Episode 022 - Zachary Weiss: Repairing the Water Cycle for Climate Stability

Earth Repair Radio

In this episode, we dive deep into the global water cycle, and how repairing degraded landscapes and increasing water retention can help to stabilize global temperatures. We talk about Zach's work, where he has worked on projects in over twenty countries, and about the practical nuts and bolts of assessing, planning, and installing large scale permaculture water management projects. Zach's Links: www.elementalecosystems.com We cover a lot of the science behind deforestation, precipitation, and atmospheric circulation. In order to back up many of the assertions in this episode, here is a list of links to scientific papers here: How Forests Attract Rain: An Examination of a New Hypothesis. (peer-reviewed) https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/59/4/341/346941 (abstract and access to full text) Makarieva A.M., Gorshkov V.G., Sheil D., Nobre A.D., Bunyard P., Li B.-L. (2014) Why does air passage over forest yield more rain? Examining the coupling between rainfall, pressure, and atmospheric moisture content. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 15, 411-426. (peer-reviewed) doi:10.1175/JHM-D-12-0190.1. (abstract and access to full text) http://www.bioticregulation.ru/common/pdf/spr.pdf (full text) Report: Forests may play bigger role in rainfall than estimated (non-academic) https://forestsnews.cifor.org/22060/report-forests-may-play-bigger-role-in-rainfall-than-estimated?fnl=en (full text) Does Anthropogenic Land Use Change Play a Role in Changes of Precipitation Frequency and Intensity over the Loess Plateau of China? (peer reviewed) https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/11/1818?fbclid=IwAR0MLGrCgdnixRvZadfvN_NobymkfOjBTpN84yKcFUU0hfGIeV-jEWHii1Q (full text) Estimation of Actual Evapotranspiration in a Semiarid Region Based on GRACE Gravity Satellite Data—A Case Study in Loess Plateau (Peer reviewed) https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/12/2032?fbclid=IwAR2ChJttDVobRfSsjK5R9ERNjKRs6JEX6cBw66Pvrq2JuXOfwi3WXcRcbf4 (full text) New meteorological theory argues that the world’s forests are rainmakers (non-academic) https://news.mongabay.com/2012/02/new-meteorological-theory-argues-that-the-worlds-forests-are-rainmakers/ (full text) Other reading mentioned in episode: Charles Eisenstein - Climate: A New Story