“Water for the Recovery of the Climate: A New Water Paradigm,” — Judith D. Schwartz Environment Copy Share Image
“The diversity aboveground is a reflection of diversity in the soil.” — Judith D. Schwartz Diversity Copy Share Image
“One farmer I met, Gene Goven of Turtle Lake, North Dakota, put it more succinctly: “You build soil where the roots go—down!” — Judith D. Schwartz Farmer Copy Share Image
“from a soil microorganism point of view, a crop monoculture is akin to junk food: “If there’s just wheat or any one… — Judith D. Schwartz Junk food Copy Share Image
“The concept of the biotic pump, if correct, brings a new urgency to the need to conserve forests.” — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“We’ve lost an estimated 50 to 80 percent carbon in our soils over the last 150 years.” — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“tucked into the 2012 Farm Bill was a clause indemnifying Monsanto if the use of their products happens to mess up someone’s… — Judith D. Schwartz Clause Copy Share Image
“This means that the soil could offset about one-third of the human-generated emissions annually absorbed in the atmosphere.” — Judith D. Schwartz Climate Copy Share Image
“First you’ve got to change the ideology,” she says. “Until you can show people that they’re losing profits, you can’t get them… — Judith D. Schwartz Change Copy Share Image
“Humans can’t eat grass, but cattle, thanks to their microscopic partners, are performing the service of turning inedible grasses into protein that… — Judith D. Schwartz Food Copy Share Image
“In Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, geomorphologist David Montgomery offers numerous cautionary tales of kingdoms, cultures, and empires that squandered their soil… — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“Bare ground sets in motion a different set of circumstances: moisture loss, less food for microbes, and therefore less microbial activity, which… — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“Healthy soil is contingent on the actions of the animals that live on the land; livestock could be made to act upon… — Judith D. Schwartz Health Copy Share Image
“By itself, stopping emissions is insufficient. That carbon has to go someplace. As the Soil Carbon Coalition argues, it might as well… — Judith D. Schwartz Climate Copy Share Image
“Since about 1850, twice as much atmospheric carbon dioxide has derived from farming practices as from the burning of fossil fuels (the… — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“if you have low crop diversity, you will run into problems and require inputs, which means more technology. In the meantime, nature’s… — Judith D. Schwartz Farmers Copy Share Image
“Savory is concerned that since tree planting sounds like a good, noncontroversial idea, governments and NGOs might rally around that when the… — Judith D. Schwartz Politics Copy Share Image
“The most urgent challenge of present civilization is to understand that the drying out of landscapes has a much more serious impact… — Judith D. Schwartz Change Copy Share Image
“seeds engineered so that the plant produces sterile seeds or no seeds at all. Farmers are then forced to purchase new seeds… — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“Broadacre farming, which removes existing ground cover so that crops are sown on cleared fields, damages soil structure, interrupts fungal and microbial… — Judith D. Schwartz Farming Copy Share Image
“Slaps in the face like this provide opportunities for change. A drought definitely gets people thinking about how they can manage resources… — Judith D. Schwartz Change Copy Share Image
“Steven Apfelbaum, a restoration ecologist in Wisconsin, says that every 1 percent increase in soil carbon holds an additional sixty thousand gallons… — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“Routine assessments of agricultural soils rarely extend beyond the top 10 to 15 centimeters and are generally limited to determining the status… — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“A 2002 study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that nearly half of all Americans have a chronic health condition. The… — Judith D. Schwartz Education Copy Share Image
“the work of Sir Albert Howard (1873–1947) as well—an English botanist and organic pioneer who said that “the health of soil, plant,… — Judith D. Schwartz Health Copy Share Image
“term decision-makers,” says Pokorný. “To the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change], we have the atmosphere and in the atmosphere are greenhouse… — Judith D. Schwartz Change Copy Share Image
“ultimately, quality of health depends on the quality of food, and food can only be as good as the soil on which… — Judith D. Schwartz Food Copy Share Image
“According to Christine Jones, soils hold more carbon than the atmosphere and all the world’s plant life combined—and can hold it longer,… — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“the problem isn’t the amount of carbon per se—the quantity of carbon on earth is constant—but where that carbon is.” — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“understand that the greatest danger to wildlife was not poaching but habitat destruction—the same thing that ultimately threatened humans.” — Judith D. Schwartz Animals Copy Share Image
“the Keyline system combines the deep-reaching chisel plow with grazing timed so as to stimulate plant growth.” — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“On a more hopeful note, she adds: “Paradise has been lost on much of our agricultural land, but I know it can… — Judith D. Schwartz Hopeful Copy Share Image
“every seemingly unsolvable problem there was a flip side, an alternative set of strategies that would restore balance to the system. And” — Judith D. Schwartz Problem Copy Share Image
“the continent with the highest proportion of its dryland areas classified as severe or moderately desertified is North America, at 74 percent.” — Judith D. Schwartz Continent Copy Share Image
“He suggests connections among plant disease, animal morbidity, and human health problems: “Look at what’s happening with autism. With chronic disease and… — Judith D. Schwartz Autism Copy Share Image
“offers numerous cautionary tales of kingdoms, cultures, and empires that squandered their soil and found themselves with nothing left to live on.… — Judith D. Schwartz Cautionary tales Copy Share Image
“Drylands account for 41.3 percent of the world’s land-mass, including 44 percent of land under cultivation. Each year upward of twelve million… — Judith D. Schwartz Copy Share Image
“Organisms we can’t see are accorded the same respect as those that are big and flashy or promise to give a nice… — Judith D. Schwartz Organisms Copy Share Image