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Constelación Semillas Agroecológicas: A Seed Takes Root in Argentina
12/17/2019 /in Agriculture, Blog /by Lawrence Reichard
MERLO, Argentina – "It's been a monumental year around here," Alex Edleson said on the phone from his home in Argentina.
He wasn't kidding. This year (2019), Edleson and four co-workers launched Constelación Semillas Agroecológicas (Constellation Agroecological Seeds) in the small town of Merlo, in the central Argentine province of San Luis. In August, Edleson and his wife, Belén, welcomed their first child into the world, a daughter.
Constelación is not entirely new. Using unsurprising language for a seed distributor, Edleson, Constelación's director, told me Constelación was "incubated" for a few years by the Argentine Biodynamic Association. But this year Constelación began to strike out on its own. And like a lot of start-ups, it's flying by the seat of its pants—at least for now.
Constelación recently bought a seed-cleaning machine, and in September, rented a space in downtown Merlo for its administrative and commercial operations. But Constelación has yet to move into the new space. And until it does, Edleson is working in his kitchen—that is, when he's not farming.
"I try to farm in the morning and do office work in the afternoon," said Edleson. "Keeping to my farming is my life source that inspires my work to make change on a larger scale. On our farm, along with seed production, we also carry out variety trials and breeding research."
That seems to be working well so far. Constelación is growing fast and has ambitious plans for the future.
Last year, Constelación had only seven seed producers in five provinces. Now it has 15 producers in six of Argentina's 24 provinces. The company currently offers 17 seed varieties. But Edleson hopes to double or triple that number by the end of this year, and he plans to expand into cover crop mixes, and books and tools for small farmers.
In fact, the sky may be the limit for Constelación. Demand for organic food is growing fast in Argentina, which has the ninth-largest agricultural economy in the world, said Edleson. Argentina also ranks second in the world, after Australia, for land area under organic production, though most organic production is destined for export. Organics account for only a few percent of food consumption in Argentina. However, consumption of organics is doubling every year, Edleson said.
"In Argentina, no organic seed was available," Edleson told me. "One of our motives was to respond to this."
Constelación's mission isn't without its challenges. Though there is widespread organic certification for exports, certification for domestic consumption is limited because of the cost of certification. Limited domestic certification makes it easier for non-organic producers to cash in on the growing popularity of organics by selling fake organic products, and their ability to sell false organics in turn diminishes the demand for organic seeds.
But Constelación is working with the Argentine Biodynamic Association on a "system of guarantee" that will be more accessible to small farmers with limited financial resources.
It was a long road that brought Edleson to Merlo. He was born and raised in Indonesia, of U.S. parents who have lived in Asia for 50 years. He went to college in the U.S. and landed in Argentina in 2001, in the middle of Argentina's biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Edleson says he was "captured" by the resilience shown by Argentines in the face of such economic hardship. In Patagonia, he co-founded and farmed for a pioneering Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project. He started to build collaborative networks, and he met his wife.
But Edleson's work isn't done yet.
"We are building a seed-growing network," he said. "Seed growers are the essence of the project. In the next year we're going to bring consumers and growers into the decision-making process. We are responding to specific needs expressed by farmers, who have minimal structure for processing seeds and administration for marketing seeds. We have the infrastructure."
As Constelación's first monumental year draws to a close, the future looks bright indeed for Edleson and Constelación Semilla Agroecológicas.
Click here to watch Alex Edleson talk about the importance of food sovereignty and seed saving at Regeneration International's General Assembly in Santiago, Chile.
Lawrence Reichard is a freelance journalist. To keep up with news and events, sign up here for the Regeneration International newsletter.
https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/joshua-lanzarini-Vct0oBHNmv4-unsplash-scaled.jpg 1707 2560 Lawrence Reichard https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RI-Logo-New.png Lawrence Reichard2019-12-17 16:45:532019-12-18 17:42:50Constelación Semillas Agroecológicas: A Seed Takes Root in Argentina
This Revolutionary System Can Help Stop Global Warming
11/28/2019 /in Agriculture, Environment /by Ronnie Cummins
"Unsustainable land use and greenhouse gas emissions are delivering a one-two punch to natural ecosystems that are key to the fight against global climate change.
And without sweeping emissions cuts and transformations to food production and land management, the world stands no chance of staving off catastrophic planetary warming," HuffPost reported, citing the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.1
Agave plants (the best known of which are blue agave, used to produce tequila), along with nitrogen-fixing, companion trees such as mesquite, huizache, desert ironwood, wattle and varieties of acacia that readily grow alongside agave, are among the most common and prolific, yet routinely denigrated or ignored plants in the world. As India climate scientist Promode Kant points out:
"Agave is to the drier parts of the world what bamboo is to its wetter zones. Capturing atmospheric CO2 in vegetation is severely limited by the availability of land and water. The best choice would be species that can utilize lands unfit for food production and yet make the dynamics of carbon sequestration faster.
As much as 40% of the land on earth is arid and semi-arid, largely in the tropics but also in the cool temperate zones up north. And on almost half of these lands, with a minimum annual rainfall of about 250 mm and soils that are slightly refractory, the very valuable species of agave grows reasonably well."2
Agave plants and nitrogen-fixing trees densely intercropped and cultivated together have the capacity to draw down massive amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere and produce more above ground and below ground biomass (and animal fodder) on a continuous year-to-year basis than any other desert and semi-desert species.
Ideal for arid and hot climates, agaves and their companion trees, once established, require little or no irrigation to survive and thrive, and are basically impervious to rising global temperatures and drought. Agaves alone can draw down and store above ground the dry weight equivalent of 30 to 60 tons of CO2 per hectare (12 to 24 tons per acre) per year. One hectare equals 10,000 square meters or 2.47 acres.
Now, a new, agave-based agroforestry and livestock feeding model developed in Guanajuato, Mexico, promises to revitalize campesino/small farmer livestock production while storing massive amounts of atmospheric carbon above and below ground.
Scaled up on millions of currently degraded and overgrazed rangelands, these agave/agroforestry systems have the potential to not only improve soil and pasture health, but to help mitigate and potentially reverse global warming, aka climate change.
As international scientists, activists and our own everyday experience tell us, we are facing a Climate Emergency. A "profit at any cost," fossil fuel-supercharged economy, coupled with industrial agriculture and factory farms, destructive land use and mindless consumption have pumped a dangerous load of CO2 and greenhouse gas pollution into the sky, bringing on global warming and violent climate change.
Degenerative food, farming, livestock and land use practices have decarbonized and killed off much of the biological life and natural carbon-sequestering capacity of our soils, forests and ecosystems.
This degradation and desertification of global landscapes has oxidized and released billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and eliminated much of the above ground carbon biomass once stored in our forests and landscapes.
This global degeneration has depleted so much of the carbon and biological life in our soils, trees and plants that these natural systems can no longer draw down and sequester (through natural photosynthesis) enough of the excess CO2 and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to maintain the necessary balance between CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the carbon stored in our soils, trees and plants.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) estimates that arid and semi-arid lands make up 41.3% of the earth's land surface, including 15% of Latin America (most of Mexico), 66% of Africa, 40% of Asia and 24% of Europe.
Farmers and herders in these areas face tremendous challenges because of increasing droughts, erratic rainfall, degraded soils, overgrazed pastures and water scarcity. Many areas are in danger of degenerating even further into desert, unable to sustain any crops or livestock whatsoever.
Most of the world's drylands are located in the economically underdeveloped regions of the Global South, although there are millions of acres of drylands in the U.S., Australia and Southern Europe as well. Farming, ranching and ecosystem conservation are becoming increasingly problematic in these drylands, especially given the fact that the majority of the farms and ranches in these areas do not have irrigation wells or year-round access to surface water.
Crop and livestock production levels are deteriorating, trees and perennials have typically been removed or seasonally burned, and pastures and rangelands have been overgrazed. Poverty, unemployment and malnutrition in these degraded landscapes are rampant, giving rise to violence, organized crime and forced migration
The good news, however, coming out of Mexico, applicable to many other regions, is that if farmers and ranchers can stop overgrazing pastures and rangelands and eliminate slash and burn practices, and instead reforest, revegetate, rehydrate and recarbonize depleted soils, integrating traditional and indigenous water catchment, agroforestry, livestock and land management practices with agave-based agroforestry, we may well be able to green the drylands and store and sequester massive amounts of carbon.
Via Organica, the 'Organic Way'
After decades as a food, farm, anti-GMO and climate campaigner for the Organic Consumers Association in the U.S., I now spend a good part of my time managing an organic and regenerative farm and training center, Via Organica, in the high-desert drylands of North Central Mexico.
Our semi-arid, temporal (seasonal rainfall) ecosystem and climate in the state of Guanajuato is similar to what you find in many parts of Mexico, and in fact in 40% of the world. In our valley, we typically get 20 inches or 500 millimeters of precipitation in the "rainy season" (July to October), greening the landscape, followed by eight months with little or no rain whatsoever.
At Rancho Via Organica, we've been trying to regenerate our high-desert (6,300 feet elevation) environment, developing farming, livestock and landscape management practices that produce healthy organic food and seeds, sequester carbon in the soil, preserve our monte or natural densely-vegetated areas, slow down and infiltrate rainwater (including runoff coming down the mountains and hillsides) to recharge our water table, and reforest and revegetate our still somewhat degraded corn fields and pasturelands.
Looking across our mountain valley, the most prominent flora are cactus and agave plants (some of which are quite large) along with hundreds of thorny, typically undersized, mesquite, huizache and acacia shrubs/trees.
In order to grow our vegetables and cover crops, maintain our olive, mulberry, citrus and pomegranate trees, and provide water and forage for our animals, we — like most small farmers and ranchers in Mexico — irrigate with only the rainfall that we can collect and store in cisterns, ponds and soils.
Eighty-six percent of Mexican farmers and herders have no source of water other than seasonal rainfall, and therefore have to struggle to maintain their milpas (corn, beans and squash) and raise their animals under increasingly adverse climate conditions.
Greening the Drylands: A New Agroforestry Model
Recently Juan Frias, a retired college professor and scientist, came up to me after attending a workshop at our farm. As we discussed regenerative agriculture practices and climate change, Juan told me about a new system of drylands agroforestry and livestock management (sheep and goats), based upon agave plants and mesquite trees in the nearby community of San Luis de la Paz. They call their agroforestry system Modelo Zamarripa.3
By densely planting, pruning and intercropping high-biomass, high-forage producing, fast-growing species of agaves (1,600 to 2,000 per hectare) amongst preexisting deep-rooted, nitrogen-fixing tree species such as mesquite, or among planted tree seedlings, these farmers are transforming their landscape and their livelihoods.
