As Juliana Birnbaum, Director of the Sustainable Revolution Project states, "Our evolution forward involves a looking back and honoring." Multi-strata Agroforestry, often implemented in permaculture design, is one Drawdown solution that can propel us into this future.

What is Multistrata Agroforestry?

     According to Project Drawdown, "Multistrata agroforestry takes its cues from the defining feature of forests: layers. Blending an overstory of taller trees and an understory of one or more layers of crops, multistrata agroforestry maximizes both horizontal and vertical space."

Who is Juliana Birnbaum:

     Skilled in multiple languages and trained in postcolonial anthropology, Juliana has lived and worked in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Nepal, Costa Rica and Brazil. She has been a freelance writer, researcher and editor since 1996, focusing on ecological communities, social and environmental justice, regenerative design, holistic health, and solutions to the climate crisis.

     Juliana is co-author of  Sustainable [R]evolution: Permaculture in Ecovillages, Urban Farms and Communities Worldwide (2014), and CBD: A Patient’s Guide to Medicinal Cannabis (2017), which has sold over 60,000 copies worldwide and been translated into seven languages.

    As our acclaimed interviewee and founder of the US Biochar Initiative, Gloria Flora puts it, "Biochar is basically charcoal, biomass that is not so much burned, but baked."

So What Exactly is Biochar?

     In the Project Drawdown solution of Biochar Production, "Biomass slowly baked in the absence of oxygen becomes biochar, retaining most of the feedstock’s carbon. It can be buried for sequestration and potentially enrich soil. Biomass slowly baked in the absence of oxygen becomes biochar, retaining most of the feedstock’s carbon. It can be buried for sequestration and potentially enrich soil. The output is twofold: fuels that can be used for energy and biochar that can be used to enrich soil."

     A Zero-Waste Solution — Biochar is fine-grained charcoal made by pyrolysis, the process of heating biomass (wood, manure, crop residues, solid waste, etc.) with limited to no oxygen in a specially designed furnace capturing all emissions, gases, and oils for reuse as energy.

Who is Gloria Flora?

     Gloria Flora is the Executive Director of Sustainable Obtainable Solutions, a non-profit organization dedicated to the sustainability of public lands and the plant, animal, and human communities that depend upon them. She is also the founder of the US Biochar Initiative, A not-for-profit organization promoting the sustainable production and use of biochar through research, policy, and technology. A popular and inspirational speaker, Gloria encourages people from all walks of life to recognize and celebrate our deep relationship with landscapes and the wealth of natural capital we enjoy from them; not just for us, but for future generations of all species.

     For her courageous stewardship of public lands and environmental leadership, she has received many awards, including the Wilderness Society's Murie Award, the Environmental Quality Award for exemplary decision-making from the Natural Resources Council of America, a ‘Behind the Headlines' award from the Project on Government Oversight, the 2003 Environmental Hero Award from Sunset Magazine and being selected as one of the nation's top environmentalists in 2004 by Vanity Fair Magazine .

     You can find out more about her and her organizations, by visiting www.s-o-solutions.org and biochar-us.org.

An introductory episode elucidating the inspiration behind our work, as well as the environmental benefit of our solution-focused podcast.