From Macro to Micro to Nanoplastic, an Ei Article Book

Image captured on
Long Boat Key, Florida

In September 2020, the Fingertip Press published the first Elemental Impact (Ei) Article Book: From Macro to Micro to Nanoplastics, an excerpt from the Regeneration in ACTION (RiA) article, Plastics: a double-edged sword. 

From "Plastics: a double-edged sword:"

The seemingly magical gift of plastic came with a double-edged sword filled with the potential to destroy life as it is currently known on Earth.

In less than seventy years, humans managed to infiltrate the Earth with micro and nanoplastics from discarded single-use and durable products in literally every nook and cranny, ranging from the arctic snow caps to the depths of the oceans and everywhere in between.

It is time to shift perspectives from human-focused to life-focused and let the Earth show us how to heal the damage inflicted. Answers will come to those who live and take action from the heart.

Additionally, the Nanoplastics article includes the following new sections:

• Plastics at the beach - showcases how readily available durable and single-use plastic items are common place during beach enjoyment.
• Beyond litter, cigarette butts are plastic pollution - explains how cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a plastic.
• Ei Exploration of Fungi, Soil Health & World Hunger - gives an overview of the empowering October 2018 exploration.
• COVID-19 plastic pollution - explains how the recent pandemic resulted in a new surge in plastic pollution.

Image taken on a
secluded Cozumel beach

Soft cover, magazine-style books are available for purchase at $11.99 each plus delivery; volume-purchase discounts are given. Additionally, a pdf version of the book is available for $8.99. Here is the link to purchase the book: https://bit.ly/3bl2Zxs. 

A portion of the book proceeds is donated to Ei, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to Soil Health | Regenerative Agriculture and Water Use | Toxicity.

The Fingertip Press is a division of Holly Elmore Enterprises and the nomenclature for Ei Founder Holly Elmore's published articles, documents, and other written communication. Photos in the Nanoplastics book are courtesy of Holly Elmore Images.

While formatting the book design, Holly discovered a shortage of plastic photos to include. Thus, on an early summer Sunday morning, Holly went on a five-mile walking photo shoot in her urban Atlanta neighborhood. As suspected, there were ample plastic-pollution photo opportunities to complete the book-image portfolio.

For the cigarette butt image on page 15, in 2017 Holly walked a similar five-mile neighborhood route and collected every butt encountered. Upon returning home, Holly staged the artistic capture and promptly got ill from the cigarette toxins.

Remnants of  plastic holiday decor 
in Selby Garden's pollinator garden

On the bottom of page 2, the image depicts plastic debris blown from nearby I-75 onto Kennesaw State University's Hickory Grove Farm, a regenerative farm that provides food for campus dining and serves as a research field station.

Many of the other book images are from Holly's extensive travels over the past several years including Puerto Rico, Cozumel, Austin, Texas, and her lovely hometown, Sarasota, Florida. 

For those interested in promoting the monumental book in their networks and beyond, contact Holly at holly@elementalimpact.org to strategize on opportunities available. The book is an excellent plastic-pollution-education tool for schools, corporations, and the overall community.

____________________________________

About Elemental Impact:

Elemental Impact (Ei) is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded in 2010 as the home to the Zero Waste Zones, the forerunner in the nation for the commercial collection of food waste for compost. In June 2017, Ei announced the Era of Recycling Refinement was Mission Accomplished and entered the Era of Regeneration. Current focus areas include Nature Prevails, Soil Health | Regenerative Agriculture, and Water Use | Toxicity.

MISSION:

To work with industry leaders to create best regenerative operating practices where the entire value-chain benefits, including corporate bottom lines, communities, and the environment. Through education and collaboration, establish best practices as standard practices.

Ei’s tagline – Regeneration in ACTION – is the foundation for Ei endeavors.

The following mantra is at the core of Ei work:

Ei is a creator, an incubator.

Ei determines what could be done that is not being done and gets it done.

Ei brings the possible out of impossible.

Ei identifies pioneers and creates heroes.

For additional information, contact Holly Elmore at 404-261-4690 | holly@elementalimpact.org

Ei Digital Books: an integration of art and impact

In 2016 Elemental Impact (Ei) segued from a valuable media and industry resource into respected environmental journalism. A few years earlier press interview inquiries validated Ei as recognized industry media. ... and then the prominent invitation arrived in early November:

The U.S. State Department invited Ei to join the invitation-only COP22 preview press conference call. Journalists from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times were among the respected, mainstream media on the call.

Environmental Journalism to Photojournalism
Ei Founder Holly Elmore, author of the Ei blogs, launched HollyElmore.com in June 2016 as home to the Fingertip Press, Holly Emore Images (HEI), and @ Your Service. When she publishes a blog article, Holly writes a Facebook post beginning with “PREVIEW: Hot off the Fingertip Press an article …” Thus, the Fingertip Press evolved into Holly’s nomenclature for her published articles, documents, and other written communication.

