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CONTENTS EDITOR'S NOTE The Earth & I Editorial Team NEWS SECTION Planet Earth Celebrates World Environment Day 2021 The Earth & I Editorial Team Droughts Longer, Rainfall More Unpredictable in the Western US The Earth & I Editorial Team New Investing Tool Created to Fill $4.2 Trillion SDG Shortfall The Earth & I Editorial Team DATA SECTION Retail Plastic Shopping Bags: Is There a Will to Kill Them Off? The Earth & I Editorial Team What Are Animal Pollinators and Why Can’t We Live Without Them? The Earth & I Editorial Team The State of Global Water Ecosystems: Can You Believe This?! The Earth & I Editorial Team Cancer and the Environment: Do You Know the Risks? The Earth & I Editorial Team Global Greenhouse Gases: How Much Do You Know? The Earth & I Editorial Team Obesity on the Rise: Some Sobering Facts The Earth & I Editorial Team Conflict and Climate Change Drive Internal Displacement: The Numbers The Earth & I Editorial Team Indoor Air Pollution: Can You Breathe Freely? The Earth & I Editorial Team Kids at Risk: What are They Eating? The Earth & I Editorial Team ECOSYSTEMS Farming Amid Sand Dunes and Stones: India Wrings New Life from its Drylands Om Parkash Yadav FOOD Coming Soon: Fresh Seafood in Any Neighborhood, Anywhere in the World Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe Food Security 2050: What Would We Eat If Grocery Shelves Were Bare? Robin Whitlock HUMAN HEALTH Do or Die: Africa Tracks Down COVID in 48 Hours Christian Happi CLIMATE CHANGE Urban Boom or Bust? Fragile Cities in Ethiopia Cope with Climate Migration Miftah Mohammed Kemal Bangladesh Adapts to Climate Change through Local Solutions Tasfia Tasnim NATURAL DISASTERS Ugandan Advocacy Group Helps Women Rise Above Disabilities Betty Achana ENERGY Radical Anode Advancement Makes Ultra–High-Performance Batteries a Reality Byung-gwan Lee New Battery Technology for Next Generation Electric Vehicles The Earth & I Editorial Team WATER QUALITY Antibiotic Resistance: The Role of Wastewater Treatment Plants Michael Stenstrom Fighting ‘Bac’: Taking On Antibiotic Resistance in Wastewater Treatment Peter Mullany WASTE MANAGEMENT Waste Pickers’ Choice: Work amid COVID Risk or Stay Home and Starve Jaqueline Sordi EDUCATION Environmental Education: Hope for Tomorrow Dilafruz Williams SPECIAL SECTION Reimagining the Environment: A Radical New Look at Nature Gary Schwartz

CONTENTS NEWS SECTION In Memoriam: Nobel Laureate Luc Montagnier The Earth & I Editorial Team YouTubers Raise $30 Million for Ocean Cleaning Non-Profits The Earth & I Editorial Team Extracting Rare Earth Metals from Coal Waste The Earth & I Editorial Team DATA SECTION Unequal Gender Practices Cost African Families 20% of Crop Production The Earth & I Editorial Team The People of Yemen Are in Desperate Need of Shelter The Earth & I Editorial Team Mussels on the Move: Colony Found in Antarctica The Earth & I Editorial Team Scientists Keeping a Close Eye on the Earth’s Coral Reefs The Earth & I Editorial Team Type 2 Diabetes Can be Prevented or Delayed The Earth & I Editorial Team Buildings Emit 38% of All Energy-Related CO2 The Earth & I Editorial Team There’s So Much Light You Can’t See the Stars The Earth & I Editorial Team The Earth Has 86 Million Tons of Lithium Resources The Earth & I Editorial Team Beyond the Aquarium: Goldfish Thrive in the Wild The Earth & I Editorial Team ECOSYSTEMS Putting Goldfish in the Driver’s Seat Jean Thilmany Light Pollution: Keeping Nature Up Past Its Bedtime Julie Peterson FOOD Extreme Greenhouses: Growing Food in Crazy Places Robin Whitlock Food Preservation Just Became Greener The Earth & I Editorial Team HUMAN HEALTH Horse Power: A Ride Through Equine-Assisted Therapy Alina Bradford Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19 Outcomes: Type 2 Diabetes and the Environment Paramita Mandal, Sarmistha Adhikari and Rojina Yasmin CLIMATE CHANGE Winter Olympics: The Next Casualty of Climate Change? Chelsea Noack Top 5 Ways People Can Help Reduce Climate Change Jaqueline Sordi