Educational Programs: From the Classroom to the Field.
The Carbon Underground is developing educational programs and partnerships– from online elementary programs to our first “On The Farm” session later this year in Costa Rica.
The most frequent question we hear at The Carbon Underground is “How do I farm in a regenerative way?” Soon TCU will be helping farmers, gardeners, and even urban planners answer, by teaching them how to do it.
The Carbon Underground has begun development of several education programs, working with partners around the world.
This September we will be conducting—in collaboration with Finca Luna Nueva, Organic Consumers Association and Regeneration International—the first of many four day in-the-field teaching sessions, this one at Finca Luna Nueva in Costa Rica. In addition, the classes will be filmed and made available online free of charge to those unable to attend one of our live, in-the-field sessions. TCU is partnering with the Organic Consumers Association, Regeneration International and Finca Luna Nueva to produce the event and materials.
The classes—both in the classroom and in the field—will range from soil biology to creating compost, and from farming to ranching. The faculty will include some of the global leaders in their respective fields, including:
Dr. Kris Nichols: Chief Scientist at the Rodale Institute and formerly a soil scientist with the ARS/USDA.
Dr. David Johnson and Hui Chun Johnson: Faculty at New Mexico State University; experts in compost systems that optimize food production and carbon sequestration.
Dr. Tim LaSalle: former CEO of the Rodale Institute, President of the Agriculture Education Foundation and Professor at California Polytechnic University.
John Liu: Rothamstead International Fellow, associate professor at the George Mason University, and Senior Research Fellow at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin: Main Street Project.
Dr. Cynthia Daley: Director of the Organic Dairy Program at Chico State.
Andre Leu: President of International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) who has published extensively on organic agriculture relating to climate change, the environment, and the health benefits organic agronomy.
Ronnie Cummins: Ronnie Cummins is co-founder and International Director of the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and its Mexico affiliate Via Organica.
In addition to these and other soil and farming experts, the multi-day session will also feature a representative from the globally renowned Savory Institute to teach the ranching side of holistic, regenerative food production.
Also in 2016 TCU will be rolling out an elementary level education program on climate change focusing on its relationship to soil and food, partnering with Cohu Entertainment in Finland. Cohu has built a technological platform that engages people with science by using the tools of entertainment. Already launched in pilot form in Finland, this program will soon be connecting students in the US (Los Angeles and Washington DC), Brazil, and other locales. The goal of the program is to go beyond the classroom and create soil-based projects where students gather data, collaborate and challenge each other.