Over the years, the Ei Blogs - The IMPACT and Regeneration in ACTION (RiA), garnered strong national and global readership. On August 15, 2018 The IMPACT Blog surpassed 150,000 views and, as of this article publishing, the RiA Blog is mere hours away from the impressive 395,000 views milestone.

In late 2017 Holly expanded her communication repertoire beyond publishing articles in the Ei Blogs, trade journals, and industry papers to photojournalism in nationally distributed Southern Farm & Garden (SF&G). Rather than document Ei's important work, the SF&G articles complement and intertwine Ei Pioneers, Strategic Allies, and initiatives within the copy.

The recently launched Ei Digital Books are in partnership with Holly Elmore Enterprises and comprised of Fingertip Press publications supported by HEI photos. Created and published by Ei Partner Nancy Suttles, the digital books augment Ei’s profound work within the Soil Health and Water Use | Toxicity platforms.

Ei Digital Books
Regenerative Agriculture Revives Soils & Local Ecosystems

As a former Georgia Department of Transportation cement-mixing site for the construction of nearby Interstate-75, Hickory Grove Farm is an iconic case study in soil rebuilding.

In the SF&G fall 2017 issue, a seven-page, multiple-article feature, An Icon in Sustainability and Hickory Grove Farm: Regenerative Agriculture Revives Soils & Local Ecosystems, gives an overview of Kennesaw State University’s (KSU) stellar sustainability commitment at the Michael A. Leven School of Culinary Sustainability & Hospitality, The Commons (KSU’s Gold LEED-certified dining hall), and Hickory Grove Farm.

The RiA article, The Power of Tours, includes the Ei-hosted Hickory Grove Farm tour for Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA) Director of Sustainability Tim Trefzer, GWCCA Grounds Operations Manager Steve Ware, and GWCCA-Levy Restaurants Executive Chef Matt Roach. The tour is featured along with a photo of Tim in the SF&G article.

Regenerative agriculture is introduced as a solution to the Earth's carbon crisis in the RiA Blog article, Beyond Sustainability: regenerative solutions. The blog article ends with a feature on the Hickory Grove Farm SF&G article.

Restoring Pollinator Populations
Over the past decades, pollinator populations declined significantly for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, habitat loss, use of the "cides" (herbicides, insecticides, pesticides), and common garden & landscape practices.

In the SF&G spring 2018 issue, a six-page feature article, Restoring Pollinator Populations, gives an overview of challenges facing pollinator populations along with tips for pollinator-friendly gardens. An HEI neighborhood flower-garden image was the spring issue wrap cover.

The RiA Blog article, Redefining WASTE: impact of common landscape & grounds maintenance practices on urban wildlife, introduces the paradox of how neat, clean yards and landscapes are wasteful to the local ecosystem. Ei Strategic Ally Park Pride's Pollinators in Parks program is featured in the blog and the SF&G articles. Park Pride Visioning Coordinator Teri Nye educated Holly on the empowering role of pollinator gardens and proofed the articles for accuracy.

Bee Swarms: Nature's Way to Grow Strong Bee Populations

Honeybee swarming is integral to colony propagation and overall bee population stabilization and growth.

In the SF&G summer 2018 issue, a two-page photo essay, Bee Swarms: Nature’s Way to Grow Strong Bee Populations, educates on the important role bee swarms play in propagating bee populations, both from the size of and the number of colonies. The images were captured in Boulder, Colorado when Holly stumbled upon a beekeeper retrieving a bee swarm from one of his hives.

With publisher and creative director Nancy Suttles on the Ei Team, opportunities abound in the publishing arena. Nancy Suttles is an independent creative consultant with over three decades of in-depth industry experience. Highly-skilled at developing original concepts, design, photography, and production, Nancy has worked with an array of publishers, corporations, and agencies over the years. Nancy creates results-driven special interest publications, magazines, books and other marketing material for traditional print and digital media.

Nancy validates the powerful Ei partnership, “I am proud to work with such an accomplished and talented professional as Holly. Her words and beautiful photos take the reader behind-the-scenes to learn more about the process of living a more regenerative life. The introduction of the new interactive Ei digital library of books will further enhance Ei's mission on an international scale.”

In anticipation of a strong photojournalism focus, Holly published a series of HEI FB albums organized by various topics including urban adventures, earthly matters, feathered friends, shoreline scenes, farm fresh produce, and many more. For example, the Farm Scenes album consists of 110 images categorized by fields, buildings & structures, crops, livestock, compost, and general scenes.

Ei is integrating powerful impact and art within the Ei Digital Books and discovering new horizons for communicating initiatives under development.

Redefining WASTE: impact of common landscape & grounds maintenance practices on urban wildlife

Over the past decade, zero waste grew from a grassroots movement to a buzz word to a common term for reducing waste across the spectrum of commercial, government and private facilities. Traditionally, zero waste referred to materials used within daily operations and lifestyles.

