The Regenerative Agriculture movement promises to sequester a trillion tons[1] of atmospheric carbon dioxide into agricultural soils[2] and save us from Climate Change. There is indeed An Earthly Chance[3] that human beings will come to understand that sequestering atmospheric carbon into our agricultural soils and agricultural products, like wood products and lumber, is the only rational solution to Climate Change, and by contrast, the delusional efforts to solve Climate Change by slowing the burning of fossil fuels will soon be recognized as an absurd and dangerous boondoggle[4] that only serves to destroy economies and prosperity. Likewise, the position of the far right that Climate Change related issues are all a hoax, is equally dangerous as substantial evidence exists that such threats could eventually could take on apocalyptic proportions and even cause the extinction of homo sapiens. The lying, exaggerating democrats and the feckless, head in the sand republicans are leading Americans and the world into the abyss.
Fossil fuels are the source of prosperity as they are cheap, plentiful, reliable, scalable and thus indispensable,[5] and no country in the world, even the US will ultimately tolerate a loss of prosperity. Likewise, no country in the world will harm their national defenses, which run of fossil fuels, or starve their citizens by shutting down their agricultural industries, which run on fossil fuels, and therefore the burning of fossil fuels is in fact escalating dramatically and will continue to increase until the world finally runs out of them in one or two centuries. In the meantime, Climate Change indeed poses a dangerous threat to all life, despite the left’s exaggerations, and it is an irrefutable fact that it can only be solved by redirecting atmospheric carbon in the opposite direction, through sequestration into our soils, into agricultural products and into wood-based products.
There is An Earthly Chance that the world will come to its senses, and that is the name of my new book, which lays out this science-based case for an authentic solutions. As a physician, the medical consequences of solving Climate Change by sequestering atmospheric carbon into agricultural soils and making food far more nutritious, and of sequestering harmful toxins safely away for hundreds of years into wood-based products, is very important to me. I heal patients by restoration of nutrients that are missing and detoxing toxins that are injuring,[6] and if all goes well and sane causal medicine practices are widely practices, I agree with numerous university-based studies, that life expectancies will average out to about 130 years by the end of this century. Regenerative Agriculture will have a major impact on increasing life expectancies. Our current dismal average of about 80 years will increase by 50 years if all goes to plan.[7]
On the other hand, the complete destruction of planetary topsoil may be only several decades away,[8] and many of the other worrisome “tipping points” predicted by a thoughtful analysis of Climate Change,[9] could result is mass extinction events of homo sapiens and the ecosystems that support us, which of course will lower lifespans considerably and perhaps to zero. The ultimate rationale for sequestration of carbon out of our atmosphere and into agricultural products is the critical event that determines whether we and our planetary ecosystems will survive or not. We can no longer afford to deny these science-based facts. You must become informed about this as a citizen of planet earth. You would not tolerate others trashing and damaging the home you live in, so all you must do is recognize that your home is much larger and includes the entire planet. We must save our planetary ecosystems for our children and future generations, and we can choose between the stupidity of denial of the cold, hard, science-based truths, or we can act with utter certitude[10] to make it right. Despite all of the historical crises that Humanity has ever faced, never before have we encountered such a profound choice between utter extinction and oblivion versus a relatively utopian alternative future. There is An Earthly Chance we will get it right. I maintain my optimism that we can and will get it right.
New measures to address Climate Change in a rational way are manifesting frequently, as presented on the websites https://consciousplanet.org/ and www.savesoil.com. As you probably know, a large percentage of the earth’s agricultural soils have already been destroyed and in a matter of only several decades, at the rate of devastation now occurring, they will be lost forever. The starvation of eight billion human beings hangs in the balance. My older friends, family and colleagues and I will not live to see these predicted apocalyptic events, but we are morally obligated to take measures to prevent them now. That begins at the dinner table. Do we eat food that saves our soils or destroys our soils? Regeneratively-grown food will save our soils, and it will sequester carbon out of the atmosphere and back into the topsoils where it has always belonged. Thus, everyone can do their part to save humanity, as well as our planetary ecosystems.
