Alternative Agricultural Practices and Restorative Ecology

          Humanity needs to overhaul agricultural approaches if we are to feed an exploding population while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change. Researchers have concluded that agriculture and landscape alterations contribute at least 20% to the emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. We often think of fossil fuel combustion as a major culprit in climate change, but we need to also consider the multitude of changes that occur in soil processes. Our alterations to landscapes have been major drivers to desertification and deforestation but also have increased the loss of much of the native prairie landscape across North America. Today we speak about the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from poorly managed soils rather than the role it has held as a carbon sink over past millennia. In your research, consider current practices in agriculture and the possibility that it could contribute to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). In short, you will contemplate how agriculture can be a tool that can be used to fight against climate change. Review the following website and watch the videos that introduce the topic of carbon sequestration in soils · The"4 per 1000" Initiative - https://www.4p1000.org and https://youtu.be/QVLnH_dKH4U 1. Describe the inefficiencies in current subsistence and industrialized farming practices around the world. Be specific (10 marks) 2. Pick a developed country as well as a developing nation and explore the modifications in agricultural practices that could offer opportunities to combat climate change. (10 marks)