NATURAL DISASTERS Cal-Earth Makes Disaster-Resistant Superadobe Construction a Reality Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe ENERGY Europe’s Lithium Supply Woes Nnamdi Anyadike How Energy-Efficient Buildings Could Drastically Reduce the World’s Energy Consumption Rick Laezman WATER QUALITY Mussel Power Cleans New Zealand’s Freshwater Lakes Gordon Cairns Hope for Corals Worldwide: Australian Researchers Restore Dying Reefs Cassie Journigan WASTE MANAGEMENT Waste Warriors Tackle India’s Growing Mountain of Trash Yasmin Prabhudas ECONOMICS & POLICY We’re Not Polarized on the Environment—Elites and Activists Are Mark Smith EDUCATION How a German School Educates for Sustainable Development Deborah Talbot

CONTENTS NEWS SECTION Antarctic Ice Reveals 11,000 Years of Climate Data The Earth & I Editorial Team “Take Two Capsules, Twice Daily—Maybe” The Earth & I Editorial Team Canada’s Shrinking Polar Bear Population The Earth & I Editorial Team DATA SECTION Gas Stove Emissions in the Hot Seat The Earth & I Editorial Team Study Ties Environmental Factors to Cardiovascular Health Risks The Earth & I Editorial Team Causes of Biodiversity Loss The Earth & I Editorial Team NASA: 2022 Tied for Fifth Warmest Year on Record The Earth & I Editorial Team Year of the Tiger: Nepal Tripled Tiger Population The Earth & I Editorial Team US Short-Term Energy Outlook Released— 2023–2024 The Earth & I Editorial Team ECOSYSTEMS Blue Noise: Disquieting News from Our Cacophonous Seas Julie Peterson The Tragic—and Persistent—Problem of Illegal Wildlife Trade Gordon Cairns FOOD The Remarkable Properties of Kiln-Fired Bamboo Salt Yuka Sakai and Sang Hyun Lee Seed Saving: Preserving Life for Future Generations Mal Cole HUMAN HEALTH Go with What You Know, Work with What You Have Mark Smith Keeping ‘Home Sweet Home’ as Fresh as Possible—How to Clean Inside Air with Some Simple Changes Alina Bradford CLIMATE CHANGE Extreme Weather—Climate ‘Whiplash’ Causes Havoc Around the World Richard Kemeny Building with Hemp Raises Climate Awareness Kate Tsubata NATURAL DISASTERS ‘Looking Outside’ and ‘Days of Rest’—How Filipino Youth Used Religious Traditions to Cope with COVID Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe ENERGY Tidal Energy’s ‘Enormous’ Promise Nnamdi Anyadike Will Fuel Cells Power the Clean Car Future? Rick Laezman WATER QUALITY India’s Famed ‘Waterman’ Brings Solutions to a Drought-Plagued Region Yasmin Prabhudas Austria’s Tyrol Region: A Pioneer in Tracking SARS-CoV-2 in Wastewater Cassie Journigan WASTE MANAGEMENT Turning Landfills into “Energy-Fills” Through Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste Robin Whitlock ECONOMICS & POLICY Risks and Benefits of ESG Investing Dhanada K. Mishra EDUCATION Mexico’s Amazing Sea of Cortez: How Education is Helping Preserve ‘The World’s Aquarium’ Kate Pugnoli

CONTENTS NEWS SECTION ‘Atmospheric Rivers’ Pummeled US West Coast in Recent Months The Earth & I Editorial Team Historic Treaty Seeks to Protect 70% of Earth’s Oceans The Earth & I Editorial Team Wind Power Slammed as Inefficient The Earth & I Editorial Team DATA SECTION Singling Out Single-Use Plastics The Earth & I Editorial Team First Birds, Now Seals —Updated Toll from Avian Flu The Earth & I Editorial Team People Are Farming and Eating More Fish Than Ever The Earth & I Editorial Team Watching—and Washing—What We Eat: The Latest Report on Pesticides on Produce The Earth & I Editorial Team Coal Energy Generation Breaking Records —But Not the ‘Net Zero’ Ones The Earth & I Editorial Team Wind Power Slammed as Inefficient The Earth & I Editorial Team ECOSYSTEMS Our Sacred Bond with Nature Interview With Dr. Lisa Miller, Founder of Columbia University's Spirituality Mind Body Institute Lisa Miller The Joy of Building a Food Forest Saving the Planet in Backyards and Unused Spaces Mal Cole FOOD Total Mealtimes —Feeding Body, Mind, and Spirit Julie Peterson Biochar —Is It Time to Give 'Black Carbon' the Green Light? Mark Smith HUMAN HEALTH ‘Super Synchronicities’: More Than Just Random Coincidences