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“What I’m about to tell you is a matter of life and death. If the soil dies we die.” - opening narration of documentary film “Common Ground.”

Regenerative farming practices based on regenerative agriculture aim to transform our food system for better health and better economy. Regenerative agriculture restores degraded soils using practices such as adaptive grazing, no-till planting, and the elimination of or limited use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers that harm the environment. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, improving the water cycle, and sequestering atmospheric carbon into soils, helping them absorb and retain more water, becoming more drought resistant and slowing global warming.

These practices have been around since ancient times. Yet, history shows that many civilizations failed due to mismanagement of the land. Now again, we have the opportunity to build a bustling food economy, greatly impact climate change, enable farmers to save huge amounts of money and build prosperity. Regenerative agriculture holds the potential to reindustrialize middle America through bringing back sustainable farming practices and restoring soil health.

Transitioning from conventional to regenerative farming may involve significant initial investment and learning curve, but it may ultimately be more profitable because the system can lead to lower costs, the ability to grow higher value crops, greater diversity of foods produced and harvested, and access to new markets.

The 2020 documentary film “Kiss the Ground” begins with narrator Woody Harrelson saying that in the face of overwhelming warnings about climate change he’s given up. Then he asks, “But what if there was another path?” He says there is a story of a simple solution, a way to heal our planet and keep our species off the extinction list. The solution he’s talking about is right under our feet and as old as dirt. Due to its vast scale and its ability to sequester immense quantities of greenhouse gases, soil could be the one thing that can balance our climate, replenish our fresh water supplies and feed the world. “That’s why some people are racing to save our soil in hopes our soil just might save us.” (See the trailer or full movie here on YouTube.)

The follow-up documentary “Common Ground” is now being screened at major venues in the United States. See the trailer here. Increasingly frequent and severe extreme weather events in Western North America driven by changes in major circulation patterns is the focus of a new study published in the journal Nature. The study shows that greenhouse gas emissions play a significant role in driving these shifts. The relationship change between three major teleconnection pathway patterns is traced to enhanced upper-level ridges across western North America, reflecting a reinforced winter stationary wave in the jet stream. This has been contributing to recent more frequent extreme weather events in the region.

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A new study published in the journal Science discovered a mechanism used by the brain to determine which memories the brain makes permanent. Interestingly, the study finds it is the pauses in between periods of paying attention to something that the brain’s natural tagging mechanism takes place, and not during active sensory experience or movement, so that these memories are then encoded during sleep. It is the switch in awareness from an exploratory to an idle pattern that enables the brain mechanism to occur. In this manner, hippocampal “place cells” firing in a specific order can encode every room we enter, and by playing back the recorded event during sleep, strengthen the cells’ connections for future recall.

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Hundreds of concepts of electric flying cars have been introduced in recent years. Very few have actually flown or have any outlook for commercial launch or operation. The years leading up to 2024, however, saw some electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft achieve the type certification required to begin commercial passenger operation. Now it appears as though eVTOLs are becoming a feasible reality. Many challenges will need to be addressed, including developing batteries capable of sustaining electric vertical takeoff and landing.

A new report, “Air Taxis: Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) Aircraft 2024-2044: Technologies, Players,” provides comprehensive detail from the basic pros and cons of the different eVTOL aircraft design architecture and opportunities in key enabling technologies.

A free-to-attend webinar will be held on the topic on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 - “Unlocking the Skies: The Promise of eVTOLs and Urban Mobility.”

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Other articles of interest in this TMIS eNewsletter for Spring 2024:

* Groundbreaking documentary to shed light on a familiar yet shrouded silent epidemic, “The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause,” debuts October 5.

* Four-day workweek pilot reveals an innovative blueprint for a flexible workweek and thriving workplace.

*Diverse approaches to plant-based leather technologies seek to create a revolution in the leather industry.

* North American property business aims to reduce carbon emissions by 42% in 2030 with its Pathway to NetZero approach.

* Art of Living Social Projects restores polluted lake and surrounding landscape to ecological balance through nature-based interventions.

* Clinical trial assessing impact of a Fasting Mimicking Diet on Type 2 Diabetes delivers compelling evidence to support its integration into care management.

* Compound 11c, an novel drug candidate to combat fatty liver disease, paves the way for advancing treatment.

I am grateful to be in a collaborative business with many talented and skilled professionals. Your feedback is always welcome.

- Mary Michele McLaughlin

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