08/15/2014

Is Healthy Soil the Low-Tech Solution to Climate Change?

17:29 minutes

In her book The Soil Will Save Us, writer Kristin Ohlson interviews farmers, soil scientists, and agronomists and concludes that the low-cost, low-tech solution to climate change may be directly underfoot—in healthy soil. Crops have an enormous capability to sequester carbon, she writes, but only if the soil is made to thrive with a mix of no-till farming, cover crops, and livestock grazing. Gabe Brown, a farmer and rancher in North Dakota, has been practicing this sort of agriculture for decades—and says it can be successful just about anywhere. (Read an excerpt from Ohlson’s book here.)

Segment Guests

Kristin Ohlson

Kristin Ohlson is author of The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet (Rodale, 2014) and a freelance writer in Portland, Oregon.

Gabe Brown

Gabe Brown is a farmer and rancher in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Heard on the Air

Read an excerpt from The Soil Will Save Us.

Meet the Producer

About Christopher Intagliata

Christopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer. He once served as a prop in an optical illusion and speaks passable Ira Flatowese.

Explore More

A Savior in Soil

An excerpt from "The Soil Will Save Us."

Read More