When the agaves are 3 years old, and for the following five to seven years, farmers can begin pruning the leaves or pencas, chopping them up finely with a machine, and then fermenting the agave in closed containers for 30 days, ideally combining the agave leaves with 20% or more of mesquite pods by volume to give them a higher protein level. In our region mesquite trees start to produce pods that can be harvested in five years.
By Year Seven the mesquite and agaves have grown into a fairly dense forest. In years eight to 10, the root stem or pina (weighing 100 to 200 pounds) of the agave is ready for harvesting to produce a distilled liquor called mescal. Meanwhile the hijuelos or pups put out by the mother agave plants are being continuously transplanted back into the agroforestry system, guaranteeing continuous biomass growth (and carbon storage).
In their agroforestry system, the Zamarripa farmers integrate rotational grazing of sheep and goats across their ranch, supplementing the pasture forage their animals consume with the fermented agave silage. Modelo Zamarippa has proven in practice to be ideal for sheep and goats, and we are now experimenting at Via Organica with feeding agave silage to our pastured pigs and poultry.
The revolutionary innovation of these Guanajuato farmers has been to turn a heretofore indigestible, but massive and accessible source of biomass — the agave leaves — into a valuable animal feed, using the natural process of fermentation to transform the plants' indigestible saponin and lectin compounds into digestible carbohydrates and fiber.
To do this they have developed a relatively simple machine, hooked up to a tractor, that can finely chop up the tough leaves of the agave. After chopping the agave, the next step is to anaerobically ferment the biomass in a closed container (we use 5-gallon buckets with lids).
The fermented end-product, after 30 days, provides a nutritious but very inexpensive silage or animal fodder (in comparison to alfalfa, hay or cornstalks) that costs less than 1 Mexican peso (or approximately 5 cents USD) per kilo (2.2 pounds) to produce.
According to Frias, lambs readily convert 10 kilos of this silage into 1 kilo of body weight. At less than 5 cents per kilo (2 cents per pound) agave silage could potentially make the difference between survival and bankruptcy for millions of the world's small farmers and herders.
Agaves and Carbon Storage and Sequestration
The Zamarripa system of drylands afforestation and silvopasture draws down and stores in the plants large quantities of CO2 from the atmosphere. Agronomists have observed that certain varieties of agave can produce up to 43 tons per hectare of dry weight biomass per year, on a continuous basis.4
These high biomass varieties of agave will likely thrive in many of the world's arid ecosystems, wherever any type of agave and nitrogen-fixing trees are already growing.
Nitrogen-fixing trees such as mesquite can be found in most arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Mesquite grows readily not only in Texas and the Southwestern U.S., Mexico, Central America, Argentina, Chile and other Latin American nations, but also "thrives in arid and semi-arid regions of North America, Africa, the Middle East, Tunisia, Algeria, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Russia, Hawaii, West Indies, Puerto Rico and Australia."5
At Via Organica, outside San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato,6 we are utilizing moveable, solar-fenced paddocks for our grazing sheep and goats in order to protect our mesquite tree seedlings, to prevent overgrazing or undergrazing, to eliminate dead grasses and invasive species, and to concentrate animal feces and urine across the landscape in a controlled manner.
At the same time that we are rotating and moving our livestock on a daily basis, we are transplanting, pruning, finely chopping and fermenting the heavy biomass leaves or pencas of agave salmiana plants. Some individual agave pencas or leaves can weigh (wet) as much as 20 kilos or 44 pounds.
The bountiful harvest of this regenerative, high-biomass, high carbon-sequestering system will eventually include not only extremely low-cost, nutritious animal silage, but also high-quality organic lamb, mutton, cheese, milk, aquamiel (agave sap), pulque (a mildly alcoholic beverage) and distilled agave liquor (mescal), all produced organically and biodynamically with no synthetic chemicals or pesticides whatsoever, at affordable prices, with excess agave biomass and fiber available for textiles, compost, biochar and construction materials.
Massive Potential Carbon Drawdown
From a climate crisis perspective, the Modelo Zamarripa is a potential game-changer. Forty-three tons of above-ground dry weight biomass production on a continuing basis per hectare per year ranks among the highest rates of drawing down and storing atmospheric carbon in plants in the world, apart from healthy forests.
Imagine the carbon sequestration potential if rural farmers and pastoralists can establish agave-based agroforestry systems over the next decade on just 10% of the worlds 5 billion degraded acres (500 million acres), areas unsuited for crop production, but areas where agave plants and suitable native nitrogen-fixing companion tress (such as acacia varieties in Africa) are already growing.
Conservatively estimating an above-ground biomass carbon storage rate of 10 tons of carbon per acre per year on these 500 million acres, (counting both agave and companion trees, aboveground and below ground biomass) we would then be able to cumulatively sequester 5 billion tons of carbon (18 billion gigatons of CO2e) from the atmosphere every year.
Five billion tons of additional carbon sequestered in the Earth's soils and biota equals nearly 50% of all human greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.
More Background on Agaves
To better understand the potential of this agroforestry/holistic grazing system, a little more background information on agave plants, and nitrogen-fixing or trees such as mesquite, huizache or other fodder and food producing trees such as inga or moringa may be useful.
Various varieties of agave plants (along with their cactus relatives and companion nitrogen-fixing trees) are found growing on approximately 20% of the earth's lands, essentially on the half of the world's drylands where there is a minimum annual rainfall of approximately 10 inches or 250 mm, where the temperature never drops below 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
Kant has described the tremendous biomass production and carbon-storage potential of agaves in dry areas:
"Agave can … be used for carbon sequestration projects under CDM [the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Climate Protocol] even though by itself it does not constitute a tree crop and cannot provide the minimum required tree crown cover to create a forest as required under CDM rules.
But if the minimum required crown cover is created by planting an adequate number of suitable tree species in agave plantations then the carbon sequestered in the agave plants will also be eligible for measurement as above ground dry biomass and provide handsome carbon credits …
It causes no threat to food security and places no demand for the scarce water and since it can be harvested annually after a short initial gestation period of establishment, and yields many products that have existing markets, it is also well suited for eradication of poverty …"7
Agaves, of which there are 200 or more varieties growing across the world, can thrive even in dry, degraded lands unsuitable for crop production because of their Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic pathway (cacti and other related desert plants also have a CAM pathway) that essentially enables these plants to draw down moisture from the air and store it in their thick tough leaves during the nighttime, while the opening in their leaves (the stomata) close up during daylight hours, drastically reducing evaporation.
Meanwhile, its relatively shallow mycorrhizal fungi-powered roots below the soil surface spread out horizontally, taking in available moisture and nutrients from the topsoil, especially during the rainy season.
In addition, its propagation of baby plants or pups, (up to 50 among some varieties) that grow out of its horizontal roots makes the plant a self-reproducing perennial, able to sustain high biomass growth, and carbon-storage and sequestration on a long-term basis.
Even as a maturing agave plant is pruned beginning in Year Three (to produce fermented silage) and the entire mature agave plant (the pina) is harvested at the end of its life span, in order to make mescal, in our case after eight to 10 years, it leaves behind a family of pups that are carrying out photosynthesis and producing biomass (leaves and stem) at an equal or greater rate than the parent plant.
In other words, a very high level of above-ground carbon storage and below-ground sequestration can be maintained year after year — all with no irrigation and no synthetic fertilizers or chemicals required, if intercropped in conjunction with nitrogen-fixing tree such as mesquite, huizache, inga, moringa or other dryland species such as the acacias that grow in arid or semi-arid areas.
Agaves and a number of their tree companions have been used as sources of food, beverage and fiber by indigenous societies for hundreds, in fact thousands of years. However, until recently farmers had not been able to figure out how to utilize the massive biomass of the agave plant leaves which, unless they are fermented, are basically indigestible and even harmful to livestock.
In fact, this is why, besides the thorns and thick skins of the leaves, animals typically will not, unless starving, eat them. But once their massive leaves (which contain significant amounts of sugar) are chopped up and fermented in closed containers, livestock, after a short period of adjustment, will gobble up this sweet, nutritious forage like candy.
Developing a native species/agroforestry/livestock system on 5 million to 10 million acres of land unsuitable for food crops in a large country like Mexico (which has 357 million acres of cropland and pastureland, much of which is degraded) could literally sequester 37% to 74% of the country's net current fossil fuel emissions (current net emissions are 492m tons of CO2e).
And, of course, wherever these agave/agroforestry/holistic grazing systems are deployed, farmers and ranchers will also be restoring the fertility and moisture holding capacity of millions of acres of pasturelands and rangelands, thereby promoting rural food self-sufficiency and prosperity.
Scaling up best regenerative practices on the world's billions of acres of croplands, pasturelands and forest lands — especially those degraded lands no longer suitable for crops or grazing — can play a major role, along with moving away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, in stopping and reversing climate change.
For more information on the global Regeneration Movement go to Regeneration International. Please sign up for our free newsletter and, if you can afford it, make a tax-deductible donation to help us spread the message of Regenerative Agriculture and Agave Power across the world. "Our house is on fire," as teenage Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg reminds us, but there is still time to turn things around.
Reposted with permission from Mercola.com
https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/bigstock-Amazing-View-Of-An-Blue-Agave-282501760-scaled.jpg 1707 2560 Ronnie Cummins https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RI-Logo-New.png Ronnie Cummins2019-11-28 12:26:142019-11-28 12:26:14This Revolutionary System Can Help Stop Global Warming
The Inga Foundation: Changing Lives in a Revolutionary Way
Mike Hands of the Inga Foundation, a Regeneration International (RI) partner, works in Honduras with slash-and-burn farmers who average 20 acres (eight hectares) of land holdings. That's considerably larger than most slash-and-burn farms, which Mike estimates are no bigger than five acres (two hectares).
If you use that two-hectare figure as a benchmark, and multiply it by the 300 million slash-and-burn farms worldwide, you've got 1.5 billion acres. That's a lot of slash-and-burn acreage—acreage that with better farming practices, could be turned into carbon-sequestering farms.
According to Hands, converting from slash and burn to the Inga Foundation's Guama (Spanish for inga tree) farming method sequesters about 35 tons of carbon per acre per year over a 12-year period.
Multiply that by 1.5 billion acres, and if every slash-and-burn farm worldwide were to convert to the Inga Foundation's Guama model, it could sequester as much as 52.5 billion tons (gigatons) of CO2 over a 12-year period.
According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one gigaton of carbon sequestration lowers atmospheric carbon levels by almost .5 parts per million.
So, if all slash-and-burn farmers worldwide were to switch to the Inga Foundation's Guama model, it would be enough to lower the world's perilously high carbon level of 400 parts-per-million (ppm) by about 25 ppm, to about 375 ppm, bringing us that much closer to the level of 350 ppm that 350.org is calling for in order to stabilize the world's climate.
Clearly, the Inga Foundation is on to something.
