This is the first in a series of blogs focusing on various aspects of the Regenerative Movement: from soil and farming, to leadership, and personal growth. We will be interviewing the movement's leaders and highlighting people & organizations that are pushing the Regenerative Movement forward to create a more resilient world.
What if we could create a world in which the process of renewal and restoration were at the center of all activities? Where building resilience is embedded into core values, and is as essential to business operations as the bottom line? The good news: we can, and we are. The time has come for us to build a global culture based on regenerative operations, where we are moving from doing less bad, to actually doing good for both people and for the planet.
The Regenerative Movement is strengthening in the United States, stemming from increased research that shows that regenerative agriculture can actually reduce climate change by building soil's biodiversity and carbon count, enabling the soil to act as a carbon sink and trap CO2. But the concept of regenerative can go far beyond agricultural outputs. If we apply the same systems thinking approach found in regenerative farming to our own human systems, we are able to unlock innovative approaches in our daily lives that can regenerate our spirit, our relationships, and our work/life integration.
What is Regenerative Agriculture and Why Does it Matter?
Agricultural methods are one of the most significant contributors to greenhouse gases that are causing climate change, yet at the same time are one of the most powerful tools we have to potentially reverse climate change. In conventional industrial farming practices like mono-cropping, deep tilling, and overuse of pesticides, the erosion of vital topsoil is sped up, killing off the microorganisms that help build soil carbon and allow the soil to serve as a natural 'carbon sink' by drawing carbon released into the atmosphere back into the Earth.
It's all about balance: carbon is the building block of life, but human activity has severely disrupted this balance, heating up our planet, and causing severe climate damage. Regenerative agriculture allows us to put this carbon back into the ground. More carbon in the ground is good for us it creates healthier soil that is full of diverse micro-organisms, creating a more biodiverse ecosystem around us, and is able to store more water creating plants that are most nutrient dense and more resistant to droughts.
Why Gaia Herbs is Committed to Regenerative Farming:
- Fights climate change: organically rich soil is able to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, reducing greenhouse gases.
- High quality products: plants are better able to absorb the nutrients in the soil, resulting in more bioactivity in plants that assure the potency of our products.
- Healthier communities: no chemical runoffs into local watersheds. Cathey's Creek runs through the Gaia Farm and feeds the French Broad River that provides water to over one million people and is a habitat to millions of plants, invertebrates, mammals, and birds.
- A secure supply chain: regenerative agricultural practices produce more resilient crops that are resistant to droughts, flooding, weeds, and pests.
- Contribute to advancing the research & education around the soil-food web and the positive impacts on community and ecological health.
Gaia Herbs takes social and environmental responsibility seriously and we are committed to being a leader in this movement that can do so much good for our local communities as well as the entire planet. This work is critical in creating a healthier world for future generations, and we must all work together to achieve that vision.