The Systems Perspective:
Additional Resources

CSS is taking a systems perspective to synchronize Soil Carbon Capture Sequestration (SCCS) along the entire farm-to-table supply chain to adapt to a changing climate. Here are resources addressing the critical components to CSS’ systems approach.

Soil Carbon Capture Sequestration, Low Carbon Intesnity Scores, and the Small Water Cycle: The Symbiotic Connection
Joel Stone in The Digest, March 2024
Soil Carbon Capture Sequestration (SCCS), low carbon intensity (low CI) scores and the Small Water Cycle are connected through various ecological and hydrological processes that occur within terrestrial ecosystems. SCCS refers to the process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere in soil organic matter, primarily in organic carbon. This process is essential in the process to mitigate climate change by reducing atmospheric CO2 levels. Since during SCCS carbon is removed from the atmosphere and inventoried into the soil, the amount of carbon inventoried can be quantified and accounted for in the carbon intensity (CI) score of the agricultural product being produced.  The small water cycle, on the other hand, refers to the local movement of water between the atmosphere, land, and vegetation through processes like evaporation, transpiration, and precipitation. Carbon sequestration and the function of the small water cycle are integrated processes that work in tandem.

SLAKES: A Free Smartphone App to Measure Aggregate Stability
The Soil Health Institute, December 2023
Aggregate stability is one of the most common indicators of soil health. Soils with greater aggregate stability are more resistant to wind and water erosion, and are linked to improved water capture, infiltration, and storage. The Soil Health Institute (SHI) recommends measuring aggregate stability using the Slakes app as part of a minimum suite of measurements to assess management induced changes in soil health. Press release from the Soil Health Insitute. December 4, 2023

“Can Regen Ag & Plant-based Innovation Work Together in a Food Systems Shift?”
Watch CSS’ Joel Stone’s July 18 conversation with Elysabeth Alfano, CEO of VegTech Invest and host of Advising the Plant-based Innovation ETF (EATV) as they discuss how regenerative ag and plant-based innovation can work together in the future of food. Can it be sustainable? Can it be wholesome...and what does that even mean?

CSS’ Conversation with REEnergize
Watch CSS’ Joel Stone and Klaus Mager’s discussion Titled “Can We Pack Our Waste Carbon into the Soil” they talk about the climate impacts of Ag and the need to shift into regenerative practices. Agriculture has the power to lead in climate solutions through soil health, building soil organic matter that could neutralize most of our carbon emissions to buy us time to shift away from fossil fuels into clean energy solutions, feed a growing population and provide complementary sources for biofuels.

The Impacts of Farmers Adapting to a Changing Climate on the Food Supply Chain
Watch this presentation by CSS’ Klaus Mager who outlines the strategic foundation points and the changes required to move forward—and who are already taking steps to move forward. The damage from chemically intensive farming to soil and watersheds is significant, and requires urgent remediation. A Farm to Table strategy requires a systems thinking approach to engage the entire supply chain, starting at community level. 

Small Water Cycle Restoration: A new paradigm for water management
www.rescue.earth
The rehydration of Earth through a wide array of interventions to restore the Small Water Cycle is critical to cooling the planet, reducing flooding and droughts, stabilising rainfall patterns, etc. By using the principles of the Regenerative Design Framework we can restore the Small Water Cycle, and receive many more positive outcomes.

The net-zero transition: What it would cost, what it could bring
McKinsey & Company, December 2022
A report comprised of six key areas identifying key policies and business practices to cut greenhouse gas emissions to achieve net-zero goals: (1) Six characteristics define the net-zero transition; (2) The net-zero challenge: Accelerating decarbonization worldwide; (3) The economic transformation: What would change in the net-zero transition; (4) Sectors are unevenly exposed in the net-zero transition; (5) How the net-zero transition would play out in countries and regions; (6) Managing the net-zero transition: Actions for stakeholders.

Want to Fight Climate Change? Transform Our Food System
Foreign Policy Magazine, November 2022
Simply put, there is no way of tackling the climate crisis without fundamentally overhauling the world’s food systems. A 2021 analysis by Our World in Data showed that even if fossil fuel emissions magically disappeared, emissions from just the food sector would take the world beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, the aspirational target set in the 2015 Paris agreement.

Rethinking Scale in Climate Solutions
Stanford Review, October 2022
The ecological crisis requires urgent, coordinated, and impactful solutions on a level unprecedented in human history. Yet, philanthropy has often taken too narrow of a view of “scale” when it comes to climate change, focusing on scaling particular strategies, with the goal of creating quantity quickly. However, scale needs to be about more than how fast something can grow or how many people a solution reaches, more than mere numbers. As billions of new funding flow into climate work, it is critical to expand funders’ understanding of scale so they can better understand and resource strategies that are likely to succeed in the long run. 

The En-ROADS Climate Solutions Simulator
[online tool] Climate Interactive
En-ROADS is a freely-available online simulator that provides policymakers, educators, businesses, the media, and the public with the ability to test and explore cross-sector climate solutions. Explore and contact us at CSS on how you can support our perspective on solutions.

The Small Water Cycle & Global Warming
Quaker Earthcare Witness
One very important reason to focus on the restoration of soil health is water. Soil naturally holds water in relation to the amount of organic matter it contains. An increase of one percent of carbon in soil will increase the water-holding capacity by 20,000 gallons per acre. As industrial agriculture, with tillage and chemicals, degrades the soil we inherited to “dirt,” water drains from the land, no longer able to hold it. Studies have documented whole countries drying out over decades due to this man-made manipulation.