The Guardian newspaper seems to think so. It ranked Mike Hands #44 on a list of the 100 most important people for saving the world—ahead of such luminaries as Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, Charles Darwin and the Dalai Lama. That's pretty heady company.
The Inga Foundation is active in Costa Rica, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and the U.K.. But the foundation's biggest project is in Honduras, where it's working with 300 family farmers. That's a far cry from 250 million. But it's a start. And it's growing.
When I spoke with Mike from his base in the U.K., he said Honduran farmers who have seen the crop yields of their Guama-employing neighbors are lining up to learn Guama techniques and to get Inga Foundation help with getting started—especially in the wake of a major 2016 storm that caused widespread flooding and literally washed away the farms of many non-Guama slash-and-burn farmers.
Slash-and-burn farms tend to be on hillsides, often steep hillsides, where rough terrain, difficult access and vulnerability to washout makes the land less desirable and lessens competition for the land. All of these factors combine to offer at least some degree of protection from the large and expanding palm oil biofuel plantations that often use violence and even murder to displace farmers on the coastal plains of Honduras.
But those advantages come at a cost, and when Guama-employing farmers bounced back from the 2016 storm and a devastating drought that followed the storm, their neighbors took notice, and interest in the Inga Foundation's methods spiked.
The Guama basics are not hugely complicated. You plant rows of Inga trees—which have extensive, shallow and fast-growing roots systems—between rows of crops, in a method known as alley cropping. This increases soil retention, especially in the face of challenges such as intense rain, droughts and hurricanes. Then you supplement soil nutrition with decomposing foliage of the Inga trees and with mineral supplements, most importantly rock phosphate—not regular, standard phosphate, which washes away much more quickly.
Slash-and-burn is hard on farmers because the land it clears loses soil nutrition so fast that farmers have to clear new lands every 5-7 years. That's hard work. It disrupts families and family life. And the endless search for new lands to clear and cultivate brings farmers into sometimes violent conflict with other farmers, landowners and indigenous peoples.
Plus every time farmers slash and burn an hectare of land (2.5 acres), at least 100 tons of carbon are released into the atmosphere, according to Mike Hands. And right now the world is watching in horror as this process is being played out—and accelerating—in the Amazon rainforests of Brazil and Bolivia, particularly in Brazil, where the new far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro is turning a blind eye to, or even encouraging, what is often land theft and subsequent illegal burning.
It's a long way from the Inga Foundation's 300 families to the global figure of 250 million slash-and-burn farmers. Not surprisingly, Hands says the biggest challenge to the Inga Foundation's growth is funding. And government bureaucracies aren't helping either. In Honduras, a Foundation shipment of 18,800 kilos of rock phosphate has been held up in customs since 2017. And the customs and storage fees keep rising, making eventual release of the rock phosphate less and less likely and further and further out of reach.
Despite all the challenges facing the Inga Foundation, Mike Hands is optimistic. "The Guama Model is changing lives and livelihoods in a revolutionary way,"Mike told me. "We estimate that families in our Land for Life Program have planted over 3 million trees since 2012."
That sounds like a pretty good start.
https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/inga.jpg 642 960 Lawrence Reichard https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RI-Logo-New.png Lawrence Reichard2019-09-11 17:24:322019-09-12 17:22:57The Inga Foundation: Changing Lives in a Revolutionary Way
Structurally Complex Forests Better at Carbon Sequestration
08/20/2019 /in Agriculture, Environment /by Virginia Commonwealth University
Forests in the eastern United States that are structurally complex – meaning the arrangement of vegetation is highly varied – sequester more carbon, according to a new study led by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University.
The study demonstrates for the first time that a forest's structural complexity is a better predictor of carbon sequestration potential than tree species diversity. The discovery may hold implications for the mitigation of climate change.
"Carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, is taken up by trees through the process of photosynthesis and some of that 'fixed' carbon is allocated to wood," said Chris Gough, Ph.D., corresponding author on the study and an associate professor in the Department of Biology in the College of Humanities and Sciences. "Our study shows that more complex forests are better at taking up and sequestering carbon in wood and, in doing so, they leave less carbon dioxide in the air."
KEEP READING ON EUREKALERT
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RI's Mexico Team Takes Part in First Mexican Congress of Agroecology Conference
07/29/2019 /in Agriculture, Blog /by Ercilia Sahores
On January 1, 1994, Mexico's Zapatista revolution exploded onto the world stage and instantly grabbed the attention and imagination of progressives and activists around the world. Among those caught up in the Zapatista revolution were activists and academics pushing back against an almost global corporate takeover of agriculture. Suddenly a new, different world was possible.
It was only fitting then that the First Mexican Congress of Agroecology was held May 12 to 17 this year in San Cristobal de las Casas, capital of the Mexican state of Chiapas, and ground zero for the vision of a new Mexico launched by the Zapatista revolution. The Congress brought together more than a thousand people from peasant, academic, student and activist communities, and organizations from all over Mexico and around the world—including Regeneration International.
The cross-cutting premise of the Congress was to bring academia and existing grassroots agroecological processes together in a social and collaborative way, while creating the opportunity for rural communities themselves determine their real needs and implement actions to address those needs.
The Intercultural University of Chiapas (UNICH) and the College of the Southern Border (ECOSUR) were the prime movers and organizers of the Congress. Since 2018, UNICH and ECOSUR have worked closely together to strengthen the exchange of traditional knowledge and experience between rural communities and academia.
From the very beginning and throughout the Congress, during discussions on the origin and history of agroecology in Mexico, peasant communities were spoken of as guardians of agrobiodiversity and as the driving force behind the survival of many of the seeds and plants that have existed in the Americas from pre-Hispanic times until today.
The Congress grappled with the history of agroecology, with an emphasis on the need to build a common future based on the great potential that Mexico has in implementing agroecological techniques.
Participants also worked on organizing a common front to present proposals that feed state and national public policies beneficial to the community at large—policies that create resilience and can reverse the harmful effects that the agro-industrial model has on food quality, food sovereignty, soil, water, air and ecosystems as a whole. There was also much discussion of agro-industry's substantial contribution to climate change, and resultant forced migration, an issue that has dominated the news and galvanized public opinion in Mexico, the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.
The wide variety of program topics and the heterogeneity of Congress participants underlined the need to reconcile the multiple perspectives that exist on agroecology in Mexico, in particular the Mayan vision, which from generation to generation has opted for a construction of knowledge and resistance, as well as the academic vision, in Mexico represented by the figure of the well-known late Mexican ethnobotany teacher Efraim Hernández Xocolotzi .
With this goal in mind, of integrating and weaving together Mexico's many rich and diverse perspectives, Congress roundtables discussed these principal topics: food sovereignty, international experiences in agroecology and good living, farmers' markets, agroecological production strategies, agroforestry systems, silvopasture and wildlife management, milpa systems, family gardens, pest management, public policy and governance, soils and seeds, women, agroecology and feminism, maize under siege, water and soil, seeds and resilience, and peasant schools, among other topics.
The closing ceremony was held at the historic Teatro Zebadúa in the center of San Cristóbal de las Casas. Speakers at the closing roundtable included Dr. Víctor Suárez Carrera, Mexican Undersecretary of Food Self-Sufficiency of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; Dr. Crispim Moreira, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) representative to Mexico; and Dr. Luis García Barrios, director of the southeast region of the National Commission of Science and Technology.
In a packed auditorium, the public peppered authorities with questions on the real capacity for change posed by the Fourth Transformation, a broad proposal put forth by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to solve the problems that the Mexican Revolution—the Third Transformation—left unresolved. It became clear that agroecology must be part of the real transformation of the Mexican Republic, and that this will occur to the extent that a strong and organized society demands the necessary changes so that the public policies that the government implements integrate agroecology as a substantial part of that change.
Ercilia Sahores is a member of the Regeneration International steering committee and Latin America Director. To keep up with news and events, sign up here for the Regeneration International newsletter.
https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/cuadro-Zapata.jpg 2912 5184 Ercilia Sahores https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RI-Logo-New.png Ercilia Sahores2019-07-29 15:38:482019-07-29 15:53:33RI's Mexico Team Takes Part in First Mexican Congress of Agroecology Conference
Expertos instan a integrar la agroecología con otras formas de producción
07/11/2019 /in Español /by La Vanguardia
Roma, 3 jul (EFE).- La agricultura ecológica debe integrarse con otros métodos de innovación con el fin de que los sistemas alimentarios se vuelvan sostenibles, afirmaron este miércoles asesores de la ONU en un nuevo informe.
El Grupo de expertos de alto nivel del Comité de Seguridad Alimentaria Mundial (CSA), un foro intergubernamental de Naciones Unidas en el que también participan el sector privado y la sociedad civil, presentó en Roma las conclusiones de un estudio centrado en la agroecología.
En las últimas décadas ese concepto "dinámico" se ha expandido del terreno a los paisajes y a los sistemas alimentarios en general, dijo en el acto el jefe del equipo encargado del informe, Fergus Sinclair.
Entre los principios generales por los que se rige la agroecología a nivel local están el reciclaje, la reducción de insumos externos, la salud del suelo y de los animales, la diversificación económica, la gobernanza de los recursos naturales y la participación de distintos actores.
SIGUE LEYENDO EN LA VANGUARDIA
https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/markus-winkler-HeqXGxnsnX4-unsplash.jpg 3072 2048 La Vanguardia https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RI-Logo-New.png La Vanguardia2019-07-11 17:26:352019-07-11 17:26:37Expertos instan a integrar la agroecología con otras formas de producción
Primer Congreso Mexicano de Agroecología: frente común para revertir los efectos nocivos del modelo agroindustrial
06/25/2019 /in Español /by Regeneration International
Del 12 al 17 de mayo de 2019 se celebró en San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, México, el Primer Congreso Mexicano de Agroecología.
En el encuentro participaron más de mil personas integrantes de las comunidades campesina, académica, estudiantil, activista y de diversas organizaciones nacionales e internacionales, entre ellas Regeneration International.
La principal premisa que fungió como hilo transversal del Congreso fue la necesidad de que la academia se sume a los procesos agroecológicos de base ya existentes, que se una con un sentido social y colaborativo y que su contenido nazca desde las necesidades de las propias comunidades y esté a su servicio.
Cabe destacar que los organizadores principales de este Congreso fueron la Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas (UNICH) y el Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), instituciones que desde 2018 trabajan de manera cercana, firmando convenios de colaboración que apuntan a reforzar este intercambio de saberes y conocimientos entre comunidad y academia.
