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Tell congress to pass Farm Bill benefiting land, climate and communities


At first glance, this year’s “Farm Bill” may not seem very relevant to climate change. It is certainly a huge omnibus bill, comprised of numerous bills that include funding for agricultural commodities, nutrition programs (SNAP), conservation programs, trade and rural development. And it could total some $700 billion over its five-year span.


However, agriculture contributes as much as 30% of our greenhouse gas emissions and is uniquely vulnerable to the warming temperatures and extreme weather brought on by a changing climate. Consequently, there is an obligation to invest in activities that further mitigation and adaptation. These include improving soil health to improve carbon sequestration, reducing emissions from livestock and expanding clean energy development in rural areas. Among other benefits to communities, the Farm Bill includes provisions to assist indigenous, people of color, urban, veterans and beginning farmers, as well as farmworkers, through land access grants and debt relief.


Call to action link here >>

Urge President Biden to be a #PlasticFreePresident


President Biden can use his presidential powers to take additional steps that would address the climate crisis, especially related to plastic pollution.


More than 99% of plastic is created from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels, including an oversupply of fracked gas, which is spurring a global boom in new plastic production. At every step in its lifecycle, plastic production and waste exacerbates our climate crisis, destroys sensitive ecosystems and harms public health.


Join the Sierra Club and other organizations in urging the President to take eight key steps that will set the nation on the road to a plastic pollution-free future. These actions require the president to prioritize support for communities that historically have been harmed "first and worst" by the petrochemical industrial sector and the waste it creates: communities of color, Indigenous communities and impoverished communities. Additionally, these actions will provide an opportunity to drive job growth in a new green economy providing unionized jobs with family-sustaining wages in communities that need them the most.


Call to action link here >>

Tell EPA to prioritize electric school buses for polluted districts


Federal climate bills recently passed are making billions of dollars available for electric school buses. But two critical steps are necessary to ensure the successful transition away from combustion engine buses that pump out pollution — whether they run on diesel, propane or on methane gas.


First, the government needs to prioritize money for school districts where kids are breathing the dirtiest air. And, second we must end government subsidies for combustion buses powered by propane or methane gas, which lock communities into further pollution. These “alternative fuels” can increase emissions of some pollutants even more than diesel-powered buses.


Call to action link here >>

Harvest both energy and food using agrivoltaics


Utility-scale solar installations take up a lot of space. They are usually built in rural areas where land is cheaper, and are constructed by first clearing all vegetation, grading the land, pouring cement to support the solar panels and then using herbicide to keep down plants.


Siting a large solar installation often comes down to a choice between converting natural lands or productive farmland to an industrial land use. Healthy natural ecosystems provide habitat for animals and sequester carbon in wetlands, soil, prairie grasses and trees. This should be the last choice of land to cover with solar panels.


On the other hand, in some cases, it can make environmental sense to retire farmland and convert it to large-scale solar.


For example, new state regulations in California’s Central Valley require farming counties to adapt to a decreased water budget. This has created pressure to retire up to 900,000 acres of farmland that is too dry to grow crops without irrigation and would be well suited to solar generation.


Since growing livestock feed uses about 32% of all cropland in the United States, reducing meat and dairy consumption could free up farmland to be used for solar arrays or regenerated to grow forests, wetlands and prairies.  


And now there is also “agrivoltaics,” an innovative win-win solution that combines agriculture and photovoltaic arrays on the same piece of land to both generate solar energy and grow food or pollinator plants.


Two recent articles by the Climate Emergency Mobilization (CEM) Team discuss this new option.


The CEM article Agrivoltaics Combines Production of Agriculture and Solar Power describes how agrivoltaic projects work, how different arms of the federal government are supporting the concept through research and legislation, and the benefits that projects can bring to farming communities.


Determining how to intersperse solar panels with agricultural activities requires a collaboration between the solar developer and the farmer. Lower-maintenance scenarios might allow grazing around widely spaced panels or have alternate rows of native flowering plants to support pollinators. A more intensive project might have row crops or berry bushes planted between rows of panels.


The Department of Energy’s InSPIRE Project has a map of trial agrivoltaics sites across the US labeled with icons showing which farm products they are growing.


A second CEM article, Best Practices for Agrivoltaics Land-use Planning and Regulations, discusses how to bring this new concept into rural communities and which policies and regulations may be helpful. Best practices are determined in order to minimize project impacts on the environment and community.


Wind turbines on large farms in the Plains states are generally accepted by neighbors and are seen by farmers as a financial benefit rather than as a hindrance to farming. Agrivoltaics are a similar option suited to smaller farms – providing extra income for farmers and space for renewable energy while still producing food and nurturing plants.


Support sustainable agriculture


Agriculture is responsible for at least 11% of current U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and agricultural emissions are expected to increase or stay the same unless big changes are made in the way we farm.


According to the EPA, about half of agricultural GHG emissions (expressed as CO2 equivalent, so the warming potential of different gases can be compared) are due to carbon dioxide emitted by unsustainable soil management practices, while methane produced by livestock is responsible for another quarter of emissions.


Healthy farm soil is fertile and needs fewer chemicals to grow crops; it is full of microorganisms, nutrients and organic matter and absorbs water rather than eroding. Organic matter and crop roots contain carbon – if the soil is not disturbed by too much tilling it will keep (sequester) carbon in the ground rather than releasing it into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.


Modern industrial farming techniques strip the soil rather than enriching it. We can reduce the climate impact in this essential sector by moving towards what is called sustainable or regenerative agriculture, in which soil is managed better in order to keep carbon in the ground.


The Sierra Club's Food and Agriculture Team has resources here about restoring soil health through tilling and fertilizing practices. The Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress in 2022 contains funds to expand existing soil conservation programs focused on climate, and the 2023 Farm Bill will also support these programs when it is eventually passed.


What personal actions will support a sustainable agriculture system and remove support from the climate-destroying industrial agriculture system?


  • Eat less beef and dairy. Not only are cows themselves a source of methane, but growing cattle feed uses a huge amount of industrially-farmed cropland.

  • Avoid processed foods and try to cook from scratch. Processed foods are generally made from industrially-grown ingredients.

  • If you have space, grow some food yourself. Otherwise, seek out locally grown small farm produce from a farmers’ market or local store.