Unexplainable Phenomena Suggest ‘Intelligent Design’ Linking Humans and Nature Dr. Beverly Rubik The Yogic Lifestyle Rebalancing Humanity’s Relationship with Self and the Natural World Gregory Henschel CLIMATE CHANGE Global Climate Change Spurs Migration —A Matter of Survival Jaqueline Sordi Carbon Farming and Climate Change: Taking from the Atmosphere and Giving to the Soil Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe NATURAL DISASTERS Summer is Coming —To Risk Life or to Risk Property in a Wildfire? Lessons From the Greek Experience with Early Evacuation Gordon Cairns ENERGY Zero-point Energy —The ‘Sea of Energy’ Around Us The Earth & I Interview with Dr. Thorsten Ludwig Dr. Thorsten Ludwig The Cobalt Challenge —How to Produce EV Batteries Without Environmental and Human Degradation Rick Laezman WATER QUALITY ‘Osteoporosis of the Sea’: Rising Ocean Acidification Imperils Sea Life Cassie Journigan ‘Forever Chemicals’: How (and Why) to Limit Exposure to PFAS Now Robin Whitlock WASTE MANAGEMENT Stopping the Food Waste —An Introduction to Composting Focusing on the ‘Rot’ and ‘Repurpose’ of the Five Rs Yasmin Prabhudas ECONOMICS & POLICY Net-Zero Homes —The Most Efficient, Comfortable Homes Money Can Buy David Dodge EDUCATION Make Every Day Earth Day Earth Day 2023: Securing Humanity's Stewardship of the Natural Environment Alina Bradford

CONTENTS NEWS SECTION International Science Conference Ushers in Earth Day The Earth & I Editorial Team New Heat Engine—with No Moving Parts—Turns High Heat into Electricity The Earth & I Editorial Team Environmental Scientists Share Cutting-Edge Research The Earth & I Editorial Team C.R.E.A.T.I.O.N: Faith and the Environment The Earth & I Editorial Team DATA SECTION Food Prices Continue to Rise Sharply The Earth & I Editorial Team What Transit-Oriented Development Can Do for You The Earth & I Editorial Team Refugee Camps and Clean Water The Earth & I Editorial Team Our Supreme Solar Community The Earth & I Editorial Team Global Assembly Takes on Plastic Pollution The Earth & I Editorial Team Red Clover: The Healing Power of Herbs The Earth & I Editorial Team Invasive Species: Unwelcome and Costly The Earth & I Editorial Team Time to Refresh Your Memory: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) The Earth & I Editorial Team Martens Just Became More Lovable (in the UK) The Earth & I Editorial Team ECOSYSTEMS Squirrel Wars: May the Martens Be with You Gordon Cairns At Home and at Peace in the Mau Forest of Kenya—Understanding the Ogiek Experience Daniel Kobei FOOD Raw Veggies Offer Superior Health Benefits Julie Peterson Alice in a Wondrous Land—Malawi Women Farmers’ Quest for Sustainability Alice Kachere HUMAN HEALTH Breathe Deeply for A Better World Robin Whitlock Sweet Wormwood—Repurposing an Herb for COVID-19? Mark Smith CLIMATE CHANGE The “Doomsday Glacier” Jaqueline Sordi “Power for the People”—How Solar Mini-Grids Help the Disadvantaged Mark Newton NATURAL DISASTERS Can Healthy Soil Mitigate Natural Disasters? Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe ENERGY Russian Invasion Tramples Europe’s Energy Plans Rick Laezman Is Current Battery Technology Sustainable? Nnamdi Anyadike WATER QUALITY When Disasters Strike, Water Systems Follow Jean Thilmany Atmospheric Water Harvesting: Hope from Extracting Water from Air Dr. Rohan S. Dassanayake WASTE MANAGEMENT Japan’s Kamikatsu: A Model of Zero-Waste Living Yasuhiro Kotera ECONOMICS & POLICY Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) at a Political Crossroads Jonathan L. Wharton, Ph.D. EDUCATION Child-led Governance Builds a Sustainable World Edwin Maria John