En la apertura del Congreso se hizo un repaso de la génesis y la historia de la agroecología en México: se habló de las comunidades campesinas como guardianes de la agrobiodiversidad y responsables de la subsistencia de muchas de las semillas y plantas que desde tiempos prehispánicos existen y perduran hasta nuestros tiempos. Con una mirada que fue recorriendo la historia y la memoria de la agroecología, se hizo énfasis en la necesidad de construir un futuro conjunto partiendo de la base del gran potencial que tiene México en técnicas agroecológicas y la importancia de organizarse en un frente común para presentar propuestas que alimenten políticas públicas estatales y nacionales beneficiosas para la comunidad en general; que creen resiliencia y puedan revertir los efectos nocivos del modelo agroindustrial en la calidad de la alimentación y la pérdida de la soberanía alimentaria, la degradación de ecosistemas, la pérdida de suelos, la contaminación de agua y aire, el cambio climático y las migraciones forzadas.
En la integración del programa y la heterogeneidad de la asistencia quedó de manifiesto la necesidad de conciliar las múltiples perspectivas que existen sobre la agroecología en México, en particular la mirada maya que de generación en generación ha apostado por una construcción de saberes y resistencia; así como la académica, simbolizada en México en la figura del maestro Xocolotzi.
Con este objetivo, en el programa se integraron por diferentes mesas: soberanía alimentaria, experiencias internacionales en agroecología y el buen vivir, mercados y tianguis, estrategias de producción agroecológicas, sistemas agroforestales, salvopastoriles y manejo de fauna, sistema milpa, huertos familiares, manejo de plagas, política pública y gobernanza, suelos y semillas, mujeres, agroecología y feminismos, el maíz bajo asedio, agua y suelo, semillas y resiliencia, escuelas campesinas, entre otros temas.
El acto de clausura se realizó en el Teatro Zebadúa, en el centro de San Cristóbal de las Casas. En la mesa de cierre participaron como ponentes el Dr. Víctor Suárez Carrera, Subsecretario de Autosuficiencia Alimentaria de la Secretaría de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural, el Dr. Crispim Moreira, representante de FAO en México, y el Dr. Luis García Barrios, Director de la región Sureste de la Comisión Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología.
En un auditorio lleno, donde no faltaron las interpelaciones entre público y autoridades acerca de la capacidad real de cambio propuesto por la cuarta transformación del gobierno de Andrés Manuel López Obrador, quedó de manifiesto que la agroecología debe ser parte de la transformación real de la República y que esto ocurrirá en la medida en que una sociedad fuerte y organizada proponga los cambios necesarios para que las políticas públicas que el gobierno implemente integren a la agroecología como una parte sustancial del cambio.
https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/cuadro-Zapata.jpg 2912 5184 Regeneration International https://regenerationinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/RI-Logo-New.png Regeneration International2019-06-25 20:16:582019-06-25 20:17:00Primer Congreso Mexicano de Agroecología: frente común para revertir los efectos nocivos del modelo agroindustrial
Regeneración: noticias locales para un movimiento global
Desde su creación en 2015, Regeneration International ha estado trabajando de manera local para fortalecer un movimiento de solidaridad global. Hasta el momento, 218 proyectos regenerativos ubicados en 55 países forman parte de la Red Internacional de Afiliados de Regeneration.
Desde comienzos del año se han realizado diversos talleres, conferencias y encuentros regionales e internacionales que nutren y conectan el movimiento de regeneración global. Queremos por este medio compartirte información para que sepas más de lo que está ocurriendo y puedas acercarte y formar parte de este movimiento. Regeneration Belice celebró su primera Asamblea General, en Kenia, estaremos presentes en la Semana Mundial del Suelo y en Chiapas, México, participaremos del Primer Congreso Mexicano de Agroecología.
Sigue leyendo para saber más sobre estos eventos regenerativos internacionales.
BELICE: Regeneración Belice celebra su primera reunión general anual en Belmopan
Regeneración Belice celebró su primera Asamblea General el 13 de febrero en la sala de conferencias de la Feria Nacional de Agricultura y Comercio en Belmopan.
Regeneración Belice es el resultado del esfuerzo común de productores, educadores, consumidores y educadores de Belice y aliados internacionales. El primer paso para la conformación de este grupo se dio durante la Primera Conferencia de Agricultura Tropical que tuvo lugar en Belmopan en noviembre de 2018.
El 19 de marzo, Regeneración Belice organizó un taller de biocarbón a cargo de Christopher Nesbitt de Maya Mountain Research Farm e integrante de la junta de Regeneración Belice, con una participación de 51 personas. Se está planeando un taller de preservación de semillas para junio con la asistencia de RI, Sustainable Harvest International (SHI), el Ministerio de Agricultura y otros involucrados en la preservación de semillas. Regeneración Belice continúa desarrollando numerosos eventos para 2019, desde su Segunda Conferencia sobre Agricultura Tropical Regenerativa en noviembre, como su participación en el Día Mundial de la Alimentación en octubre.
URUGUAY: ¡El movimiento de regeneración está ganando terreno en Uruguay!
El 14 de febrero tuvo lugar el taller "José Ignacio, Faro Regenerativo: agua y suelo libres de agroquímicos" en las instalaciones del restaurante la Excusa, en José Ignacio, Uruguay. El evento se llevó a cabo conjuntamente con la Feria Gastronómica local, patrocinada por varias organizaciones locales, nacionales e internacionales y ONG's, incluida Savory International.
Los talleres sobre prácticas agrícolas regenerativas se llevarán a cabo mensualmente, a fin de difundir el movimiento regenerativo en todo Uruguay. Para más información, llame o WhatsApp: 598-98106116.
ESTADOS UNIDOS: Global Earth Repair Conference, Port Townsend, Washington (EE. UU.), 3-5 de mayo de 2019
La Global Earth Repair Conference (Conferencia Global de Reparación de la Tierra) reunirá a unas 500 personas para hablar sobre la reparación de la tierra a nivel local, regional, estatal, nacional e internacional. La Conferencia Global de Reparación de la Tierra facilita el intercambio de información entre los profesionales de la reparación de la tierra.
El evento de este año se centrará en cómo aplicar la reparación de la tierra en áreas urbanas, tierras de cultivo, bosques, pastizales, estepas arbustivas, desiertos, arroyos, ríos, arrecifes de coral, océanos y otros ecosistemas. Recolección de semillas, movimientos de tierras, curvas de nivel, viveros, plantas nativas, establecimiento de plantas, árboles, estacas vivas, siembra de retoños y mucho más estará en el menú.
MEXICO: 1er. Congreso Mexicano de Agroecología, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, 12-17 de mayo de 2019.
Regeneración Internacional y la Asociación de Consumidores Orgánicos (ACO), junto con la Red de Semillas de México, participarán en el Primer Congreso Mexicano de Agroecología con una serie de actividades relacionadas con la defensa de las semillas y la agrodiversidad.
El miércoles 15 de mayo, habrá talleres sobre producción de semillas y sobre la tortilla 100% nixtamalizada. También habrá una presentación de "SIEMBRA!", Una serie educativa sobre la producción de semillas y un intercambio de semillas.
El jueves 16 de mayo, participaremos en una mesa titulada "Semillas y resiliencia: aprendizaje, resistencia y construcción a través de la defensa, conservación y producción de semillas", que contará con oradores del sector público y académico y organizaciones sin fines de lucro.
AFRICA DEL ESTE: Global Soil Week, Nairobi, Kenya, May 27-30, 2019
La Global Soil Week (Semana Mundial del Suelo) reunirá a científicos y profesionales del suelo para deliberar sobre cómo crear entornos que permitan la neutralidad de la degradación de la tierra en África. Precious Phiri, de Regeneration International, se asociará con la Oficina Federal Alemana para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (Viridiana Alcántara) para llevar a cabo una visita al Savory Hub de Kenia en las tierras de Masai Mara. Este evento mostrará el potencial para la regeneración de la salud del suelo en las tierras secas de Kenia. La esperanza es que esto genere interés entre los científicos para asociarse con Savory Hubs en proyectos orientados a la regeneración de los pastizales.
ESTADOS UNIDOS: el Green New Deal enciende la esperanza de un cambio integral en la política agrícola
Desde Regeneration International apoyamos el Green New Deal (GND) o Nuevo Acuerdo Verde, una propuesta de movilización para los próximos 10 años para combatir el cambio climático al tiempo que promueve medidas para reducir la desigualdad económica en Estados Unidos. El GND ofrece una oportunidad sin precedentes para finalmente unir a los activistas de justicia ambiental, climática, alimentaria, laboral y económica en los EE. UU. en torno a una plataforma de políticas que ofrece soluciones para las múltiples crisis que enfrentamos.
En los EE. UU., RI está trabajando tras bambalinas para crear una coalición nacional de agricultores y ganaderos a favor del GND con el objetivo de redactar y generar apoyos para las principales reformas de política agrícola para enfrentar el calentamiento global y otras crisis, como el deterioro de la salud pública y la contaminación del agua, el colapso de las granjas familiares y sus comunidades, la pérdida de la vida silvestre y la biodiversidad, y los bajos salarios de los trabajadores del campo y la industria alimentaria.
Haremos algunos anuncios importantes sobre nuestra asociación con el Movimiento Sunrise en los próximos meses. Por ahora, si vive en los EE. UU., favor de utilizar este formulario para pedir a sus miembros del Congreso que apoyen el Green New Deal.
¿Eres un granjero o ganadero en los Estados Unidos? Por favor firme esta carta al Congreso instando a que se apoye un Green New Deal.
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Elige FAO a México para impulsar agroecología y erradicar el hambre
04/21/2019 /in Español /by Mexicampo
El Gobierno de México debe contemplar en los programas que forman parte de su Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, el impulsar un modelo de producción agroecológico sustentable, que permita alcanzar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, planteados en la agenda 2030 de la ONU para erradicar la pobreza y hambre cero, y mejorar la calidad de vida de las familias campesinas.
Crispin Moreira, representante de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y Agricultura en México (FAO), informó que para lograrlo se requiere de un marco legal, un mayor presupuesto, control social, intrumentos operativos y políticas públicas que favorezcan el fortalecimiento de este modelo agroecológico.
Anunció que México junto con Senegal y la Indía, fueron elegidos durante el II Simposium que realizó la FAO en Roma, para impulsar una agenda más concreta, sobre producción agroecológica que permitan alcanzar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de la ONU, en la erradicación de la extrema pobreza y hambre cero.
SIGUE LEYENDO EN MEXICAMPO
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The legendary pianist Alfred Brendel will come to Prague this weekend to take part in a three-day festival organised in his honour. The Czech-born musician, considered to be one of the world's greatest living pianists, will present his books, give a master class and lecture on the art of playing Mozart. The event gets underway at Prague's Rudolfinum concert hall on Sunday.
Alfred Brendel was born in 1931 in the town of Loučná nad Desnou in former Czechoslovakia and started his career seventeen years later in Graz. One of the most prolific recording artists of all time, Mr Brendel has received many major music awards.
He is only the third pianist in history to be named an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic and was also appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire for Outstanding Services to Music in Britain, where he has lived since 1972.
"I think Alfred Brendel is a living legend. He is now 88 years old. He no longer performs,but his interpretation was really legendary. For example he was the first pianist to record the complete piano music of Ludwig van Beethoven.
After being in the spotlight for nearly 60 years, Alfred Brendel bid farewell to the concert stage in 2008, but remains active in many other fields, giving lectures and pursuing his literary career.
Mr Brendel will launch the festival on Sunday with a public lecture on the art of Mozart interpretation, entitled On Playing Mozart, followed by a launch of his books, Complete Edition of Poetry and Pianist's Alphabet. After the official programme, visitors will also have a unique chance to meet the legendary pianist in person.
Alfred Brendel will also lead a masterclass with the Czech ensemble Trio Incendio and will attend a concert of the ensemble Quatuor Diotima from Paris, who are coming to Prague specially at his invitation to perform the music of Béla Bartók.
Another highlight of the three-day event will be the Czech premiere of a piece by Czech composer Miroslav Srnka, perhaps the best-known Czech contemporary composer of the present day.
The three-day festival in honour of Alfred Brendel is organised by Prague Music Performance Institute & Festival, in cooperation with the Czech Philharmonic.


