Glossy, Jan. 20; research by Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science, cited
carbon sequestration
On our greatest hope for a sustainable future
Without healthy soil there can be no food. And without any food there can be no life.
That’s the message of an opinion piece by Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science in the CFAES School of Environment and Natural Resources and 2020 World Food Prize laureate, that recently ran on the global development website Devex.
Continue reading On our greatest hope for a sustainable future
Where things stand on carbon science
What’s the state of the science when it comes to sequestering carbon in the soil, such as through farming? Check out an official position statement issued by CFAES’ renowned Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration. The brief statement, released Aug. 2, summarizes where the science is clear, where it’s less so, and a strategy for going forward. It mentions, too, a current hot topic, farmers earning carbon credits.
Read the full statement. (Photo: Getty Images.)
Ohio State hosts UK diplomats for climate change discussion
From Ohio State News: Representatives of local government, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and Ohio State gathered on Wednesday, June 2, to share climate successes and insight with United Kingdom diplomatic leaders as they prepare to host the U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, in November.
During the discussion, Ohio State President Kristina M. Johnson highlighted the university’s climate change research, including the work of Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science with CFAES.
The honor of a name
Yesterday, May 18, in a surprise ceremony, the CFAES Carbon Management and Sequestration Center was officially renamed to include the name of its founding director, Rattan Lal. Lal, pictured during the ceremony, is Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science in the CFAES School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Woodlot warriors: Your trees as fighters of climate change
Can the trees in your woods help battle climate change? Find out in a webinar by the Ohio Woodland Stewards Program, part of OSU Extension, CFAES’ outreach arm. It’s from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday, May 7. Participation is free, but registration is required.
Included in the Q&A discussion, among others, will be CFAES professor Brent Sohngen, whose research on trees as climate solutions was featured in a recent post.
Earth Day webinar: Soil as climate solution
Ever wonder what it will take to slow down the planet’s warming?
The cause is excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and the answer might be right under our feet.
A webinar set for Thursday, April 22, 1–2 p.m., hosted by the CFAES Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, will celebrate Earth Day with insights from Ohio State faculty on Earth’s carbon cycle, and how we can restore it by storing carbon in soils.
Participation is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Find out more and register.
(From Alayna DeMartini, CFAES Advancement; photo: Getty Images.)
Major new effort announced to restore soil
In heavily farmed parts of Central America, South America, and across the Caribbean, “the most degraded soils have not reached the point of no return. They can still be restored.”
So says CFAES’ Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and 2020 World Food Prize laureate, who’s helping lead a new, 34-country initiative to tackle that restoration.
Why it’s important: Some 36 million people in the region don’t have enough good food to eat, and degraded soils play a role in it. Success, Lal says, will mean “we can eliminate hunger and malnutrition in the region, and we can protect the natural resources that are now being degraded.”
CFAES reads for Sept. 10, 2020
Pandemic-related cooking and eating habits could help curb food waste—if consumers stick to them
Washington Post, Aug. 31; featuring Brian Roe, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics
Farming releases carbon from the Earth’s soil into the air. Can we put it back?
NPR, Aug. 18; featuring Rattan Lal, School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR)
A watershed moment for U.S. water quality
Ohio State News, Aug. 13; featuring Mažeika Sullivan, SENR
Carbon farming ‘a bridge to the future’?
Bloomberg reports that “Al Gore Is Opening a New Front In the War on Climate Change”—farming practices that sequester carbon dioxide in the soil—and CFAES’ own world expert on the subject, Rattan Lal, visited the former vice president’s farm in Tennessee to look at, walk upon, and talk about the possibilities. Excellent story by Emily Chasan, Bloomberg’s sustainable finance editor.
Lal directs CFAES’ Carbon Management and Sequestration Center. Earlier this year he was awarded the Japan Prize.