CONTENTS NEWS SECTION UNESCO “World in 2030” Report Shows Climate Change is Top Global Concern The Earth & I Editorial Team COVID-19 Has Taken Resources and Attention Away from Tuberculosis The Earth & I Editorial Team Nepal's Disaster Plans to Address Climate Change and Inclusion The Earth & I Editorial Team DATA SECTION How Much Tropical Rainforest Did We Lose in 2020? The Earth & I Editorial Team How Much Plastic Is In the Ocean? The Earth & I Editorial Team What Is the Problem With Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)? The Earth & I Editorial Team How Much Food Gets Tossed When We Don't Eat It? The Earth & I Editorial Team What Do You Know About Tiger Poaching in India? The Earth & I Editorial Team Why Is 1.5°C Important? The Earth & I Editorial Team What Are Some Ways That Disasters Affect Women? The Earth & I Editorial Team How Much Waste Does The US Produce? The Earth & I Editorial Team What Happened to Energy-Related CO2 Emissions in 2020? The Earth & I Editorial Team ECOSYSTEMS Invasive Hippos in Colombia: An Issue Too Big To Ignore Germán Leonardo Jiménez Romero Saving the Bengal Tiger: Indigenous Spirituality Shines Adrian A. Lopes FOOD Our Interview with John Kempf: His Vision for Regenerating Soil Health The Earth & I Editorial Team Seaweed Science Tackles Methane Gas—From Cows! Ermias Kebreab and Breanna M. Roque HUMAN HEALTH Chili Peppers: The Health Benefits of “Heat” Ivette Guzman Early-Life Diet and Exercise Impact Later-Life Microbiome Natasha Spencer-Jolliffe CLIMATE CHANGE Animals Running from Climate Change Can’t Cross Border Walls Richard Kemeny Norway Kick-Starts $2.98B Carbon Capture and Storage Project Nnamdi Anyadike NATURAL DISASTERS Child Survivors Tell Their Story: Why Did So Many Women Die During the Natural Disaster in Aceh? Maila D.H. Rahiem ENERGY Agrivoltaics: Farming Food and Energy at the Same Time Norman Shafto Low Carbon Gases and Electrification Vie to Decarbonize the Home Jeremy Bowden WATER QUALITY Can Purification Technologies End Microplastic Pollution? Stuart Nathan Securing Europe’s Freshwater Future with Nature-Based Solutions Robin Whitlock WASTE MANAGEMENT Kenya’s Growing Pain: Sustainable Solid Waste Management Moses Kathuri Njeru ECONOMICS & POLICY UK Report on the Economics of Biodiversity: Is Nature an Asset or Invaluable? Dhanada K. Mishra EDUCATION One Man’s Mission: Saving Buffalo’s Waters and Inspiring Local Youth Becky Hoag

The UN's International Organization for Migration on November 21 released its Progress 2023 report. The report focuses on internally displaced persons (IDPs), or people forced to leave their homes due to a variety of factors. Its data is from fifteen* countries, including ten in Africa, three in the Middle East, Vanuatu in Oceania, and Colombia in South America. The report compares IDPs and “host households”—the people and community present before the IDPs joined—although some countries are excluded depending on the statistic provided. In 2022, displacement due to disasters in the fifteen countries totaled about 11.7 million people. Overall, 61.5% of IDP households reported having “adequate shelter” compared with 85.4% of host households. Out of 11,502 IDP households, those in camps relied more on humanitarian assistance than those outside of camps (41.3% in camps versus 2.1% outside of camps), in Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Iraq, Vanuatu, and Yemen. In Mozambique, South Sudan, Sudan, and Northeast Nigeria, 36.4% from 17,880 IDP households perceived girls and women to be unsafe in “general” areas, while 23.7% did so from 31,627 host households. In Mozambique and Northeast Nigeria, 6,720 IDP households said the highest perceived threats to their girls were robbery (23.7%), violence (18.6%), and kidnapping (18.7%). Among 9,024 host households with girls, robbery was deemed the largest threat (25.1%) compared to violence (16.1%) and kidnapping (16.0%). As of December 2022, three countries—Afghanistan, Central African Republic, and Iraq—had more “IDP returnees”—displaced people who returned to their original communities—than IDPs. Other countries recorded more IDPs than IDP returnees. *The fifteen countries are Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Libya, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Vanuatu, and Yemen. Sources: International Organization for Migration (IOM). November 2023. Periodic Global Report on the State of Solutions to Internal Displacement (PROGRESS). IOM, Geneva.

