Tim Weiskel on Soils, Civilizations, Climate and Collapse - Discussion, Potluck

Today's soils are degraded or desertified on billions of acres around the planet. How did that happen and what are its consequences? Can human populations reverse this process and rebuild soils to capture carbon in the time-frame required for the survival of complex civilizations?

The core of the problem is that over the last several centuries urbanized humankind has little experience with intact, healthy soil. As a result modern cultures systematically underestimate, -- and, more generally, simply ignore -- the vital necessity of healthy soils for their continued existence.

The alternative is clear. A long tradition poets and prophets of the soil have declared for centuries that it is urgent to give soils their due. We need to rediscover these voices and launch a major global campaign to regenerate soils in order to restore ecosystems and reverse the accelerated release of terrestrial carbon.The most effective strategy for carbon capture and storage (CCS) that the ecosystem has ever devised over the last several billion years has been to build soils. We would be foolish to abandon and continue to reverse this process if we wish to survive as a species.

Some preliminary reading for an engaging conversation:

Got a Carbon Problem? Fix it ! Part 1 – Some Prophetic & Enduring Testimony (https://environmentaljusticetv.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/ev-n-216-cctv-got-a-carbon-problem-fix-it-part-1-s-ome-prophetic-enduring-testimony/), and

Got a Carbon Problem? Fix it ! Part 2 – Global Crisis & Localized Responses (https://environmentaljusticetv.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/20160605-evn-217-fix-carbon-pt-2-umass-permaculture-mp4-google-drive/)

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Our speaker, Tim Weiskel (https://www.extension.harvard.edu/faculty-directory/timothy-c-weiskel), is a historian and social anthropologist. He completed his B.A. at Yale and received further degrees in Social Anthropology and History at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He has received numerous research grants and has taught African history, historical ecology, ecological anthropology, and global climate change at Williams College, Yale University and Harvard University. Weiskel has published several books and articles and has researched belief systems within cultures and how core cultural beliefs can either facilitate or block change over time. He educates about the many social and scientific aspects of climate at Harvard Extension and through the website: http://Transition-Studies.Net .

Potluck starts at 6, presentation at 7.

We're a small non-profit so a $10 donation is requested, but no one will be turned away based on ability to pay.

Helen Snively's house is about halfway between Central Square and Inman Square. Take the MBTA red line to Central Square, exit the station walking down Massachusetts Avenue in the direction of Harvard Square (away from Boston). Walk five blocks and make a right on Lee Street, then walk two blocks past Harvard Street and Broadway. Cross Broadway onto Fayette Street (which will be in front of you), walk down Fayette and make your first left onto Fayette Park (a private way). Helen's house is at One Fayette Park, immediately past the first driveway on the right. It's a green 4-family. Come up on the first porch and look for a no. 1 on the door. If you have questions please post to this Meetup, or call Helen at 617 547-1326.