The U.S Green Building Council Total Resource Use & Efficiency (TRUE) Certification takes a strong step in redefining waste within the point-based program. Point achievement goes beyond the facility's physical structure and materials used on-site; TRUE addresses the facility's value chain, the community as a whole, and the environment. 

Within its holistic protocol, TRUE takes impressive steps to redefine the zero waste industry with points related to grounds maintenance, cleaning practices, and supply chain management. The ZWA Blog article, TRUE: setting standards for a zero waste economy, is an overview of the zero waste certification program.

Tidy gardens = wasteful gardens

Pupal cases within two
fallen leaves

It is time to further redefine zero waste by addressing the impact on urban wildlife, especially pollinators, songbirds and other small creatures. From an urban wildlife and flora perspective, common landscape and grounds maintenance practices are filled with unnecessary waste. The concept of neat, well-groomed lawns and greenways is detrimental to urban lifecycles.

Raking (or blowing) leaves for transport to compost, landfills or incineration is wasteful on many levels. Beyond nutrition for its parent tree or bush, leaves provide winter homes for larval insects and shelter for organisms who nestle into the soil for the dormant months. By removing the leaves, humans disrupt Nature's perfected, intertwined lifecycles between invertebrates, insects, birds and larger prey species. Removing leaves wastes food & shelter designed for winter survival and spring's rebirth.

... and labor is required to aggregate the leaves and haul them off the property. Thus, the property owner (or manager) wastes costly labor via a disruptive task. When gas-powered blowers are used in the removal of leaves, energy is wasted coupled with contributions to Green House Gases (GHG).

Nesting material from a seed pod

A common landscape practice is to remove plants once they enter the dormant stage. Yet dormant plants generally are filled with winter food for non-migratory birds, insects, and other small creatures. When opened, remaining plant pods reveal abundant seeds and often fluffy material perfect for nest building.

Nature loves diversity
According to the Times Magazine April 2015 article, You Asked: Are the Honeybees Still Disappearing?, crops, manicured lawns and fields barren of pollen sources now replace the once abundant meadows of diverse, pollen-packed wildflowers. Dr. Heather Mattila, a honeybee biologist at Wellesley College explains, “Bees need a varied diet of different pollens in order to grow into strong, healthy workers. A green space can be a green desert if it doesn’t have flowering plants that are bee-friendly.”

Most manicured lawns are comprised of a single grass species, often not native to the area, and mowed prior to seeding. Volunteer grass and flowering plant species are considered weeds and eradicated via hand pulling or other weed | pest control methods.

Suburban manicured lawn
photo credit:
Moscarino Outdoor Creations

Many communities, whether at-large or a subdivision, establish by-laws stipulating lawn care including a single-grass species cut to a specified height. Though considered beautiful by common cultural perception, most "well-kept" neighborhood lawns are poisonous green deserts for urban wildlife. 

As reported in the Huff Post August 2015 post, The American Lawn Is Now The Largest Single ‘Crop’ In The U.S., a new study from NASA scientists in collaboration with researchers in the Mountain West, there are an estimated 63,000 square miles of lawn in America — about the size of Texas. Maintaining a well-manicured lawn uses up to 900 liters of water per person per day and reduces carbon sequestration effectiveness by up to 35 percent; emissions from fertilization and the gas or electric-powered mowing equipment reduce the carbon sequestration effectiveness.

Manicured lawns are an expense for the property owner and contribute to GHG, as most lawns are cut with gas-powered mowers. From an urban wildlife perspective, modern lawns are wasteful. By their nature, lawns preclude food production in the form of flowers, fruits and seeds, shelter for nest building, and the necessary ingredients for healthy soils.

A healthy garden is a diverse garden

Robust soils require diverse root systems, invertebrates, microbial communities and fungi that feed optimum nutrients to the plants. Through the photosynthetic process, plants sequester carbon into their roots, stems & leaves and release oxygen into the atmosphere. Well-nourished plants and their subsequent decomposition are integral to the soil regeneration process and restoring balance to the carbon cycles. 

The ZWA Blog articles, Carbon Crisis: simply a matter of balance and Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative Solutions, introduce the out-of-balance carbon cycles along with soil regeneration as a viable, immediate solution.

Weeds, or NOT
Enacted in 1975, the Federal Noxious Weed Act established a Federal program to control the spread of noxious weeds. Per the Digest of Federal Resource Laws of Interest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

"The Secretary of Agriculture was given the authority to designate plants as noxious weeds by regulation, and the movement of all such weeds in interstate or foreign commerce was prohibited except under permit. The Secretary was also given authority to inspect, seize and destroy products, and to quarantine areas, if necessary to prevent the spread of such weeds. He was also authorized to cooperate with other Federal, State and local agencies, farmers associations and private individuals in measures to control, eradicate, or prevent or retard the spread of such weeds."