Report Highlights Indicators Short of Reaching 2030 Targets Published under the name, “Systems Change Lab,” (including the Bezos Earth Fund, Climateworks Foundation, and World Resources Institute, among others) the State of Climate Action 2023 report assesses progress toward 2030 targets for limiting warming to 1.5 °C to support the Global Stocktake process. The report focuses on various factors, including electricity generation and usage, electric vehicles, greenhouse gas emissions, and reforestation. In 2022, electricity generation had shares of 39% for “zero-carbon sources” (such as solar, wind, hydropower, nuclear, among others), 36% for coal, and 23% for unabated fossil fuels. This is in contrast to their respective 2030 targets of 88–91%, 4%, and 5–7%, respectively. In 2022, the energy intensity of building operations was 140 kWh/m2 and the carbon intensity of building operations was 38 kgCO2/m2. Meanwhile, the share of new buildings that are “zero-carbon” in operation was 5% in 2020, and the retrofitting rate of buildings was less than 1% per year in 2019. This is in contrast to their respective 2030 targets of 85–120 kWh/m2, 13–16 kgCO2/m2, 100% of new buildings being “zero-carbon” in operation, and 2.5–3.5% per year for retrofitting buildings. In the industrial sector, the share of electricity in the sector’s final energy demand was 29% and green hydrogen production was 0.027 million tons (Mt) in 2021. Meanwhile, in 2020, the carbon intensity of global cement production and global steel production were 660 kgCO2/t cement and 1,890 kgCO2/t crude steel, respectively. This is in contrast to their respective 2030 targets of 35–43% for the share of electricity, 58 Mt of green hydrogen production, 360–370 kgCO2/t cement, and 1,340–1,350 kgCO2/t crude steel, respectively. For battery and fuel cell electric vehicles, their shares in bus sales were 3.8% and in medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicle sales were 2.7%, respectively, in 2022. Meanwhile, the share of electric vehicles as a whole in two- and three-wheeler sales was 49%. This is in contrast to their respective 2030 targets of 60% (in bus sales), 30% (in medium- and heavy-duty vehicles), and 85% (in two- and three-wheeler sales), respectively. Sources: https://systemschangelab.org https://climateactiontracker.org/documents/1179/State_of_Climate_Action_2023_-_November_2023.pdf https://unfccc.int/topics/global-stocktake/about-the-global-stocktake/why-the-global-stocktake-is-important-for-climate-action-this-decade

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released on November 29 its statistical yearbook for 2023 on world food and agriculture. The report is categorized by chapters in economics, production, food security, and environmental considerations, covering data from 2000 to 2022. As a frame of reference, the world population in 2000 and 2022 are estimated as 6.149 billion and 7.975 billion people, respectively, based on the UN’s Data Portal. This corresponds to an increase of roughly 29.7% over this period. The value of agriculture in 2021 was USD 3.7 trillion, up from roughly USD 2.0 trillion in 2000. Meanwhile, pesticide use rose to 3.5 million tons, or a 62% increase from 2000. In 2021, primary crop production was 9.5 billion tons, or a 54% increase from 2000. Also in 2021, meat production was 357 million tons, or a 53% increase from 2000. Chicken meat accounted for more than half of this increase (of 124 million tons). From 2019 to 2022, the number of undernourished people in the world rose to 735 million, an increase of 122 million. This figure is lower than both 804.9 million in 2000 and the peak of 822.5 million in 2002, but it is part of an increasing trend from the minimum of 572.1 million from 2012. World obesity in the adult population increased from 8.7% in 2000 to 13.1% in 2016. Although all regions experienced a rise in obesity, notable increases occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (16.6% to 24.2%), North America and Europe (19.5% to 26.9%), and Oceania (19.5% to 28.1%). Shares of world agricultural land declined by 86 million ha (212 million acres) and forest area declined by 104 million ha (260 million acres) between 2000 and 2021, to 4.78 billion ha (11.8 billion acres) and 4.05 billion ha (10 billion acres), respectively (Table 49). Africa saw an increase in its agricultural land, but this was offset by decreases in the rest of world. Also, increases in share of forest land in Asia, Europe, and Oceania were offset by decreases in Africa and the Americas (Table 50). Despite this, the global harvested area of primary crops rose to 1.5 billion ha (3.7 billion acres) in 2021, corresponding to a 24% increase from 2000. Sources: FAO. 2023. World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2023. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc8166en United Nations Data Portal: https://population.un.org/dataportal/home FAO Suite of Food Security Indicators: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FS

