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Ep 43  |  Betsy Taylor

Betsy Taylor: “Finding Hope in Nature-Based Solutions”

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TGS43 Betsy Taylor The Great Simplification

In this episode, Nate is joined by environmental and social activist Betsy Taylor. She and Nate have a wide ranging conversation about climate, consumption, culture, nuclear war, agriculture and the future. How has the environmental movement evolved over the past couple decades and how has it interacted with other social change movements? Why is reconstructing our food system more important now than ever?

About Betsy Taylor

Betsy Taylor has long been an icon in the environmental and culture change fields. She founded the climate network 1Sky, which established the domestic base and ultimately merged with 350.org. She ran the Center for a New American Dream and more recently Breakthrough Strategies and Solutions. Recently, Betsy has moved to supporting the field of regenerative agriculture, promoting the potential of our lands to sequester carbon pollution while boosting food security and habitat protection.

In French, we have a motto that says that a simple drawing is often better than a long explanation. Jean-Marc Jancovici Carbone 4 President

That’s very understandable because with left atmosphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher

We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Director of ISEOF

This is the crux of the whole problem. Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. Thomas Crowther Founder Restor

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

00:38 – Betsy Taylor Info + Works

11:45Center for a New American Dream

14:52Tina Hobson + Education on saving energy and thoughtful consumption

15:39Behavior centered on the self is a product of energetic abundance

16:20Carbon Pulse

20:07Daughters for Earth

23:17Economic system is rooted in consumption and growth

23:45Rio Summit

23:55Bill Clinton’s task force on consumption and population

23:55Paul Hawken’s book, Shumacher books

24:32How many young people think the system isn’t working, how many BIPOC

26:171Sky (the foundation for 350.org, which it eventually merged with)

28:06Fred Krupp

30:12Manchin + recent IRA

32:49 Philip Stern

33:10Globalization and Wealth Consolidation

33:25Recent Supreme Court rulings

34:33Secretary of States penalizing banks that won’t loan to fossil fuel companies

34:56Divestment in Fossil Fuels over the past few decades

35:05In the interview it’s stated that 30% of energy use globally was renewable. The reality is it was 28% of ELECTRICITY in 2021. And of that 16% was hydro leaving 12% as ‘other renewables’ (solar, wind, biomass). However, electricity is only ~20% of global energy use, so e.g solar, wind is only around 3-4% of global energy use

35:58The entire system is based on fossil fuels

36:186% decline rate on global oil fields – equivalent to billions of people’s labor

38:25Renewables are growing faster than fossil fuel, but fossil fuels are still growing more, and the entire system is still growing just the same

39:17Economic growth is 99% tethered to energy

40:50Martin Scheringer TGS Episode

42:19IPCC reports, James Hansen and Michael Mann

45:36Paris Climate Accords

45:52We would need to bring down emission 40% by 2030 to stay below 2 degrees celsius

46:16⅓ of people have symptoms of long covid

46:53James Hansen

47:48Trump tried to limit James Hansen’s agency

48:45Emission drop in 2020, with resurgence in 2021

51:20Range of estimates of carbon sequestration from rebooting natural ecosystem processes

52:49Protect our Winters

52:58Youth initiative out of made about getting urban kids out on the land

53:42Tree cover reducing urban heat

56:05Capturing food and animal waste to create compost would massively increase carbon sequestration

47:27Whendee Silver on compost increasing sequestration

58:20No-till, cover crops, benefits of planting legumes, crop rotations, benefits of perennial deep rooted crops, Land Institute

59:20Food grown in healthy soil is more nutritious

1:00:38Jason Bradford TGS Episode

1:02:13400 million farms are <1 hectare

1:04:18 As carbon in the atmosphere increases, there is more plant growth, but it is higher in carbohydrates and less in nutrients

1:05:05Large agroecology movement in parts of Africa, Latin America, and SE Asia

1:05:5920 billion dollars towards regenerative agriculture promotion

1:06:55Bill Gates and agriculture

1:07:40Ayan Mahamoud TGS Podcast

1:08:35Resurgence of young people going into farming and agriculture

1:17:59Chuck Watson TGS Episode on nuclear war

1:18:39US modernizing nuclear arsenal

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