Honeybee working milkweed
blossoms

By 2001, the common milkweed was classified as a noxious weed in 35 states. As described in My Altona Forest's April 2014 post, Monarchs and Milkweed – The Precarious Cycle: "There is a symbiotic relationship between the native milkweed plants and the monarch. The monarch butterflies enjoy the nectar from the flowers and help pollinate the plants. The successful pollination allows the milkweed to thrive and thus provide more nurseries for the crucial ‘fourth generation’ of monarchs. Unfortunately, there are no substitutes for where monarchs can lay their eggs."

Pursuant to The New York Times November 2014 article, For the Monarch Butterfly, a Long Road Back, 

"Less than 20 years ago, a billion butterflies from east of the Rocky Mountains reached the oyamel firs, and more than a million western monarchs migrated to the California coast to winter among its firs and eucalypts. Since then, the numbers have dropped by more than 90 percent, hitting a record low in Mexico last year after a three-year tailspin."

Through research and action plans, a multitude of national and local organizations work diligently to reverse the impact of wasteful practices, such as eradicating native plants like the milkweed. Pollinator habitat gardens, often accompanying community gardens, are an example of effective programs in the implementation phase.

Pollinator Habitat Gardens

The fleabane "weed" was filled
with happy pollinators

In her November 2016 Wild Habitats article, More than Just a Pollinator Garden, Tara Mitchell compares the Pollinator Garden effort with the Victory Gardens promoted by the government during World War I and II. While the Victory Gardens were intended to address human food shortages, Pollinator Garden goals are to provide sufficient food (nectar and pollen) to reverse the decline of pollinators, bees in particular, and to provide habitat (milkweed) for monarch butterflies.

Diversity is essential to an effective pollinator garden. Many pollinators are attracted to a single plant species (monarch butterflies) or are limited by their mouth structure to a certain size/shape of a flower. Clusters (or drifts) of flower type within the garden make it easier for insects to pollinate the plants.

On his popular The Pollinator Garden site, Marc Colton gives the following advice:

"Flowers evolved with pollinators, not for people, so I approach garden planning from the pollinators' perspective. Insects feed on pollen, nectar or both, and it isn’t just bees, but butterflies, moths, flies, wasps, and hoverflies too.

My second principle is to concentrate on flower forms which are close to nature, so no double flowers, complex hybrids or horticultural novelties.

There is evidence that insects have to learn to use each different flower type and shape, and that they prefer large stands of the same species. The honey bee “waggle dance” evolved to pass on information about large stands of suitable flowers."

Grove Park Community Garden,
home to a Pollinators in Parks garden

Pollinator habitat gardens are essentially a garden of any size containing flowering plants designed to attract and feed pollinators as well as provide homes for the next generation. Often pollinator habitat gardens accompany community gardens and contribute to robust crops for local consumption. The gardens are an excellent vehicle for the community to come together and provide benefits beyond food, whether for the pollinators or the gardener.

It is common for local governments, non-profits, foundations and citizen groups to partner for formal programs. Elemental Impact (Ei)'s Strategic Ally Park Pride's Pollinators in Parks program is a prime example of the community coming together to create pollinator gardens in City of Atlanta Parks. 

In February 2017, Park Pride received a $60,000 Home Depot Foundation grant in partnership with the Atlanta Botanical Garden (ABG) for a pollinator garden pilot initiative; the pilot purpose was to increase the presence and impact of pollinator gardens in five City of Atlanta Parks.

Grove Park Pollinator Garden as
it enters the dormant stage

The five Pollinators in Parks pilot locations, in neighborhoods throughout the City of Atlanta proper, are Blue Heron Nature Preserve, Four Corners Park, Gilliam Park, Grove Park, and Welch Street Park.

Requirements for pilot participation included an adjacent community garden along with an established park group designated to plan, develop, and maintain the pollinator habitat garden. For the first year, Park Pride landscape architects and ABG pollinator experts worked closely with the park group on the garden design, building, and planting.

According to Park Pride Visioning Coordinator Teri Nye, “Starting with a planting plan and a ‘menu’ of host and nectar plants ensures that each garden has a seasonal succession of food for our native pollinators during all stages of their lifecycles.” Teri's comment emphasizes the important role gardens play throughout the four seasons. In fact, Park Pride interns designed creative, informative signs for the gardens that illustrate each season's contributions to a healthy ecosystem.

Park Pride winter pollinator sign

In December 2017, Teri hosted Ei Founder Holly Elmore on an educational tour of the Grove Park Pollinator Habitat Garden. It was enlightening to witness first-hand the value within a dormant garden. Holly revisited Grove Park for a photo shoot of the impressive pollinator habitat garden along with the adjacent community garden. In addition, Holly visited the Blue Heron Nature Preserve pollinator habitat garden for several photo shoots. 

The Holly Elmore Images FB album, The Power of Pollinators, is a collection of the garden photo shoots along with commentary.

Captain Planet Foundation (CPF)'s Project Learning Garden (PLG) provides schools with outdoor learning laboratories and is another example of how gardens empower communities. Gardens in the schoolyard are effective outdoor learning spaces for students to engage in inquiry-driven, project-based learning across all disciplines. Pollinator gardens accompany each PLG.