Besides its inherent carcinogenic effects, commercially-grown food and modern agriculture, which laces food with artificial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other toxic chemicals, will destroy both humanity and our planetary ecosystems, if not by cancer then eventually by starvation. As you plan your meals in the future, tasty new sources of these planetary- and humanity-saving foods will surface regularly. Few people are stupid or suicidal enough to not give a damn about saving themselves, our loved ones, or our world or our unique and magnificent species, and you can expect new options of regenerative-agriculture-grown foods to manifest continuously. Keep your eyes open for these culinary opportunities. We are out of options and one solution is tasty, delightful, nutritious and longevity-enhancing. It’s that simple. What outcome do you want? The choice is yours. It’s time for you to step up to the allegorical “plate.”
Here is a resource that lists a few food brands that support the sustainability of our planet and of humanity.[11] Whole Foods provides regenerative-agriculture-grown foods[12] and has excellent online resources. Massive efforts are now under way, as noted in Woody Harrelson’s video www.kisstheground.com and at the Paris Climate Accords https://4p1000.org/?lang=en . Of course the biggest polluters, the USA, India, China and Russia have thumbed their noses at such efforts – got to keep those militaries gassed up! However, once Hollywood and international politics gets involved, you can be certain that solutions are on the way. Your personal participation is needed.
In Tokyo a 70-story, safe and modern, office and apartment and shopping center is being built (see artist’s design below). However, you can now invest in smaller wood-constructed housing and office structures, which will probably consume a sizeable chunk of your income, but when multiplied by 100’s of millions of conscious home and office builders, this will present itself as yet another way to solve the Climate Change risk. Steel, concrete and aluminum structures are vastly more carbon polluting when used for construction, whereas wood-based construction materials are much less carbon polluting and will sequester atmospheric carbon away for centuries. Environmental toxins are also sequestered into wood (the original trees don’t mind).
The future is now all about what we plan to eat, breath and drink today, and about what construction materials we use to build our homes and offices with. These choices will support our health, all life and future generations. There is An Earthly Chance we will get it right.
[1] 1 trillion tons = 1000 billion tons = 1,000,000 (a million) million tons = 1,000,000,000,000 tons = 2,000,000,000,000,000 = 2 quadrillion pounds
[2] Gant C (2022) An Earthly Chance: How to give our planet a chance to not only survive climate change, but to THRIVE . A timely and profound perspective on how we must and must not address climate change. Amazon Books. See: https://www.amazon.com/Earthly-Chance-Redefining-presenting-solutions/dp/1884210414/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1DDN3UU1BF36S&keywords=an+earthly+chance&qid=1653394919&s=books&sprefix=an+earthly+chance%2Cstripbooks%2C59&sr=1-2
[3] Ibid. An Earthly Chance
[4] boon·dog·gle, /ˈbo͞onˌdäɡəl/ noun, work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value. Oxford Languages
[5] Epstein A (2014) The Moral Case for Fossil Fuels, Penguin Group, p. 65.
[6] Numerous functional medicine diagnostic tests are required for each patient to identify the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids and other nutrients that are missing, and tests for heavy metals, petrochemicals, and other toxins causing injury, to establish a treatment plan that is individualized to each patient.
[7] Humans can probably live to the age of 130 years and even older, statistically speaking, according to a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. The limit of the human lifespan has constantly been a topic of debate and scientists have been working to push this limit to the farthest. See: https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/32060/20210703/people-live-up-130-years-end-21st-century-according-study.htm#:~:text=The%20study%20also%20adds%20that,of%20lifespans%20through%20statistical%20modeling.
[8] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/ – Only 60 Years of Farming Left If Soil Degradation Continues – Generating three centimeters of topsoil takes 1,000 years, and if current rates of degradation continue all of the world’s top soil could be gone within 60 years, a senior UN official said
[9] https://www.ipcc.ch/ – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.
[10] absolute certainty or conviction that something is the case.
[11] https://savetheplanetpodcast.com/blog/regenerative-agriculture
[12] https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-in-action/environmental-stewardship/regenerative-agriculture