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Dr. Michael Mann, Keynote Speaker
Dr. Michael Mann will speak at the Pennsylvania Land Trust Conference in April 2023. A world-renowned climate scientist and climate communicator, Dr. Michael E. Mann is Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. His most recent book is The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet.
Learn more about Conservation Innovation Grants
Through creative problem solving and innovation, CIG partners work to address our nation’s water quality, air quality, soil health and wildlife habitat challenges, all while improving agricultural operations.
There are three annual Conservation Innovation Grants funding opportunities…
Healthy soil grants
Vermont farmers have an essential role to play in combating climate change. Some farming practices can trap carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere, while supporting wildlife habitat, healthier soils, and cleaner water. The challenge can be sustaining profitability while making significant changes.
Which practices are worth the investment? And how long will they take to pay off?
To answer these questions and more, we are partnering with Bio-Logical Capital and the University of Vermont on a Conservation Innovation Grant funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. This five-year research project will provide direct payments to Vermont farmers who agree to implement farming practices that improve soil health…
Rescuing the planet
On Dec 1st at 7p.m. eastern, join the Natural Areas Conservancy (of New York City) and the Cary Institute for a virtual book talk featuring author and scholar Tony Hiss. He will discuss his new book, Rescuing the Planet – Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth, in conversation with Cary President Dr. Joshua Ginsberg and the Natural Areas Conservancy’s Executive Director Sarah Charlop-Powers.
In Rescuing the Planet, Hiss takes stock of the “superorganism” that is Earth and what we can do to keep it, and ourselves, alive. He invites [people] to understand the gravity of the problems we face, and makes the case for why protecting half the land by 2025 is vital to halting the extinction crisis and ensuring the health of our planet.
Nearly 3 billion birds gone
The first-ever comprehensive assessment of net population changes in the U.S. and Canada reveals across-the-board declines that scientists call “staggering.” All told, the North American bird population is down by 2.9 billion breeding adults, with devastating losses among birds in every biome. Forests alone have lost 1 billion birds. Grassland bird populations collectively have declined by 53%, or another 720 million birds.
Just hearing or seeing birds can boost our mental health, new report suggests
“Our main finding is that there is a time-lasting association between seeing or hearing birds and improved mental well-being,” said the study’s lead author, Ryan Hammoud, a PhD candidate and a research assistant at the institute of psychiatry and psychology and neuroscience at King’s College London…
Messaging guru offers list of words to use (and avoid) to build support for climate solutions
As a messaging expert, Luntz is now offering his advice on how activists should talk about the problem of climate change and solutions including clean energy, featuring his version of the ever-popular list of “words to use and lose”…
Agrivoltaic solar tracker uses cables instead of buried steel
The Suntracker system is suspended by cables, rather than mounted on steel driven into the ground, providing what the company says is the lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for high-clearance solar. Rute reports that by using cables rather than steel foundations, steel use is reduced by as much as 30%.
Another advantage of the cable system is that the land does not have to be disturbed in order to install the system, which is a benefit in the agricultural industry. It also enables the land to be returned to its original condition in the event that the solar installation were to be removed…
Excessively wet year in eastern U.S. shows fingerprints of climate change
Five tropical storms and a summer of frequent thunderstorm activity have propelled parts of the eastern United States to one of its wettest calendar years on record.
Through November, 25 of 344 climate regions nationwide reported precipitation that exceeded 90 percent of years since 1895. All but two of these top-10 percent-rainfall regions were east of the Mississippi River, spread from Louisiana to Massachusetts and Illinois to Florida.
Annual 2021 Drought Report
Overall, when integrated across the nation and across the entire year, 2021 was a warm year with precipitation averaging near the middle of the historical distribution. The annual nationwide ranks were fourth warmest and 57th wettest (71st driest), based on data for 1895-2021. But this was a year of extremes as considerable variation occurred throughout the year and across the country. The year was unusually wet from the Gulf of Mexico coast to the eastern Great Lakes and southern portions of New England, where Massachusetts had the ninth wettest year on record and three other states ranked in the top twenty wettest category.