213 results for author: Joanna Campe

Agrogeology: Geology in the Service of Agriculture

Prof. William Fyfe: Photo from the Earth Science Department of University of Western Ontario.   Farmers have long recognized the importance of soil health in delivering bountiful harvests and nutritious food. A healthy soil hosts a diverse community of microorganisms and provides an array of nutrients; it requires aeration and sufficient water supply for plants.[2] Yet soils around the world are increasingly degraded by poor land management and industrial agriculture. Fortunately, solutions to this problem can be found in agrogeology. Agrogeology is “geology in the service of agriculture,” in the memorable words of Professor Peter van ...

Growing Better Cacti with Remineralization: Ongoing Research in the Quilombola Communities of Northeast Brazil Part I

Fernanda de Paula Medeiros with a farmer of Lajedão dos Mateus.   Far out in the semi-arid region of Bahia in northeastern Brazil, several communities strive to make a livelihood out of agriculture and ranching. This is a region with fertile soils, but the ability of the communities to thrive off of this natural resource is undermined by their historical background and the dearth of another vital resource – water. To this end, two agrogeologists joined with two nonprofit organizations and formulated a plan of action to introduce agroforestry and sustainable organic farming to the communities.  The project started started back in ...

Agroecology: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sustainable Agriculture

Driving across the nation, one is frequently greeted with monotonous farmlands growing only one or two types of crops. This landscape is the product of industrial agriculture: large-scale, external input-reliant production systems favoring human-imposed control over nature. In the past few decades this type of production has taken over much of the agriculture in the United States and is also a common mode of production in many other parts of the world. It has been implicated as the driving factor of a plethora of social and environmental problems, such as eutrophication (overgrowth of plant life in waters due to excessive nutrient runoff), biodivers...

Soil: The Foundation of Mineral Nutrition and Optimal Health

The FAO recently published a great infographic in the link between soil health-plant health-human health, the basis of mineral nutrition.  Animal scientists and veterinarians have known this for years and I have been studying the importance of soil mineral nutrition for almost 2 decades. In 2004, I was fortunate to spend time with Dr. Joel Wallach, a veterinarian and naturopathic doctor when he was lecturing in Australia.  This meeting brought to life the intricate link between soil health-plant health-human health.  I was able to interview him at that time and I was reminded of this interview after reviewing the FAO infographic. One of ...

Olafur Eliasson’s Glacial Mud Art at Versailles

Olafur Eliasson. Glacial rock flour garden, 2016, glacial rock flour. Palace of Versailles, 2016.  Photo: Anders Sune Berg. Courtesy of the artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York  © Olafur Eliasson. Remineralization and high art combine in a new major installation by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. His previous work has crossed paths with remineralization before. The prime example is his work “Ice Watch”: during the 2015 COP 21 Climate Change Conference in Paris, he placed 12 car-sized chunks of Greenland glacier to melt at the Place du Pantheon.[1] “Ice Watch” was a collaboration between Eliasson and Profes...

Greenland’s Glaciers as Rock Dust Mills

After glacial rock flour is formed, glacial melting carries it to deltas like the one shown above. Photo by Minik Rosing.   The University of Copenhagen is studying glacial mud as a source of minerals for soil. There is more than one way to remineralize the Earth, as Minik Rosing and his team of researchers at the University of Copenhagen are showing. They have recently embarked on a three-year project in Greenland to study glacial mud for use in remineralizing depleted soils. The key ingredient is “glacial rock flour,” which forms when Greenland’s glaciers shift, grinding rocks into powder as a mill grinds wheat into flour. With a ...

Third International Conference taking place in Brazil in November

Embrapa Temperate Climate Research Center in Pelotas - Lowland station. Three years after the Second Brazilian ‘Rochagem’ Congress in 2013, Remineralize the Earth’s executive director, Joanna Campe, has been invited once again to attend the Third Stonemeal Congress, to be held this year at the Embrapa Temperate Climate Research Center in Pelotas. RTE hopes to send V. Miranda Chase, coordinator for our online research database, to the four-day event from November 8-11, 2016. The conference will bring together individuals from all backgrounds - scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs, teachers, academics, experts, and officials - to present and ...

“Let’s ‘rock it’ at SEER Centre in Scotland

Just several decades ago, most of the farmlands in the foothills of Grampian Mountains in Scotland were largely infertile, acidic and open to severe weather conditions, where hardly anything had been grown for almost 50 years. However, that was exactly where Cameron and Moira Thomson settled their home and started their “good life” experiment. By spreading a thin layer of rock dust over the land, they are able to mimic the earth’s glacial processes that naturally fertilize the land. Nowadays the rich soils they have regenerated are capable of producing giant vegetables and a huge biodiversity. Like Moira Thomson said “This is a simple ...

Check out the interviews with Joanna Campe and Don Weaver on 21st Century Radio

Joanna Campe, founder and executive director of Remineralize the Earth (RTE), and Don Weaver appeared on 21st Century Radio with Dr. Zohara Hieronimus in June. They shared exciting news about remineralization efforts around the world and their impact on agriculture, health, and climate. Joanna Campe has been networking and promoting remineralization since the mid-1980’s, and RTE was formed in 1995 as a nonprofit organization to assist in facilitating the global movement  and to focus on the potential of remineralization to address ecological, economic and social challenges on a regional and global scale. After decades of advocating ...

Soil 4 Climate – Soils are Key to Reducing Carbon Emissions

Photo credit: Kroon Family     Many people have heard about the 350 movement to reduce carbon emission down to 350 ppm, but few have heard of the 4/1,000 or 4 per 1,000 initiative.[1] Started in France, the initiative aims to introduce agriculture as part of the solution for climate change by carefully managing land to restore carbon stock at an annual growth rate of 0.4%.[2] If every country were to do so, it would cut down annual atmospheric carbon dioxide by 75%. For more about the initiative, please visit 4 pour 1000. The role of soil as carbon storage has long been recognized, yet little has been done to include soil as a ...