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AFT welcomes solar and conservation specialist
American Farmland Trust welcomes Ethan Winter as the Northeast Solar Specialist. In this role, Winter will work across regional and national programs to help set and implement AFTs strategy for solar energy generation and farmland conservation. Winter joins AFT with an extensive background in solar development throughout the Northeast.
Spotlight: Suzanne Simard
Following up on the Western NY Land Conservancy’s webinar, you might want to read Dr. Simard’s book. Simard writes — in inspiring, illuminating, and accessible ways — how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved, how they perceive one another, and how they have learned to adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past…
What is conservation’s impact on climate?
Through conservation and stewardship, the Trust works every day with the community to help stem the negative impacts from rising greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, the Trust’s work has taken on urgency related to Climate impacts, with our focus on conservation and stewardship focused on mitigation and restoration.
Finding the Mother Tree: An evening with Suzanne Simard
From the world’s leading forest ecologist who forever changed how people view trees and their connections to one another and to other living things in the forest — a moving, deeply personal journey of discovery.
Suzanne Simard is a pioneer on the frontier of plant communication and intelligence; she’s been compared to Rachel Carson, hailed as a scientist who conveys complex, technical ideas in a way that is dazzling and profound. Her work has influenced filmmakers (the Tree of Souls of James Cameron’s Avatar) and her TED talks have been viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide.
Restoration and solar team up
For over a year now, much of the SunCommon team has been working remotely, and all-staff gatherings have been suspended. But graced with good weather and increased access to vaccines amongst [their] staff, [they] paused operations for a day to give each other the opportunity to reconnect after a year apart, provide service to our community, and expand [their] mission impact by planting carbon-sequestering trees.
Check out the projects and organizations they worked with…
Quantifying economic and environmental benefits of soil health
Many farmers believe the scientific evidence that soil health practices improve soil and water quality. However, they are reluctant to change management techniques without knowing how much the soil health practices will cost or benefit them. So, AFT found “soil health successful farmers,” and conducted benefit-cost analyses.
The math is in: Soil health practices produce real return on investment
Our nation’s farmers and ranchers care deeply about the land. They want to use practices that improve soil health and protect water quality, like no-till or strip till, cover crops, and nutrient management.
But, farming is a business like any other. If the numbers don’t add up, it’s hard to make improvements that are good for the environment.
Providing economic opportunity for family forest owners
The Nature Conservancy, The American Forest Foundation, and Amazon are working together to help family forest owners bring in income through sustainable forest management, which has been proven to play a significant role in sequestering more carbon.
How solar energy can coincide with crop and animal agriculture
We’ve devoted millions of acres of land to growing crops and allowing farm animals to graze. Now, that land used for agriculture can have a dual purpose — to harness the sun’s rays and provide energy.
The future of solar relies on synergies between renewables development and the environment
As corporations and utilities continue to look to renewable energy to help them reach sustainability and renewable portfolio standard (RPS) commitments, solar development has flourished. According to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, it’s predicted that utility-scale solar sites are on track to occupy nearly 2 million acres in the United States by 2030.