Children planting @ a PLG
photo courtesy of CPF

Supported by an array of corporate sponsors, the CPF PLG provide the following resources to participating schools: gardens & tools, curriculum & kits, mobile cooking cart, professional learning, program support, and a PLG library. K-8 public schools in the following school districts are eligible for PLG: Atlanta metro area districts, Los Angeles districts, and Santa Barbara | Ventura county districts. Schools in other districts and private schools may purchase the PLG for their students.

When a school accepts the PLG grant, the school agrees to: 1) have teachers complete online or in person training; 2) support teachers using the garden as a regular instructional space; 3) file any necessary paperwork through their facilities team for their garden; 4) arrange for a few volunteers to help install the garden; and 5) respond to surveys sent out by CPF from time to time.

CPF developed four ecoSTEM Resource Kits, a perfect tool for educators getting started with project-based learning. The Pollination ecoSTEM Kit includes a classroom set of milkweed seeds for students to take home. When students plant milkweed seeds at home, they create a monarch butterfly corridor or “way station.”

A common thread between Pollinators in Parks and PLG is the support and education provided during garden planning, building and planting. Yet the programs require the school or park group to eventually accept full-garden responsibility. Thus, the programs empower for long-term success.

Redefining WASTE
No matter its flavor, waste is expensive for the generator, the community, and the environment. The Earth's natural resources are limited yet Nature's perfected plan is regenerative with no waste. Thus, unlimited abundance is evident within Nature's cycles.

Healthy scenario: fall leaves left on
the diverse field of grass at Grove Park

It is time for humanity to redefine waste beyond materials and energy expended to include the destructive waste inherent within current systems; common agriculture, landscape, and grounds maintenance practices are examples of systems with destructive waste. It is time for humanity to understand disruptive behavior to natural systems circles back around into a wasteful, costly scenario to the community as well as to local and global ecosystems.

Eventually, the tremendous cost of waste will invoke simple economic laws and demand corrective action. Yet, will the timing be too late to regenerate the Earth's resources and restore balance?

Though the current scenario is daunting and overwhelming, the regeneration movement momentum is strong and filled with hope for an abundant, healthy future. Pioneering organizations like the USGBC, Park Pride and Captain Planet Foundation are at the forefront of redefining waste, social responsibility, and acceptable human behavior.


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Author's note: this article serves as the foundation for a series of articles related to redefining waste along with available regenerative solutions. Future articles will expand beyond pollinators, gardens, landscape and grounds maintenance, as well as dive deeper into these topics. The use of the Cides - herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides, and water infiltration rates were specifically not mentioned; each topic warrants its own article series. 

Beyond Sustainability: Regenerative Solutions

Over the past decade, sustainability moved from a buzz word to a movement to a culture within leading communities, universities and businesses. Significant strides were made in zero waste practices, renewable energy technology, and reduced carbon | water footprints. Yet the glaciers continue to melt, global temperatures are rising, the ocean acidification levels are increasing, and desertification is escalating.

A Pending Crisis

Abandoned farmstead in
American Dust Bowl, Oklahoma
photo courtesy of Britannica.com 

According to a senior United Nations official, there are only 60 years of farming left if soil degradation continues at current levels. In a Scientific American article, Volkert Engelsman, an activist with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, states,"We are losing 30 soccer fields of soil every minute, mostly due to intensive farming."

A dangerous dilemma is brewing with an increasing global population and a diminishing ability to produce food.

In addition, plankton is perishing at alarming rates due to ocean acidification and warmer water temperatures. Marine plant life (phytoplankton, kelp, and algal plankton) photosynthesis - the process plants use to convert carbon dioxide and sunlight into sugars for energy - generates the vast majority of atmospheric oxygen.

The December 2015 Science Daily Failing phytoplankton, failing oxygen: Global warming disaster could suffocate life on planet Earth article states:

"About two-thirds of the planet's total atmospheric oxygen is produced by ocean phytoplankton -- and therefore cessation would result in the depletion of atmospheric oxygen on a global scale. This would likely result in the mass mortality of animals and humans."

Is sustainability enough to stave off the building crisis of the diminishing food and oxygen supply?

Resilience
In 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation pioneered the 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) program; the 100RC is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.

Resilient Atlanta
Strategy Launch
photo courtesy of City of Atlanta

The City of Atlanta was named a 100RC member in 2016. Subsequently, the Office of Sustainability evolved into the Office of Resilience. As a cosmopolitan city with the third largest concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters in the nation, Atlanta is challenged with an overtaxed transportation network. 

A lack of affordable transportation options segues into challenges with food access for the city's underserved population. Understanding the imperative role food access plays in a resilient city, the Director of Urban Agriculture position supports urban food production, assists with brownfield redevelopment, and helps community members seeking to establish and sustain community gardens, farmers markets, and food hubs.

Is resilience enough to stave off the encroaching food and oxygen crisis?