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) releases a monthly global snow and ice report that focuses on the Northern Hemisphere and sea ice. The report’s data is taken from Rutgers University Global Snow Laboratory (from 1966 to 2023) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (from 1979 to 2023). The report for November 2023 indicates a 1.46% increasing decadal trend in Northern Hemisphere snow cover but a 2.23% decreasing decadal trend in global sea ice. The 58-year average of snow cover for the Northern Hemisphere, North America with Greenland, and Eurasia are 34.36 million square kilometers (13.26 million square miles), 13.58 million square kilometers (5.24 million square miles), and 20.77 million square kilometers (7.99 million square kilometers), respectively. The Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent for November 2023 was 35.59 million square kilometers (13.74 million square miles), which was 540,000 square kilometers (210,000 square miles) above the November average of 1991–2020 of 35.05 million square kilometers (13.53 million square miles). The North America and Greenland snow cover extent for November was 13.59 million square kilometers (5.25 million square miles), which was 280,000 square kilometers (110,000 square miles) above the November average of 1991–2020 of 13.87 million square kilometers (5.36 million square miles). Snow cover extent over Eurasia in November was 21.99 million square kilometers (8.49 million square miles), which was 810,000 square kilometers (310,000 square miles) above the November average of 1991–2020 of 21.18 million square kilometers (8.18 million square miles) Sea ice has been on a negative decadal trend across the board. Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, and Global sea ice area are decreasing by 4.83%, 0.57%, and 2.23% per decade, respectively. Global and Southern Hemisphere sea ice were both the second lowest in Novembers of 1979–2023, at 23.93 million square kilometers (9.24 million square miles) and 14.27 million square kilometers (5.51 million square miles), respectively. Sources: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Monthly Global Snow and Ice Report for November 2023, published online December 2023, from https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/global-snow/202311 Rutgers University Global Snow Laboratory and their tabulated data National Snow and Ice Data Center

Report Highlights Rise in Global Average Temperature and Heat Waves The team at Climate Central published a report based on analysis using their Climate Shift Index (CSI), expressing the likelihood that a temperature on a given day is attributed to “human-caused climate change.” CSI values range from -5 to 5, from five times less likely (negative values) to five times more likely (positive values) relatively. A value of 0 indicates no influence from climate change. The analysis covers the 12-month period of November 2022 to October 2023. The global average temperature during this period was 1.32 °C (2.37 °F) above the pre-industrial baseline of 1850–1900, beating the previous record of 1.29 °C (2.32 °F) from October 2015 to September 2016. There were 108 countries with an annual CSI above 1 (in other words, temperatures being at least 1.5 times more likely due to climate change), including 44 countries in Africa and 32 countries in Asia. This was compared to a baseline of 1991–2020. Out of 700 cities analyzed, 156 had “extreme” heat streaks of five days or more. Out of 920 cities analyzed, the countries with the most “attributable” (in other words, an average CSI of 2 or higher) heat streaks were China (48), the United States (12), then Mexico (11), with the rest of the countries in the single digits, although the number of analyzed cities per country greatly varied from one (such as Yemen) to 314 (China). The top 10 cities with the longest heat streaks comprise the United States (four cities, one with the highest of 22 days), Indonesia (three cities, one with the lowest of 15 days), Mexico (two cities, both with the lowest of 15 days), and China (one city). Among G20 countries, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia had the highest mean CSI (2.4 and 2.3, respectively), while Australia and Canada had the lowest mean CSI (0.2). Sources: https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/3Ol753QygKfVTuCC28qgij/b97aacad87ca66289e06e2176b7af567/-Climate_Central_report-_The_hottest_12-month_stretch_in_recorded_history__Nov_2022_to_Oct_2023_.pdf https://assets.ctfassets.net/cxgxgstp8r5d/1Lp10KKgzy8jEp5nbPdovf/68abc3f8c1c7a8bbcfa9655f6db58eb5/methods-doc-v2.pdf