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KentuckyMonthly.com (October 2019): Moving Mountains
Virginia Mercury (Sept. 26, 2019): Southwest Virginia looks to rock climbing for revenue boost
VICE News (Aug. 19, 2019): This Small Appalachian Town Flooded. But the Real Trouble Started When Disaster Aid Arrived.
New York Times (May 12, 2019): They Were Promised Coding Jobs in Appalachia. Now They Say It Was a Fraud.
WDBJ7 (April 30, 2019): Pulaski blends preservation and progress in downtown revitalization approach
The Roanoke Times (April 28, 2019): Editorial: Appalachia has a new story to tell, and it's not an elegy
The Roanoke Times (April 23, 2019): Foundation offers help to bring more doctors to Virginia's coalfields
The Roanoke Times (April 22, 2019): Floyd County to become the most connected rural community in Virginia, state leaders say
100 Days in Appalachia (April 19, 2019): Thomas, W.Va.: The Town the Arts (Re) Built
MyBuchannon.com (April 19, 2019): Small-town Buckhannon, W.Va. retains its classic charm while thriving in modern Appalachia
The Washington Post (April 16, 2019): A crisis in Kentucky shows the high cost of clean drinking water
Newsweek (April 11, 2019): Take me home country roads: A trip through Appalachia
Governing (April 2, 2019): Commentary: 3 Keys to the Economic Viability of Small Towns
The Washington Post (March 28, 2019): In small towns across the nation, the death of a coal plant leaves an unmistakable void
Virginia Mercury (March 25, 2019): Desperate for jobs, one of Virginia's most conservative cities turns to marijuana and casinos
Governing (March 11, 2019): As Coal Declines, Former Mining Towns Turn to Tourism
Los Angeles Times (March 4, 2019): Broke, a sheriff in Appalachian coal country struggles to provide law and order
WSLS Channel 10 (Feb. 18, 2019): Salem leveraging historic districts to fuel future economic growth
The Roanoke Times (February 11, 2019): Bristol named Virginia's most charming small town by The Travel Channel
NPR (Dec. 18, 2018): An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It
Lexington Herald-Leader (Dec. 6, 2108): 'Tip of the spear.' As customers beg for clean water, is a crisis looming in Appalachia?
Lexington Herald-Leader (Dec. 6, 2108): Many in Eastern Kentucky can't count on clean water. Here are 5 ways to fix that.
Popular Mechanics (Dec. 3, 2018): Abandoned Coal Mines Could Be Future of Farming
New York Times (Oct. 9, 2018): West Virginia's Small-Town Revival
New York Times (Oct. 5, 2018): A Virginia Coal Town Finds a New Natural Resource: Serpentine Roads for Motorcycling
WVTF (Aug. 13, 2018): Recession Recovery Doesn't Look the Same Across Virginia
Smithsonian.com (Aug. 1, 2018): New Map Chronicles Three Decades of Surface Mining in Central Appalachia
NPR (June 28, 2018): 'Fundamental Shift' Needed to Protect Miners from Deadly Black Lung
NPR (June 19, 2018): As Rural Towns Lose Population, They Can Learn to 'Shrink Smart'
The Daily Yonder (May 29, 2018): If We Build It: The Tourism Economy in S.W. Virginia
Citylab (May 1, 2018): The Rise of the Rural Creative Class
The Conversation (April 25, 2018): Invoking noble coal miners is a mainstay of American politics
CNBC (March 29, 2018): This Kentucky coal town is fighting for survival long after the war on coal is over
Marketplace (Feb. 28, 2018): Some former coal towns turn to nature tourism as a new economic driver
The Nation (Oct. 11, 2017): Can Local Food Help Appalachia Build a Post-Coal Future?
New York Times (Sept. 30, 2017): What's Up in Coal Country: Alternative-Energy Jobs
Rewire (Sept. 8, 2017): Could Outdoor Tourism Keep Millennials in Appalachia?
The Atlantic (Aug. 7, 2017): The Early Deaths of Appalachians
Virginia Tech News (Aug. 3, 2017): Virginia Tech research team calls for examination of connection between human health and environment in Central Appalachia
Washingtonian (July 7, 2017): A Gay DC Power Couple is Remaking a West Virginia Town. Not Everyone is Happy About It.
Columbia Journalism Review (July 6, 2017): Dissatisfied with the national media's frame, Appalachia finds its own voice
Virginia Business (June 30, 2017): Renewables seen as way to stay in the energy business
Inside Higher Ed (June 23, 2017): A New Direction in Appalachia
Vinton Courier (June 7, 2017): Trump budget would cut Applachian Regional Commission
The Wall Street Journal (May 26, 2017 – subscription required): Rural America Is the New Inner City
U.S. News (May 6, 2017): Some Towns Rebound, Others Wither as Manufacturing Declines
Asheville Citizen-Times (May 6, 2017): Appalachia at risk: Housing crisis threatens mountain life
New York Times (May 2, 2017): Coal Jobs Prove Lucrative, but Not for Those in the Mines
Walmart Digital Communications (May 2, 2017): Growing Beyond Europe, Korona Candles Lights Up U.S.
Lexington Herald-Leader (April 20, 2017): Editorial: 'Empower Kentucky' for the future
Washington Post (April 6, 2017): Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Harlan County switches to solar power
Daily Mail [U.K.] (March 27, 2017): Decline of the town that coal built
The Atlantic (March 16, 2017): Trump's Proposal to Scrap the Agency Devoted to Developing Appalachia
Roanoke Times (Dec. 11, 2016): Editorial: How Wise County's court clerk became a visionary economic developer
Governing Magazine (December 2016): In Life After Coal, Appalachia Attempts to Reinvent Itself
Voice of America (Sept. 21, 2016): US Coal Country Looks to Future Past 'Black Gold'
Huffington Post (Sept. 12, 2016): The Liberalization of Food Culture in Southwest Virginia
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Aug. 27, 2016): The Extremes of Virginia, Part 1: Rural poverty hides in a rich state
Asheville Citizen-Times (Aug. 19, 2016): Thrive: Revitalizing WNC downtowns
Bloomberg Businessweek (Sept. 10, 2015): Coal's Decline Is Choking Appalachia Towns
Washington Post (Aug. 20, 2015): After coal, Appalachia to wind farm proposal: 'It is insulting, really.'
Daily Yonder (April 28, 2015): Mountaintop Removal Moves Closer
The Atlantic (April 8, 2015): Imagining a Post-Coal Appalachia
Fox News (Oct. 20, 2014): Losing the War on Coal: One Virginia town's painful decline
PA Times (July 2014): Developing Rural Communities
New York Times (June 26, 2014): What's the Matter With Eastern Kentucky?
Kingsport Times News (Aug. 6, 2013): Despite town's problems, some Pennington Gap residents aren't giving up
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Aug. 14, 2011): Va.'s declining communities: Southwest fights population losses
Season Six, Episode Five December 20, 2019
Season Six, Episode Four November 19, 2019
Season Six, Episode Three October 31, 2019
Season Six, Episode Two September 26, 2019
Marion, Virginia – Season wrapup September 9, 2019
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Try the satisfaction of putting your feet and hands in the earth of our vegetable garden and picking the fresh delicacies of a Tuscan specialty that you will cook with our Chef.
You could even consider a relaxing Olive Oil massage under the bamboo grove or an excursion to discover the excellent cheeses of this territory. You choose an experience… we'll provide either an apron for the kitchen or a basket for the vegetable garden!
Dive into our natural surroundings and make them yours.
Let yourself be "struck" by the curiosity to discover the secrets of these industrious creatures.