Regenerative Solutions
To avoid a doom and gloom perspective, it is important to simplify the scenario and discover regenerative solutions. Beyond sustainability and resilience, regeneration focuses on rebuilding and restoring nature's perfect system.

Kiss the Ground's empowering four-minute video, The Soil Story, states the problem and the solution are a matter of balance. Simply: there is too much carbon in the atmosphere and ocean pools. To restore balance, excess carbon must transfer to the fossil, biosphere and/or soil pools. The ZWA Blog article, Carbon Crisis: simply a matter of balance, explains the carbon cycles and the current out-of-balance scenario.

The Soil Story introduces regenerative agriculture | landscape practices as a solution for restoring the soil ecosystem. Healthy, alive soil nurtures plants with strong, deep root systems; the plants "pump" carbon from the atmosphere back into the soil. In addition, healthy plants grown in alive soil produce abundant, nutritious food.

Once the atmospheric carbon reduces to a certain threshold, the oceans will release carbon into the atmosphere, reversing ocean acidification. Thus, marine plant life once again thrives, generating ample oxygen into the atmosphere.

Thus, soil regeneration addresses the food and oxygen components of the pending crisis.

In The Compost Story video, the sequel to The Soil Story, compost is introduced as a key ingredient in the soil regeneration recipe.

Kiss the Ground, the book
On the surface, the Industrial Revolution introduction of fossil fuel burning seems the main culprit in the out-of-balance carbon scenario. Yet a deeper dive, reveals a web of intertwined human activities set the foundation for the pending crisis.

In the recently released Kiss the Ground (KTG), how the food you eat can reverse climate change, heal your body and ultimately save the world book by Josh Tickell, the well-searched chapters dive deep into the destruction of the Earth's soils. 

Before industrial agriculture equipment was introduced to commercial farming, the soils were tilled with hand tools (shovels, hoes, picks, etc.) or with draft-animal-powered equipment. Simply, tilling is turning over and breaking up the soil. By its intent, tilling destroys the soil infrastructure built and maintained by mycorrhizal fungi network and results in degraded, unhealthy soil. 

Without the soil infrastructure designed to hold moisture and nurture roots, plants lack the necessary nutrients to produce abundant, healthy crop yields. Plant immune systems weaken often resulting in disease and insect infiltration. 

Thus, the introduction of synthetic fertilizers along with the "cides" - herbicides, insecticides, pesticides, and fungicides. The KTG "Nazis and Nitrogen" chapter chronicles the development of common agrochemical practices from Nazi chemical warfare. It is chilling to realize the chemical compounds designed to kill humans are the foundation of the products routinely used in food production.

Buffalo (bison) herd grazing
photo courtesy of American Expedition

In an effort to separate native American Indians from their lifeblood, the U.S. government embarked on a massive buffalo massacre operation in the 1800's. Effective, the estimated 20 - 30 million buffalo population that once dominated North America was reduced to just over 1,000 by 1889.  Tragic on many levels, the buffalo massacre was the first step in the desertification of once lush American prairies. As discussed in the KTG "The Buffalo Bank Account" chapter, the buffalo grazing patterns were integral to prairie grassland health. Manure is nature's fertilizer and nutrition for the soil's prolific life forms. 

Another strong contributor to prairie desertification was the introduction of monocrop farms where the same crop is grown year after year on the same soil with no plant species rotation. Fallow fields left barren with no crop cover contribute to the deterioration of soil health. Vibrant soil ecosystems thrive on diversity and ensure the top soils are covered with a variety of plants.

Initiated in the 1930's, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) is a wholly own government corporation managed by the Risk Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As presented in KTG, the FCIC requires farmers to grow corn, soybeans, wheat and|or cotton from GMO seeds and employ agrochemical practices to qualify for the insurance program. Though they may not agree with the practices, many farmers are not willing to leave the FCIC safety net. Thus, the FCIC contributes to the death of the nation's soil. 

Soil Regeneration Success
The KTG "Bismark or Bust" chapter introduces Gabe Brown of Brown's Ranch, regenerative landscaping for a sustainable future. At his 5,000-acre farm networked with owned and leased land, Gabe and his son Paul use regenerative agriculture practices with amazing results. Since 1993 Brown's Ranch is a no-till farm and uses a diverse crop strategy with cover and companion crops. An ever-evolving grazing strategy rests and rejuvenates the soil.

Gabe & Paul Brown
showcasing their healthy soil
photo courtesy of Brown's Ranch

No GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or glyphosate are used on the farm. The Browns eliminated synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, and pesticides use and only employ a minimum amount of herbicides.

Beyond restoring the soil, the farm produces abundant, healthy food, makes a solid profit, and provides a higher quality of life for the Browns. The "Bismark or Bust" chapter is an inspiring chapter filled with hope of what can be done.

