Long time listeners to this show will know that soil health and deep soil science are not my specialty. I’ve done quite a few interviews on soil over the years, but I’ve usually looked for broader patterns and simple concepts around health soil function, and left the lab work and understanding all the microbes and fungi to others.

This last week has been incredible for me. After almost 5 years of being connected to different aspects of the work at the farm in La Junquera, first through my connection with Silvia Quarta the leader of Camp Altiplano, the first in the global Ecosystem Restoration Communities network back when I worked at the restoration coordinator, then through collaborations with Alfonzo and Yanniek through the Climate farming community, and also with their incredible staff of Clara, Jeronimo, and Jacobo in coordination and organizing, I was finally able to visit them in person.

Welcome to the final episode in mine and Nick’s 3 part series on drought. In the first episode we talked about how drought was affecting our two homes at the moment. His home on the island of Tenerife, and my own in Northeastern Spain. We went over the definition of drought and some common myths and misconceptions, as well as the major factors that can make drought more common and severe. 

In the second episode we turned to look at the myriad of options that are available to mitigate and even reverse the effects of drought focusing first on the sequence of design considerations. We looked into stopping points of drainage and damage, minimizing the need for use, and then capture and retention. From there we take a specific look at small scale to medium scale living space. Apartments and condos all the way up to small homes to homesteads of a few acres. 

In this last episode we’re going to wrap up the layout of different drought mitigation strategies for medium, large and even regional scales. More than home infrastructure, this session focuses on land management with interventions like earthworks, road and access design, and even restoration of water bodies like rivers and streams. 

The regional scale is an aspect of drought mitigation that I believe everyone has a responsibility to get involved in, and there is a need for a variety of approaches, from political action and institutional reform, to coalition building, and even direct work on the ground.

Continuing with our deep dive into drought, my good friend Nick Steiner and I are going to move now from defining drought and the its myriad of causes and factors that make it worse, to a wide range of solutions and opportunities available to people who are living in different environments and with different access to land and space. 

You may not be surprised to hear that we ended up running long and so I split the episode into two parts. In this session we cover mostly the order of consideration for a retrofit of a home or even a landscape design geared towards water harvesting and rehydration. Then we look at the options available to people in small living spaces like apartments and condos in urban or peri urban areas. We also start to explore the next size up which would be small to medium sized homes with access to anything from a small garden to a couple acres of land. 

The great thing about looking at things in this order is that pretty much all the options available to small scale living or land access are also available as you size up. I also think it’s important to explain that there’s no reason you need to own or have access to large amounts of land in order to have a meaningful effect and influence on the water catchment in your local area, or often even more importantly, assist in shifting the culture of water use and abuse that is baked in to many of our modern societies to one of reverence and respect for water and the life it enables. 

Now, it’s impossible that Nick and I mention and explore all of the options at the various scales of living that we cover in these next two episodes, so please reach out to us if you think there are other possibilities we should be aware of or mention in future talks. We’re always excited to expand our own understanding and have a better grasp of the new and emerging knowledge for working with water. 

It’s that time again. In todays’ regenerative round table, my good friend Nick Steiner and I give updates on our respective projects. Him on the Island of Tenerife and myself in the mountains of central Catalunya in Spain. In the update we talk about some of the challenges we’ve been experiencing this year. The big topic at the moment for us, and many other in this area of the world, is drought. Partly because Nick and I live in parts of the world where drought is a common factor we’ve been researching it for some time. 

In this episode we’ll break down some of the common myths and misconceptions about drought and its causes. We’ll also talk about the link between drought and other common natural disasters such as floods and wildfires and then give concrete examples from our respective home bases. We go into some of the hidden factors that lead to regional droughts and some of the science behind the way water works in the environment to cool the atmosphere and create more moderate conditions in the climate. 

This chat is the first in a two part look at drought and will set us up for a second episode next week where we’ll break down some of the wide ranges of actions and changes that can make a difference, not only in mitigating the effects of drought but also reversing the trends in the long term and rehydrating your landscape. 

Continuing on the journey we started in the last episode, Nick and I went to the next project where we got to install the types of water retention features that we had designed for the previous clients. 

We’re starting in a big way with a special episode in which me and my good friend and collaborator Nick Steiner will be taking you along with us on a client visit in the south of Portugal in the very first steps of a water retention landscape project. 

Today I want to go back to one of my favorite episodes of the last few years. This was back at the start of the 7th season, so almost two years ago. I was trying out a new format as I headed out on a water retention landscape job, which the episode will explain in a minute.

So for that reason, I’m going to republish two episodes I’ve recorded on jobs in the field. Today’s will be from a ranch project in which I worked on a team from Mark Shepard’s company Restoration Agriculture Design led by Jake Takiff, and next week you’ll come along with me and my good friend and longtime collaborator Nick Stener as we recap some jobs we did out in southern Portugal earlier this year. 

So let's get started.

In this first episode, I’ll be trying out a new format in which I’ll bring you along for the duration of this project and give detailed updates about how work is moving forward, what we’re learning in the process, and the main takeaways. 

In this series on water, the one area that I've left out so far is the urban landscape. In this week’s episode I got to chat with Jerry Yudelson, the author of 13 full-length professional and trade books on green buildings, integrated design, green homes, water conservation, building performance and sustainable development. Dubbed ‘The Godfather of Green’ by Wired Magazine, Jerry’s passion for optimizing the built environment is reflected by his many years of professional experience in the green building and certification fields, serving as an elected LEED Fellow and as president of the Green Building Initiative. He also served on the national board of the USGBC and chaired the Steering Committee for the largest green building show, Greenbuild, from 2004 through 2009. 

Despite being best known for ecological building design and policy, in this interview we’re going to focus on his book Dry Run, which unpacks some of the best ways to manage scarce water resources and handle upcoming urban water crises. The book explains the most pressing water issues that urban zones face, and examines the vital linkages between water, energy use, urban development and climate change. Dry Run also demonstrates best practices for achieving “net zero” water use in the built environment through, water conservation strategies for buildings, factories, cities and homes, rainwater harvesting, greywater reuse and water reclamation systems, water efficiency retrofits, onsite sewage treatment, and new water reuse and supply technologies.

In this interview we specifically address the urgent changes that cities need to make to ensure longer term water security. Jerry explains his classifications of the colors of water that help to categorize the different sources and uses for water in cities that require different management systems, and gives a few case studies of municipalities that have started to make improvements in their aquatic infrastructure.

As the importance of the water cycle to global climate regulation has gained attention in the last few years, I’ve also seen an emergence of voices working to explain the science and the details of the intricate workings and contributors to the nuance of water cycles.

In his substack blog, R3genesis, he writes about topics such as Enhancing bioprecipitation through afforestation, mapping a rain plan for the Valencia region of Spain, how beetles drive ecosystem dynamics, and so much more. His ability to make important connections between small actors in the environment with macro processes in our ecosystem and the ways in which this knowledge can be put to use in our lives.