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Islam and Democracy after the Arab Spring
John L. Esposito, Tamara Sonn, and John O. Voll
New work from established experts
Authors have served as consultants to governments, military organizations, and think tanks
Draws on data from the Gallup World poll and Gallup polling throughout Egypt, Tunisia, and other Muslim-majority countries
The landscape of the Middle East has changed dramatically since 2011, as have the political arena and the discourse around democracy. In Islam and Democracy after the Arab Spring, John L. Esposito, John Voll, and Tamara Sonn examine the state of democracy in Muslim-majority societies today. Applying a twenty-first century perspective to the question of whether Islam is "compatible" with democracy, they redirect the conversation toward a new politics of democracy that transcends both secular authoritarianism and Political Islam.
While the opposition movements of the Arab Spring vary from country to country, each has raised questions regarding equality, economic justice, democratic participation, and the relationship between Islam and democracy in their respective countries. Does democracy require a secular political regime? Are religious movements the most effective opponents of authoritarian secularist regimes? Esposito, Voll, and Sonn examine these questions and shed light on how these opposition movements reflect the new global realities of media communication and sources of influence and power. Positioned for a broad readership of scholars and students, policy-makers, and media experts, Islam and Democracy after the Arab Spring will quickly become a go-to for all who watch the Middle East, inside and outside of academia.
Chapter 2: Islam, Democracy and Turkey's Secular State
Chapter 3: Iran: Classical Themes and Contemporary Challenges
Chapter 4: Pakistan: A Work in Progress
Chapter 5: Indonesia: From Military Rule to Democracy
Chapter 6: Senegal: Democracy and the Post-Colonial State
Chapter 7: Tunisia: From Revolution to Republic
Chapter 8: Egypt: From Democratization to the Restoration of Authoritarianism
Chapter 9: Conclusion
John L. Esposito is University Professor, Professor of Religion & International Affairs and of Islamic Studies, and Founding Director of the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Tamara Sonn is the Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor in the History of Islam in the Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
John O. Voll is Professor Emeritus of Islamic History and past Associate Director of the Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University.
"This valuable book is highly recommended for understanding the contemporary dilemma of Muslin states caught, as they are, between modernity, tradition and certain ideologies." -- The Muslim World Book Review Vol.38.2
"Islam and Democracy after the Arab Spring is a book of exceptional resolve..."--Journal of Church and State
"This is a very timely book. At a time where many observers are questioning the possibility of a true democratic process within Muslim majority countries, this series of essays shows, from Turkey to Iran, Senegal to Indonesia, that the political experiences are multiple and the way toward democratization is complex, yet open. The authors invite the reader to avoid simplistic conclusions about Islam and democracy. A critical achievement." --Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford
"Democracy can take many forms, and the struggle of Muslim majority countries to find a democracy suited to their distinct cultural and political experiences is, as outlined in Islam and Democracy after the Arab Spring, an epoch-making experiment. Countering the 'clash of civilizations' and 'end of history' prophecies, Esposito, Sonn, and Voll show how pre- and post-Arab spring political developments in Muslim majority countries are marathon battles to end authoritarian practices in politics, religion, culture and statecraft. A must-read for those wishing to gain a nuanced understanding of the volatile and complex developments tied to Muslim efforts to make democracy a reality." --Ebrahim Moosa, Professor of Islamic Studies, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame
"For those who see in the apparent failure of the 'Arab spring' proof of the incompatibility of Islam and democratization, Esposito, Sonn, and Voll's new book offers a nuanced and brilliant rejoinder. No work that I know succeeds better at explaining the logic of the political struggles underway in the modern Muslim world. None more fully deserves to be read by scholars and the general reader alike." --Robert W. Hefner, author of Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia
"Excellent historical backgroundEL they present many facets of Islam with balance and insight. This is a detailed picture of democracy as alive and well in majority-Muslim countries, and an excellent text for considering what the future holds for international Islam." - Publishers Weekly
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text:
Q: How do I manage the limits of this double integral? I haven't studied multiple integrals yet, but when I look at the integration by parts formula, I see that there is an integral of an integral.  If the integration being done has limits, I'm not sure how they're managed.  Here is what I have:
So the by parts formula is
$\int f(x)g'(x)dx = f(x)g(x)-\int f'(x)g(x)dx$
If I have $g'(x)$, then I need $g(x)$.
My question is this: if I'm solving with limits, do I apply limits to $\int g'(x)dx$ also?
In other words, do I do this
$\int_a^b xe^{6x}dx = x \cdot |\frac{1}{6}e^{6x}|_a^b - \int_a^b1\cdot \frac{1}{6}e^{6x}dx$
or this
$\int_a^b xe^{6x}dx = x \cdot |\frac{1}{6}e^{6x}|_a^b - \int_a^b1\cdot |\frac{1}{6}e^{6x}|_a^bdx$
?

