Rebuilding The Soil Carbon Sponge, and Cooling the Climate Fast with Walter Jehne

In this episode of The Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, John Kempf interviews Walter Jehne, an Australian soil microbiologist and the Director of Healthy Soils Australia. Walter has written and taught extensively about the earth's soil carbon sponge and hydrology as they relate to climate change.

Walter provides context for the extreme weather events we are experiencing, and clearly identifies the role that water plays as a climate regulator. He describes how we can manage water to safely and naturally cool the planet and regulate climate change.

Walter has developed a perspective on the impact that farmers can have on the climate that is different than the dominant narrative on carbon sequestration. While carbon sequestration is an important piece of the puzzle, Walter explains how managing the way our soils retain and hold water has a much bigger impact due to the way the hydrological system functions as a regulator for the planet. Walter describes how specific tactics in the management of water in our soils can reduce extreme weather events.

Here are a few things Walter and John discuss in this engaging episode:

• Why rising co2 levels are a symptom, rather than the cause, of the abnormal warming of the past 250 years
• How improving the soil's water-holding capacity contributes to a more stable climate
• The foundational principles of atmospheric physics and the climate
• The effect of land degradation on the hydrological dynamics of the planet
• How regenerating the soil carbon sponge is the critical bridge between carbon management and hydrology management
• How increasing photosynthesis and "green longevity" is the key to restoring the hydrological balance, thus restoring climate balance and reducing extreme weather events

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This show is brought to you by AEA, helping professional growers make more money using regenerative agriculture since 2006.

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Please send your feedback, requests for topics or guests, or a booking request: production@regenerativeagriculturepodcast.com

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Credits

This episode was recorded by John Kempf and Walter Jehne and produced by Nathan Harman, Robin Kitowski, and Anna Kempf.