Open Society Institute fellow Mark Hertsgaard stresses the vital importance sustainable agriculture plays in addressing both poverty and climate change. Hertsgaard emphasizes that agriculture is as yet a “missed opportunity” in reducing atmospheric CO2.
Though reductions of ongoing emissions and transformation of our energy systems is essential, no less so is implementation of sustainable agriculture and forestry practices. “We have to go beyond” simply reducing carbon emissions, says Hertsgaard, and find ways to pull existing carbon out of the atmosphere. By doing so, he says, we can essentially “turn back the clock” through natural sequestration, a process that is both far cheaper and easier than changing energy systems and economies.
This highlight is part of a larger discussion on food security and climate change that took place on July 22nd at the Open Society Institute in New York City, and offered here through our friends at FORA.tv.