By Marion W. Miller* “Agriculture is the explosive topic of the 21st century.” —Delphine Darmon, Founder and CEO at Demain N’attend Pas (Tomorrow Doesn’t Wait) In the 20th century, industrial farming revolutionized food production by focusing on efficiency and maximizing yields. “Between 1960 and 2015, agricultural production more than tripled, resulting in an abundance of low-cost fare and averting global food shortages,” says the UN Environmental Programme. However, while this modern approach is successfully feeding a part of the world, it has brought unintended environmental consequences, such as disrupting soil microbial ecosystems with synthetic fertilizers and harming beneficial pollinators with pesticides. Monoculture farming has led to decreased fertility of the soil, and over-tilling leaves soil vulnerable to erosion. Permaculture: A Sustainable and Profitable Alternative Many proposed alternatives to industrial agriculture have been tried, but often these do not produce the yields needed to feed the general population. Surprisingly, permaculture, short for “permanent agriculture,” on the other hand, can provide high yields while protecting and regenerating the soil and natural ecosystems. Permaculture is not just a set of agricultural techniques but a philosophy of working with nature. It was developed in the 1970s by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, who saw the land deteriorating around them. They were inspired by the Aboriginal Tasmanian reverence for and understanding of nature. They developed permaculture by cultivating different, interdependent, food-producing plants that mimic the complexity and variety of natural ecosystems. The results are abundant harvests while creating biodiversity to regenerate the soil and build resilience against pests, diseases, and adverse weather events. This approach includes creating “food forests,” i.e., integrating productive trees and shrubs of different heights into farming systems to shelter crops, reduce flooding, and add fruits and nuts to the farm’s yield. Permaculture’s holistic approach encompasses farm design, energy efficiency, the use of renewable resources, the circular use of waste, and water conservation through capturing and storing water within the landscape. Permaculture’s holistic approach encompasses farm design, energy efficiency, the use of renewable resources, the circular use of waste—feeding animals with vegetable waste and enriching the soil with manure—and water conservation through capturing and storing water within the landscape. Its designs are based on sunlight, wind, and water patterns, and the land’s topography. Its principles can be applied in varied settings, from deserts to rainforests and even urban environments (such as community and rooftop gardens). Permaculture philosophy is both revolutionary and pragmatic: It creates abundance while regenerating soil in the process and allowing farmers to assess what does and does not work in time to devise changes accordingly. Case Study 1: La Ferme du Bec Hellouin in Normandy, France An exceptional example of the transformative powers of permaculture is La Ferme du Bec Hellouin (the Bec-Hellouin Farm), founded in 2003 by Charles Hervé-Gruyer and Perrine Bulgheroni. The farm began as a large family kitchen garden to provide fresh food for their family. Hervé-Gruyer was originally a navigator and ecology teacher on his marine boat-school (Fleur de Lampaul); Bulgheroni was an international lawyer and an advocate for the underprivileged. The couple had no experience in farming. Their discovery of permaculture in 2008 marked a shift in their farming approach, turning their humble garden into the pioneering agricultural success that has attracted media attention and meticulous study by scientists, and earned them awards, such as the Right Livelihood Award. The design for their farm blends tradition and innovation, drawing inspiration from 19th-century Parisian market gardeners, Amazonian tribespeople, and other indigenous people Hervé-Gruyer visited in his travels, and Asian Effective Microorganisms (EM) practices. Key features of the Bec-Hellouin farm include: 1. Low-till agriculture practices. This avoids erosion and preserves soil composition and the vital, microbial life within it. It has been proven that on the farm “[t]he concentrations of total OC (organic carbon) and nitrogen (N) in bulk soils were higher under permaculture practices, due to significant inputs of manure and compost, resulting in higher concentrations of the bioavailable nutrients Ca (calcium), Mg (magnesium), K (potassium), and P (phosphorus).” 2. Food Forest. Productive trees and shrubs are integrated with crops, providing a diverse habitat for wildlife and benefits such as shade, wind protection, natural composting, and nutrient cycling. According to Hervé-Gruyer (as quoted in https://www.choosenormandy.com): “[S]everal studies … show that we have lots more earthworms, wild bees, birds and more … We’ve counted some forty species of wild bees and some sixty species of birds, including rare and endangered species, that are nesting on our farm.” 3. Diverse Crop Selection. Over 380 varieties of fruits, vegetables, cereals, herbs, and medicinal plants are grown. 