secret Mission | KTLA

- An ancient grove of pine trees whose ancestors are thought to have stood tall among dinosaurs some 200 million years ago has been saved from Australian bushfires in a covert firefighting mission.

https://ktla.com/2020/01/15/australian-firefighters-saved-ancient-pine-trees-from-the-bushfires-during-a-secret-mission

Madacascar Is Planting 60 Million Trees in Ambitious Drive Inspired by Its President | Mongabay, Jan. 21, 2020; Reprinted by EcoWatch
- Madagascar has embarked on its most ambitious tree-planting drive yet, aiming to plant 60 million trees in the coming months. The island nation celebrates 60 years of independence this year, and the start of the planting campaign on Jan. 19 marked one year since the inauguration of President Andry Rajoelina, who has promised to restore Madagascar's lost forests.
Jan. 21, 2020 09:07AM EST https://www.ecowatch.com/madacascar-tree-planting-2644879937.html

Sprouting Seeds of Compassion - Can one person really make a difference? Marc Ian Barasch plants a seed of good intention...
By Mindful Staff, August 25, 2010, Photo by Jessica von Handorf
- I can almost pinpoint the moment when I decided to save the world. It was sometime after my Mom died—my Mom who was the secret solar center of my life; whose letters always ended in exuberant sign-offs (lovelovelove, three exclamation points); who’d insisted, despite her terminal diagnosis, that I not cancel my book tour because the subject—compassion—was, for her, life’s indispensable thread.
https://www.mindful.org/sprouting-seeds-of-compassion

Tu B'Shvat - Tu B'Shvat or the "New Year of the Trees" is Jewish Arbor Day. The holiday is observed on the 15th (tu) of the Hebrew month of Shvat. Scholars believe that originally Tu B'Shvat was an agricultural festival, marking the emergence of spring.

In the 17th century, Kabbalists created a ritual for Tu B'Shvat that is similar to a Passover seder. Today, many Jews hold a modern version of the Tu B'Shvat seder each year.

The holiday also has become a tree-planting festival in Israel, in which Israelis and Jews around the world plant trees in honor or in memory of loved ones and friends.

5 Ways to Celebrate Tu B'Shevat:

Plant trees, seeds, or start an herb garden.
Build a birdhouse to hang in a tree.
Eat the seven significant species of the land of Israel: wheat, grapes, barley, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates.
Organize a park clean-up to collect litter.
Make something for your home with reclaimed wood.

https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tu-bishvat%20<https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tu-bishvat>">https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tu-bishvat

The Atomic Tree
by Adam Loften & Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
Published in "Emergence Magazine" - Issue 7 - Trees

The Atomic Tree is a journey into the memories of one of the most revered trees in the world—a 400-year-old Japanese white pine bonsai that witnessed and survived the atomic blast in Hiroshima. From Japan’s ancient cedar forests and Buddhist temples to the family home in Hiroshima where the pine was nurtured for five generations, this virtual reality experience explores the unbroken chain of living stories held within the rings of this tree. The delicate shape of this bonsai contains sacred forests, human family, and deep time, inviting us to reflect on the living strands of kinship that are woven between human and nonhuman worlds.

Enjoy a beautiful virtual reality experience here

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