A: It goes like this:
$\int_a^b xe^{6x}dx = (x \cdot \frac{1}{6}e^{6x})|_a^b - \int_a^b(1\cdot \frac{1}{6}e^{6x})dx$
$f(x) g(x)$ is evaluated from $a$ to $b$ and so is the integral $\int^b_a [f'(x) g(x)] dx$

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text:
Q: how to display elements of array one by one on clicking next button? I have tried many solutions but they are not working for my purpose.
Here is my complete PHP working code for generating a random expression only for single digit numbers.
      <?php
      error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);
           if(isset($_POST['play']))
        {
       //validation for no of operation selected
       $operation = $_POST['operation'];
       if(empty($operation))
             {
               echo "Please Select at least one operation
";
             }
              else
              {
                 $N = count($operation); //count selected operation
              ?>

                  <?php
                    echo  "
";
                    echo "This is your generated sequence !

";
                    echo "You have selected $N operation(s):";

                     for($i=0; $i < $N; $i++)  //for loop for for operator array.
                        {
                          echo($operation[$i] . ", "); //display selected operation
                        }
                        echo "
";
                   ?>

                  <?php
                     //checkbox operations
                    if($N==1)   //if only one operation is selected
                        {
                             if($operation[0]=='Addition')
                                 {
                                      $rOperators = array('+');
                                 }
                                else if($operation[0]=='Subtraction')
                                   {
                                      $rOperators = array('-');
                                    }
                                    else if($operation[0]=='Multiplication')
                                      {
                                      $rOperators = array('*');
                                       }
                                        else
                                          {
                                            $rOperators = array('/');
                                          }
                        }
                    else if ($N==2) //if only two operations are selected by the user
                     {
                        if($operation[0]=='Addition')
                            {
                                if($operation[1]=='Subtraction')
                                    {
                                        $rOperators = array('+','-');
                                    }
                                     else if($operation[1]=='Multiplication')
                                         {
                                           $rOperators = array('+','*');
                                         }
                                          else
                                             {
                                               $rOperators = array('+','/');
                                             }
                            }
                            else if($operation[0]=='Subtraction')
                            {
                                if($operation[1]=='Multiplication')
                                     {
                                        $rOperators = array('-','*');
                                     }
                                    else
                                      {
                                        $rOperators = array('-','/');
                                      }
                            }
                              else
                                {
                                  $rOperators = array('*','/');
                                }
                      }
                        else if ($N==3) //if 3 o
                            {
                                if($operation[0]=='Addition')
                                 {
                                     if($operation[1]=='Subtraction')
                                         {
                                             if($operation[2]=='Multiplication')
                                             {
                                                 $rOperators = array('+','-','*');
                                             }
                                             else
                                             {
                                                 $rOperators = array('+','-','/');
                                             }

                                         }
                                      else
                                         {
                                              $rOperators = array('+','*','/');
                                         }
                                 }
                                 else
                                 {
                                     $rOperators = array('-','*','/');
                                 }
                            }
                        else
                            {
                                $rOperators = array('+','-','*','/');
                            }
             }
       //display sequence having only single digit numbers
         if($_POST['digits'] == 1)
        {
        $q = $_POST['que'];
             $previousInt = null;        //Track the previous operand
             $s = $_POST['select'];

              //display inputs given by user through form
             ?>

              <?php
              echo "No.of questions:".$q. "
";
              echo "No. of integers:" .$s. "
";
              echo  "No of digits: 1
";
              ?>

              <?php
                     for ($x = 1; $x<=$q; $x++) //for loop for no. of questions
                        {
                           $randomOperands = array();
                            $randomOperators = array();

                                    // loop over $i n times
                                   for ($i = 1; $i <=$s; $i++) //for loop for no. of integers user entered
                                     {
                                        $nextInt = rand(1, 9); // assign random operand to array slot
                                         $randomOperands[] = $nextInt;
                                            if($i < $s)
                                             {
                                               if($previousInt === 0) //No operator after last opearnd
                                                  {
                                                 //avoid division-by-zero
                                                   $randomOperators[] = $rOperators[rand(0, 2)];
                                                  }
                                                else
                                                  {
                                                   $randomOperators[] = $rOperators[rand(0, $N-1)];
                                                  }
                                              }
                                        $previousInt = $nextInt;
                                      }

                                    // print array values:
                                   $exp = '';
                                      $output_string = " ";
                                          //Generating the expression
                                           foreach($randomOperands as $key=>$value1)
                                         {
                                          $exp .=  $value1 . "" ;
                                             $output_string .= $value1."
";
                                             if(isset($randomOperators[$key]))
                                                {
                                                 $exp .=  $randomOperators[$key]  ."";
                                                  $output_string .= $randomOperators[$key]."
";
                                                }

                                         }
                                          //print expression

                                          $res = eval("return ($exp);");//evaluate the expression
                                           $generate = array($output_string, $res);
                    ?>

                                          ❮

                                           <cemter>  <?php
                                              echo '<span style= "font-size: 27px;"
Q('.$x.')

'.$output_string.'
';
                                             ?>

<?php echo '

</cemter>

                                    ❯

            <?php   } ?>
                             <input type="button" name="show" value="*****" id="show">

        <?php   }
         ?>

                           Previous
                           Next

       <?php
        }
       ?>

Here is my form

    <?php if(!isset($_POST['play']))
      {
       ?>

GENERATE HERE !

          <form action="" method="POST">

                   Select no.of questions:

<input type="number" id="qnum" name="que" value="1"  min="1" max="100">

                How many numbers you want in a sequence? :

                       <select name="select" id="int">
                        <option value="2"> 2 </option>
                        <option value="3"> 3 </option>
                        <option value="4"> 4 </option>
                        <option value="5"> 5 </option>
                        <option value="6"> 6 </option>
                        <option value="7"> 7 </option>
                        <option value="8"> 8 </option>
                        <option value="9"> 9 </option>
                        <option value="10"> 10 </option>
                      </select>

             Select no. of digits:

                  <select name="digits" id="dig">
                   <option value="1"> 1 Digit </option>

                   </select>

Select operations:

                <input type="checkbox" id="mix" value="all" class="toggle-button">All
                <input type="checkbox" id="add" name="operation[]" value="Addition" checked>Addition
                <input type="checkbox" id="sub" name="operation[]" value="Subtraction">Subtraction
                <input type="checkbox" id="mult" name="operation[]" value="Multiplication">Multiplication
                <input type="checkbox" id="div" name="operation[]" value="Division">Division

        <input type="button" name="submit" value="Generate" id="gen">

        <input type="submit" name="play" value="Play" id="play">

 </form>

  <?php }
    include 'operate.php';
    ?>

Here is screenshot of output I am getting:

As you can see in screenshot, the expression is generating with its result. The $output_string is the expression and $res is result of expression. They both are stored in array named $generate.
Now I want to show the all the elements of array one by one on clicking next button i.e the first element should be 4 according to screenshot and after clicking next button, there should be - operator and so on until the result displayed at last.
NOTE - Here everytime the value of $output_string variable  will be different because the expressions are generating randomly and accordingly the result will also changed. This is working fine for my purpose but I tried many solution and  I am unable somehow to display the elements one by one.
How can I fix it? Please help me.

