Month: January 2017

Climate change the ‘defining crisis of our time’

“Think about the shame that each of us will carry when our children and grandchildren look back and realize that we had the means of stopping this devastation, but simply lacked the political will to do so,” said actor, environmentalist and United Nations Messenger of Peace Leonardo DiCaprio in his Earth Day 2016 speech on climate change at the UN. You can watch it above.

His 2016 climate change film, “Before the Flood,” which already may be the most-watched documentary in history, screens at 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday, Jan. 31) at Ohio State.

Free admission. Everyone’s welcome. There’s free pizza, too, beforehand.

‘We have the means of stopping this devastation’

“Before the Flood” — the 2016 climate change documentary featuring actor/environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio — screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, in Ohio State’s 2017 Environmental Film Series. Some 60 million people have seen the film so far.

“Paradise has been degraded and destroyed,” DiCaprio says in the film’s trailer above. “I just want to know how far we’ve gone, and if there’s anything we can do to stop it.”

Bryan Mark, an Ohio State geography professor and Ohio’s state climatologist, and Heather Taylor-Miesle, executive director of the Ohio Environmental Council, will lead a discussion after the screening. Location, series schedule.

We’ve got the local meat. Now how do we sell it? OEFFA conference preview

grilled beef steakMarketing locally raised meat can be “time consuming, costly and complex,” says the description of Hannah Scott’s workshop at the upcoming Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association annual conference. But the challenges, the description says, can be addressed by using the cooperative business model. Scott, who’s program manager of the Ohio Cooperative Development Center at CFAES’s OSU South Centers in Piketon, will explain the model in her workshop. She’ll give good examples of farmers who’ve teamed up to market their meat with success. “Local Meats and the Co-op Model,” Session IV, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 11. Complete conference schedule.

Ohio Food Policy Network meetings start Jan. 30

The Ohio Food Policy Network, funded by Ohio State’s Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT), is holding a series of meetings “to connect the visions, values, activities, needs and priorities of Ohio’s key food system members and organizations.” They’re in Columbus Jan. 30, Dayton Feb. 11 (at the OEFFA conference), Akron Feb. 15, Toledo Feb. 22 and Piketon March 1 (at CFAES’s OSU South Centers). Details.

The goal of the network, according to its website, is “mapping the vision for the future of Ohio’s food system.”

InFACT, its website says, seeks “transformational solutions for resilient, sustainable and global food security.” It’s one of Ohio State’s Discovery Themes.

Hows, whys of growing cover crops in corn: OEFFA conference preview

Ear of CornYou can improve soil health, raise crop yields, protect water quality and more by growing cover crops. A session at the Feb. 9-11 annual conference of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association will show you specifically how to interseed them in corn. The speaker, Ryan Haden of CFAES’s Agricultural Technical Institute in Wooster, will “share strategies and technologies for establishing interseeded cover crops in corn in order to produce a more successful harvest.” Read more about his work and his lab. “Interseeded Cover Crop Experiments in Ohio, Session IV, 8:30 to 10 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 11. Complete conference schedule.

See green Feb. 2, save green by Jan. 26

male gardener working in greenhouseThe 2017 Tri-State Green Industry Conference is Feb. 2 in Cincinnati — the tri-states being Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. It’s for anyone whose work involves plants, including landscapers, lawn and tree care workers, greenhouse managers, and others.

Of note: There’s a whole track of sessions on sustainable landscaping. Plus sessions, too, on planting for pollinators, managing urban and suburban deer, and the evidence for — and changes to landscape plants caused by — climate change.

Early bird registration, which saves you $10 and includes lunch, ends Thursday, Jan. 26.

CFAES’s OSU Extension outreach arm is one of the organizers. Read more.

Growing organic grain in Ohio: OEFFA conference preview

Hear from other farmers how they grow organic grain at the Feb. 9-11 annual conference of the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association. A panel discussion by Lou Kozma of Hirzel Farms, Ken Rider of Rider Landing and Jeff Harris of Harris Organic Farm, all of Ohio, will look at their crops, rotations and marketing. “Come with questions for a practical, farmer-focused conversation,” says the description of the talk. Alan Sundermeier of CFAES’s OSU Extension outreach arm will serve as the moderator. “Organic Grain Production Systems for Quality and Profitability,” Session I, 8:30 to 10 a.m., Friday, Feb. 10. Complete schedule.