Episode 15: "Can trees save the world?"

When people think of climate change I imagine they think of the smog and smoke pouring into the atmosphere as we burn fossil fuels to power our cities, cars, and lifestyles. And you would be right. But perhaps an understated accelerant is the loss of vast forest ecosystems which are often destroyed for agriculture, housing development, and the forestry industry. Not only are trees a vital source of oxygen that ensures we can breathe the breath of life, but they are also one of our most powerful defences against climate change. The original carbon capture technology immaculately designed by the first agronomist.

Speaking of agronomists, today we have Tony Rinaudo joining us. Also known as 'The Forestmaker'. Tony works for World Vision and has been a force in the climate change story. He worked in Niger for a couple of decades helping farmers with work with nature to restore native forest land, and to grow enough food to support their local communities. His focus has been in Africa, but his work is going global, thanks to a strategy called ‘Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration’ which well get to. In 2018 he won the Right Livelihood Award (Alternate Nobel Prize) "for demonstrating on a large scale how drylands can be greened at minimal cost, improving the livelihoods of millions of people".

Other References:

• The Forest Maker (documentary) directed by Volker Schlöndorff
• The Forest Underground: Hope for a Planet in Crisis by Tony Rinaudo
• Richard Saint Barbe Baker
• ISCAST - the Institute for the Study of Christianity in an Age of Science and Technology
• I Want to Fix Ears: Inside the Cochlear Implant Story by Graham Milbourne Clark
• Permaculture: A Designer's Manual by Bill Mollison
• Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth by Charles Massy
• "Gardens of Eden: the Church Forests of Ethiopia – a photo essay" by Kieran Dodds in the Guardian (8th November 2021)

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