A: Use a seeded random generator for generating random numbers: http://php.net/manual/en/function.srand.php
With seeded random generator, you can generate a sequence of random numbers that is always the same for that particular seed value.
You can have a hidden field in the form that will tell you what is the seed value, which will ensure that you will be able to create the same random sequence for that seed.
// Picks a random element from $array
function get_random_item($array) {
    $array_length = count($array);
    if ($array_length) {
        return $array[rand(0, $array_length - 1)];
    }
    return null;
}

// Generates a random digit
function generate_random_digit() {
    return rand(0, 9);
}

// Generates a random number that has $num_digits
function generate_random_operand($num_digits) {
    $operand = "";
    while ($num_digits--) {
        $operand += generate_random_digit();
    }
    return $operand;
}

// Generates a simple algebraic expression in form of an array
function generate_expression($num_operands, $operators, $max_digits = 1) {
    $expression = array();
    while ($num_operands--) {
        $expression[] = generate_random_operand($max_digits);
        if ($num_operands) {
            $expression[] = get_random_item($operators);
        }
    }
    return $expression;
}
// On server request, you would then:
// 1. read the values from the $_POST array
// 2. set the random seed using the seed variable sent via POST params
// 3. generate the expression
// 4. render your view
function render_expression() {
    $seed = $_POST['seed'] ?? rand();
    $num_operands = $_POST['s'] ?? 2;
    $operators = array_map(function($operation_name) {
        // this map function converts array that looks like:
        //    ['Addition', 'Multiplication']
        // into an array that looks like
        //    ['+', '*']
        switch($operation_name) {
            case 'Subtraction':
                return '-';
            case 'Multiplication':
                return '*';
            case 'Division':
                return '/';
            case 'Addition':
                // fall through to default
            default:
                return '+';
        }
    }, $_POST['operation'] ?? []);
    $expression = generate_expression($num_operands, $operators);
    echo implode(" ", $expression);
}

For showing the operands one by one, after button click, you could have another hidden form field that would keep a value of the operand counter, and then render that many expression operands as indicated by that variable.
I would suggest to do it on the client-side though. Something like this:

function showNextHiddenItem(btn) {
  var nextHiddenSpan = this.parentNode.parentNode.querySelector('span.hidden');
  if (nextHiddenSpan) {
    nextHiddenSpan.classList.remove('hidden');
  }
}

[...document.querySelectorAll('button.next')].forEach(button => button.addEventListener('click', showNextHiddenItem));
.expression span.hidden {
  display: none;
}

  4
  -
  2
  +
  5
  *
  8
  =
  42

<button class="next">Next</button>


An urgent recall has been issued for a brand of girls pyjamas that are sold at Big W.
The warning relates to the Emma Wiggles frill-sleeve PJ's that were sold between January 2 and March 7.
"The frills on the top do not comply with the requirements of the mandatory standard Consumer Goods Safety Standard 2017," the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said.
"Customers should immediately cease using the pyjama set and return it to any BIG W store for a full refund."
The items were available in stores nationally and online during that period.


text:
Justice Department Won't Retry Sen. Menendez After Corruption Case Mistrial
By Colin Dwyer
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., smiles as he leaves federal court in November.
Federal prosecutors won't retry Sen. Robert Menendez and co-defendant Salomon Melgen, in a surprise decision Wednesday that brings an end to the long-running case against the New Jersey Democrat.
As recently as earlier this month, the Justice Department had vowed to retry Menendez on charges of bribery and fraud after its first attempt ended in a mistrial in November. But a court decision last week, in which several counts against Menendez were thrown out, persuaded prosecutors to reverse course. Prosecutors referenced that order in the motion they filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
Menendez and Melgen, a Florida doctor, had been accused of engaging in a quid pro quo relationship, in which Menendez allegedly gave government favors in exchange for gifts from Melgen — including trips on Melgen's private jet. Both defendants have denied any wrongdoing, arguing the gifts were merely evidence of their close friendship.
The move Wednesday now lifts a cloud of legal suspicion that has long hung above Menendez, a high-ranking Democratic senator who is up for re-election in the fall.
Colin Dwyer
Colin Dwyer covers breaking news for NPR. He reports on a wide array of subjects — from politics in Latin America and the Middle East, to the latest developments in sports and scientific research.
See stories by Colin Dwyer


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text:
UK government faces fresh pay row from civil servants as Brexit talks loom
PCS union tells IBTimes UK that Whitehall is 'under immense pressure' at all levels.
By Ian Silvera
Updated January 6, 2017 14:41 GMT
The UK civil service is facing a fresh row over public sector pay with just months to go before Brexit talks with the EU begin.
The First Division Association (FDA), representing senior Whitehall officials, and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), representing civil servants, has called on the government to end its pay freeze.
More from IBTimes UK
Sir Tim Barrow profile: From Moscow to Brussels, meet the UK's new top EU diplomat
Brexit blow: UK's top EU diplomat quits as Article 50 deadline looms
Prime Minister Theresa May channels Jo Cox in New Year's unity plea as Brexit talks loom
"The civil service is under immense pressure at all levels, particularly in the lower grades that have been disproportionately hit by 110,000 job cuts since 2010," a PCS spokesman told IBTimes UK.
"Everyone is having to do more for less pay so, as well as starting to invest in our public services again, the government must end the pay freeze and we look forward to discussing with FDA and other unions how we can take action together to bring this about."
Public sector workers, including civil servants and NHS workers, have faced a pay freeze since 2010, and then an annual salary rise capped at 1% from 2012.
The former Chancellor George Osborne announced in his 2015 Budget that the cap would stay in place until 2019. The FDA has written to the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB), which issues pay recommendations to the government, to call for a hike.
"Fresh from reducing the size of their departments, the SCS is now tasked with implementing Brexit on top of all of the Government's existing priorities," said Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA.
"To quote one member, '...the country needs a civil service that is optimistic, energised, proud, confident and ambitious – what we have is a senior civil service that is thoroughly dispirited and demotivated."
A spokesperson for the civil service stressed Whitehall is "fully focused" on delivering the government's commitment to split from the EU.
"We are equipping ourselves with the right people and the right skills across government to make this happen," the spokesperson said.
Theresa May plans to invoke Article 50, the mechanism to leave the EU, by the end of March 2017. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in January whether MPs should vote on the issue.
The prime minister was dealt a blow when Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK's representative to the EU, quit the post. But Sir Tim Barrow, the former political director of the Foreign Office, was drafted in days later to take up the top diplomatic post.
Related topics : Brexit European Union George Osborne


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SOCIAL media was quick to hail London Zoo's escaped gorilla as Harambe mark two.
Armed police rushed to the capital's animal sanctuary after one of the giant primates is believed to have set off an alarm in its enclosure this evening.
Authorities have since confirmed the animal has been recaptured.
But his fleeting bid for freedom gave online jokers plenty of time to get creative.
And many were quick top draw parallels between the drama and the tragic tale of Harambe - the western lowland gorilla who was shot dead at Cincinnati zoo after a boy climbed into his pen in May.
Within moments a Twitter account for the on-the-run chimp was live.
The @GorillaOnTheRun account tweeted: "BRING IT @metpoliceuk @theroyalparks #LondonZoo #Gorilla."
Soon after it posted: "#FORHARAMBE !!!!! #GORILLA #LONDONZOO."
One Twitter user was quick to highlight the difference between the UK and US response to a gorilla on the run.
They wrote: "The fact that gizmo the gorilla was tranquillised and harambe was shot highlights the difference between the US and the U.K. Perfectly."
Nic Mays added: "Harambe Round 2 in London is super about to happen."
A second spoof page was live within half an hour.
The ZSL Gorilla account joked: "Who has the best banana milkshakes in London?"
Who has the best banana milkshakes in London?
And in a nod to the news Tesco is set to pull Marmite from its shelves, it wrote: "I'm heading to @Tesco before they run out of @marmite #londonzoo #zsl #gorilla."
Video footage emerged early this evening of armed police hunting the escaped beast at the popular tourist attraction.
Scotland Yard said: "Police were called by security at Regent's Park at 15.17pm to reports of an ongoing incident.
They warned the public to stay indoors as the drama unfolded.
Eyewitness Brad Evans, who has been allowed to leave the zoo, told BBC Radio London: "We were in the zoo for the day, having a cup of coffee in the main restaurant area when they locked us all in and said there was an incident.
"They gave us free teas and coffees and obviously we were asking what was going on and they told us that a gorilla had got out of its enclosure and that we weren't allowed out of the park at half-five so we had to wait.
"As we were waiting we saw the police turning up in numbers with loads of guns."