Virginia farmers looking for a sustainable way to their crops can look at regenerative agriculture. The idea is to focus on soil health and the carbon sequestration of the land. It improves the soil quality without artificially fertilizing it. .
A grassroots, volunteer-led coalition of Coloradans is putting a spotlight on the role that oil and gas production plays in “fueling the flames” of wildfires and other impacts of the climate crisis on communities. Comments from Heidi Leathwood, climate policy analyst, 350 Colorado.
By Katherine Ellison for Hothouse.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration Twitchell Island, Sacramento County, California - Steve Deverel gazes out over a levee on the San Joaquin River to a buoy where half a dozen sea lions are barking. It s a loud reminder that even here, 50 miles inland, some of California s most productive farmland lies perilously close to the Pacific Ocean. At any moment, a weak spot in the more than 1,000 miles of earthen levees protecting islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta could unleash a salty deluge, threatening not just crops, but the drinking water for as many as 27 million Californians. .
New Mexico s dwindling water supply is just one issue caused by the climate crisis, with the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin creating problems for seven Southwestern states. Water resource management is one of many issues being discussed at the annual United Nations climate change conference underway in Egypt. Kathleen Burke, coordinator of Fair Districts for New Mexico for the League of Women Voters and a COP27 observer, said the conference was first held in 1995, and hoped-for results still are elusive. .
As Colorado experiences bigger and more frequent wildfires, prolonged drought and other impacts of a changing climate, a coalition of community groups is urging the state to stop issuing oil and gas fracking permits by 2030. Heidi Leathwood, climate policy analyst with the group 350 Colorado, said oil and gas operations are one of the highest sources of Colorado s climate pollution, and the number one cause of severe ozone air quality during summer months - which poses serious respiratory health hazards, especially for kids. "There s a lot of increased hospitalization on high ozone days," she said, "and the long-term effects of it are bad as well. " .