Once a solution for the pending food | oxygen crisis is established, Josh shifts gears to creating a viable market for food produced with regenerative farming practices. Engaging the power of consumer demand, readers are encouraged to purchase healthy food that regenerates their health while restoring carbon cycle balance. Simple supply | demand economics will build strong markets for regenerative agriculture products.

In the final chapter, "The Regenerative Revolution," a wide array of examples for practical personal action is provided to participate in the Regenerative Revolution.

KTG is a must-read book for those concerned about the future of humanity and earthly life as we know it. The book is an easy, engaging read with personal anecdotes that build a connection with Josh. With its well-orchestrated media launch, KTG is a powerful catalyst to ignite the Regenerative Revolution.

Ei Soil Health Focus
In July Elemental Impact (Ei) announced Soil Health, regenerating life's foundation, is the primary ongoing focus. The inaugural Soil Health focus areas are: 

• Carbon Sequestration - the ZWA Blog article, Carbon Crisis: simply a matter of balance, introduces the Urban Carbon Sink concept. 
• Ei Farm Tours - from a Soil Health perspective, farms may be harmful or extraordinarily beneficial to restoring carbon cycle balance. Ei Farm Tours focus on the many success stories where farms restore broken soil systems through regenerative agriculture. 
• Macro Cost of Micro Contamination - the ZWA Blog article, Macro Cost of Micro Contamination, introduces the microplastic pollution focus area via a National Zero Waste Business Conference Ei-hosted panel of the same name.

With prominent corporate and government connections, Ei intends to promote the use of regenerative landscape practices on corporate complexes, college | university campuses, highway medians | shoulders, airport land surrounding runways, parks, and other available urban lands. Collectively, the regenerative landscaped areas are destined to serve as urban carbon sinks and aid in restoring the carbon cycle balance.

The GWCC Team with the
Hickory Grove Farm management

On July 31 Ei Founder Holly Elmore hosted the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC ) team on an empowering Kennesaw State University (KSU) Hickory Grove Farm tour to learn about regenerative agriculture practices. Since the tour, GWCC Director of Sustainability Tim Trefzer worked with Levy Restaurants Executive Chef Matt Roach and GWCC Grounds Operation Manager Steve Ware to identify an on-campus mini-farm area. The intent is to use food produced in the employee dining facility.

Hickory Grove Farm Manager Michael Blackwall & KSU Professor Jorge Perez educated on regenerative agriculture practices along with crop choice advice; Steve shared his extensive horticulture expertise, especially pertaining to plant | tree identification on the farm's old growth forest areas.

The ZWA Blog article, The Power of Tours, features the July Hickory Grove Farm tour; farm tour photos are included in the Holly Elmore Images FB album, KSU Leven School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality.

A seven-page, multiple-article feature, An Icon in Sustainability and Hickory Grove Farm: Regenerative Agriculture Revives Soils & Local Ecosystems, in the Southern Farm & Garden fall issue gives an overview of KSU's stellar sustainability commitment at the Michael A. Leven School of Culinary Sustainability & Hospitality, The Commons (KSU’s Gold LEED certified dining hall), and Hickory Grove Farm. Holly provided the photographs and copy for the publication feature.

In September Kiss the Ground joined the Ei Strategic Ally program. With abundant synergies, Kiss the Ground Co-Founder Finian Makepeace is the lead panelist on the Ei-Hosted panel Compost's Empowering Role in Sustainable Soils at the January 2018 U.S. Composting Council Conference. The ZWA Blog article, Atlanta Hosts U.S. Composting Council Conference, includes an overview of the prominent panel.

The time is NOW to move beyond sustainability | resilience and embrace regenerative solutions that return the carbon cycles to a healthy, balanced state. The food and oxygen crisis is real and grounded in solid scientific research. To survive, wildlife (including humans) must eat and breath oxygen - starvation and slow suffocation are painful deaths!

Regenerative solutions are simple and align with nature's perfect systems. It is time for humans to stop attempts to "outsmart Mother Nature" and relax into a symbiotic relationship with the planet.

The Power of Tours

Tour group shot @ a
Charlotte MRF

Throughout Elemental Impact's (Ei) eight-year history, tours played an integral role in educating the Ei Team on current scenarios and creative solutions to challenging situations.

In the early Zero Waste Zones days, tours centered around MRFs (material recovery facilities), recycling centers, manufacturers where recyclable items are raw materials, and generators with successful source-separated material systems in place. As Ei work segued to Sustainable Food Court Initiative (SFCI) Pilots, tours focused on large generators where the consumer is responsible for material disposal. 

As the SFCI-Airport Pilot, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the busiest airport in the world, hosted the SFCI Team on International Terminal tours during construction and post-opening. The ZWA Blog article, SFCI Team Tours New ATL Airport Int'l Concourse, chronicles the during construction tour; the SFCI Atlanta Airport Pilot: ACTION Resumes article showcases the post-opening tour.