4. Water Management. Natural water sources are utilized efficiently, with systems in place for rainwater harvesting, storage, and irrigation. The farm's productivity has stunned researchers. Despite its small scale, it produces a ten times higher yield than mechanized organic farming. The farm operates on the principle of intensive, hand-managed, densely arranged, small-scale agriculture and uses draft animals instead of machinery. Despite its small scale, [the farm] produces a ten times higher yield than mechanized organic farming. The farm covers nearly fifty acres. Their approach allows them to cultivate a substantial variety of produce on only 0.9 acres of land and supply up to 100 vegetable boxes per week to local customers and high-end restaurants. They also graze animals, grow trees on their land, and have ponds that contribute to the beauty and magic of the site. Between 2011 and 2015, INRA (the French National Institute of Agricultural Research) and AgroParisTech conducted a research program to study the farm's methods. The study concluded that small-scale farming, conducted largely by hand, is not only sustainable but also highly productive. As a result, according to the French Ministry of Agriculture, 80% of French organic market-gardening farming projects now follow the Bec-Hellouin model. Hervé-Gruyer and Bulgheroni share their knowledge and experience via the Bec-Hellouin Farm permaculture school. They also teach seminars at the Université Domaine du Possible, a farm school which is dedicated to spreading permaculture to large farms. Hervé-Gruyer, with his daughter Lila, is now producing a series of Permaculture guidebooks called Resiliences. Bulgheroni is planning a large permaculture farm for city-dwellers who want to return to the land and for Romani people. She is also setting up an adopt-a-farm program for corporations. Their book, Living with the Earth, Volume 1: A Manual for Market Gardeners—Permaculture, Ecoculture: Inspired by Nature was just published in Great Britain and the USA. Case Study 2: The Permaculture Literacy Program in the Philippines An example of grassroots organizing to establish a permaculture educational program is Merly Barlaan's building a permaculture training center in Carmen, Bohol, a rural area in the Philippines, where she grew up. After working for fifteen years in the UN office of the non-profit NGO Women’s Federation for World Peace International (WFWPI), Barlaan saw the gap between the UN’s idealistic agenda and the lack of progress in local communities. She returned to the Philippines in 2012 to work on the grassroots level in her predominantly agricultural hometown area. Her initial venture into organic farming was met with challenges, such as high costs and low yields, which led her to research better alternatives. In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she discovered permaculture and found Raoul Amores, head of the Regenesis Project and an experienced permaculture practitioner, in Bohol. Creating a Permaculture Training Center In 2021, Barlaan donated a hectare (2.4 acres) of land and raised funds from private donors, including support from WFWPI, for the building of a permaculture training center in Carmen. With permaculture teacher Amores and his daughter, Yani Amores-Dutta, she established the Permaculture Literacy Program to educate and certify individuals in permaculture, teaching the skills to implement sustainable and high-yield farming practices and to become permaculture educators themselves. The training center’s inaugural cohort of forty-four young people graduated in December 2022. They have since gone on to share permaculture principles and practices with their families, communities, and local government leaders, which is significant since many young people in the Philippines tend to leave farming. Permaculture Vision Barlaan and her team, including project co-managers Christine Rose Bulayo and Dale Cyril Dejecacion, are in the process of helping transform the entire district of Bohol into a permaculture hub in the Philippines. They envision permaculture not just being a farming practice but a way of life, practiced in every backyard garden and even on balconies. Barlaan and her team are in the process of helping transform the entire district of Bohol into a permaculture hub in the Philippines. Their ambitious goal is to see permaculture principles integrated into the entire Philippine educational system, promoting sustainable living from an early age through high school, college, and even master’s degree programs. (In fact, the University of the Philippines Open University is already offering a continuing education course on Permaculture Systems Design.) Barlaan's approach to teaching permaculture combines traditional Filipino farming knowledge with modern scientific methods. It paves the way for young people to gain the knowledge and inspiration to continue working on their families’ farms, even if only part-time, thus reducing migration away from rural areas and leading to a more ecologically harmonious and prosperous rural development. Hervé-Gruyer, Bulgheroni, and Barlaan are timely role models who show that individual actions at the local level can influence politicians and policies. Permaculture reconciles human needs with the needs of the environment, creating systems that are not only productive but also regenerative. *Marion W. Miller is a French bilingual researcher, writer, and editor now residing in Northern Virginia. She has master’s degrees in Business and Economics and International Economics and Economic Development. She has also ministered for community development and world peace. As a grandmother of eight, she cares deeply about environmental stewardship and preserving natural wonders for future generations. She has traveled to many natural sites in countries around the world and now retreats to the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley National Park area whenever time allows.