Tim with post-game collected
food waste & packaging 

At the SFCI-Event Venue Pilot, the Georgia Dome hosted several Falcons games tours to understand post-consumer food waste and packaging generated by the concessionaire and disposed of by the fans. The ZWA Blog article, Winning Recycling Seasons: Team Work Required!, provides a recap of the 2013 game day recycling tour with the Mercedes Benz Stadium architects.

The Ei Tours website page details the many Ei-hosted tours, segregated by Farm, Industry, Partner, and SFCI Tours. Each tour is supported by a blog article and Ei FB album.

In July 2017, Ei shifted gears within the spiral of humanity's environmental impact. Ei evolved from a focus on Recycling Refinement and Post-Consumer Food Waste to Soil Health, regenerating the foundation of life. The ZWA Blog article, Soil Health: regenerating the foundation of life, announces the new platform and showcases the powerful foundation built within the Recycling Refinement platform and Post-Consumer Food waste focus area.

In preparation for the official Soil Health platform announcement, Ei embarked on a Farm Tour series in early 2017 with Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) Director of Sustainability Tim Trefzer. Ei Farm Tours are focused on farms following regenerative agricultural practices, with a strong emphasis on rebuilding healthy soils. In addition, Tim stepped into his new Ei Leadership role as the SFCI Chair.

David educates Tim on the food
waste composting windrows

First on the tour agenda was the February tour of the King of Crops Farm, located 25 minutes from downtown Atlanta. King of Pops, a popular hand-crafted popsicle company, purchased the farm to source locally grown organic ingredients nurtured within regenerative agriculture practices. Farm Manager Russell Hondered treated the group to a thorough farm tour including a narrative on its history as a well-established nursery. Remnants from the past are evident throughout the land adding character to the farm.

In addition to farming, King of Crops is a state-permitted food waste compost site. Commercial and residential food waste hauler Compost Wheels delivers their material to the farm. Compost Wheels CEO David Paull joined the tour and educated on the farm food waste composting practices.

Hickory Grove Farm entrance

Next on the agenda was a Kennesaw State University (KSU) Hickory Grove Farm tour. Kim Charick with the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4 (Southeast Region) joined Tim and Ei Founder Holly Elmore. Farm Operations Manager Michael Blackwell and KSU Professor Jorge Perez gave a thorough farm tour, along with details on the land history.

In 2013 the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) leased the 26-acre tract of land to KSU for farm use. Formally, the site was the GDOT cement mixing site for nearby I-75 construction. Though not toxic, the soil was severely compacted and devoid of necessary minerals to sustain a healthy soil ecosystem. In addition, storm water flowed off the property, rather than hydrate the "dead soil."

Natural farm retention pond

With patience, tenacity and a strategic plan, the KSU Leven School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality restored the land through regenerative agriculture practices. Simple, effective storm water management techniques retain water on the property, including a vibrant natural retention pond. Soil restoration is a partnership with the land; continued nurturing through compost use, crop rotation and other regenerative applications are necessary to maintain and improve soil health.

In addition to serving as a laboratory for the Leven School and other departments, the farm supplies produce for The Commons, KSU's Gold LEED Certified dining hall. The farm's happy hens often supply 100% of the dining service's egg demand!

Student farm worker with
the happy hens

Within the farm operations is the state-of-the-art Hydroponic Lab where tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers are grown year round. Student volunteers stamp out soil blocks for seed planting in the Propagation Lab. Once germinated, the seedling soil blocks are planted in the High Tunnel and tended through harvest. By using soil blocks, the use of small plastic containers to grow saplings is eliminated.

Inspired by the farm tours, Tim teamed with Levy Restaurants Executive Chef Matt Roach and GWCC Grounds Operation Manager Steve Ware to identify an on-campus mini-farm area. The intent is to use regenerative agriculture practices at the on-campus mini-farm to produce food for the employee dining facility. 

In late July, Ei hosted the GWCC Team at Hickory Grove Farm where Michael & Jorge educated on regenerative agriculture practices along with crop choice advice; Steve shared his extensive horticulture expertise, especially pertaining to plant | tree identification in the farm's old growth forest areas.

Tour group shot within one of
the American Chesnut sprouts.

In the farm's old growth forest, there are two healthy shoots from former magnificent American Chestnuts killed by the chestnut blight. It is estimated 3 - 4 billion American Chestnuts were killed by the blight in the first half of the 20th century. Though healthy in appearance, the shoots remain vulnerable to the blight.

The GWCC team departed in high spirits, thrilled with on-campus farming opportunities and new friends at a fellow state-owned Institute.

For a pictorial recount of the Hickory Grove Farm tours, visit the Holly Elmore Images FB album, KSU Leven School of Culinary Sustainability and Hospitality. The Ei FB album, Ei Connects, includes a section on the King of Crops Farm Tour.

Beyond their educational value, tours build strong bonds among industry colleagues and inspire new, innovative projects. Ei is excited to embark on a Farm Tour series filled with new discoveries, inspiration, and empowerment within the Soil Health platform.

The potential GWCC on-campus mini-farm is a prime example of The Power of Tours!