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In episode 109 of Bionic Planet, we learn how the Quilombola people of Brazil are blending the IPCC Livelihood Vulnerability Index Assessment with soil carbon methodologies developed under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) to save themselves and their soil from urban expansion and agricultural encroachment.

We begin with Sandra Pereira Braga, a descendant of enslaved peoples who has been farming on her family's land for almost 300 years. Sandra's story highlights the importance of recognizing and valuing the traditional practices and accumulated carbon stocks of these communities.

Our main guest is Vasco van Roosmalen, CEO of ReSeed, a startup focused on helping smallholder farmers access climate financing. Vasco discusses the innovative approach taken by ReSeed to support vulnerable farmers who are already practicing regenerative agriculture. By adapting methodologies like VM42 for soil carbon and utilizing the IPCC vulnerability assessments, ReSeed is helping farmers access the funding they need to maintain their existing carbon stocks and continue their sustainable practices.

We also delve back into the challenges of land tenure in Brazil, discussing the complexities of land titles and the implications for carbon projects. The recent Operation Greenwashing by Brazilian authorities targeting projects with fake land titles underscores the importance of ensuring legal ownership and sustainable management practices.

Overall, the episode sheds light on the critical role of smallholder farmers in climate action and the need for innovative approaches to support these communities in preserving their lands and traditional practices. Through initiatives like ReSeed, there is hope for empowering farmers to mitigate climate change and protect their livelihoods for future generations.

• 00:00:00 - Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture in Brazil

• 00:05:30 - Importance of Carbon Finance for Smallholder Farmers

• 00:10:00 - Challenges Faced by Quilombola Communities

• 00:15:00 - Role of Carbon Markets in Agriculture

• 00:20:00 - Methodologies for Assessing Vulnerability and Carbon Stocks

• 00:25:30 - Discussion on VM42 Soil Carbon Methodology

• 00:30:00 - Land Tenure Issues in Brazil

• 00:35:00 - Operation Greenwashing and Land Title Fraud

• 00:40:00 - Challenges of Land Titling and Timber Management

• 00:45:00 - Overlap of Illegal Land Titles and Carbon Projects

• "My people have been on this land for 276 years." - 00:00:38-00:00:50

• "Today's guest, Vasco van Roosmalen, is the CEO of a startup called ReSeed." - 00:02:58-00:03:08

• "We know that the enemy is carbon, and we know its ugly face, we should put a big fat price on it, and of course, add to that, drop the subsidies." - 00:05:52-00:06:04

• "Man may be unwittingly changing the world's climate through the waste products of his civilization." - 00:05:52-00:06:04

• "We need to recognize what they have been doing for 300 years, the accumulating of that biomass in that soil and the protection of the agroforest that they have on their land." - 00:28:39-00:28:50

• "It's a way to quantify actions that need to be taken to help that economic sector move from those high emissions to low emissions." - 00:14:56-00:15:06

• "Smallholder farmers are among the most vulnerable to climate change. They're the front lines of climate change." - 00:16:10-00:16:21

• "We need to really look at their ability to adapt." - 00:33:14-00:33:25

• "It's a step process. First illegal land titles, then sustainable management, timber plans that weren't followed." - 00:45:10-00:45:21

• "But it was all built on the very beginning of those illegal land titles." - 00:46:14-00:46:24

Photo by Karol Stefański on Unsplash

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In episode 108 of Bionic Planet, I delve into a recent article published by the Washington Post that is riddled with inaccuracies, false premises, and misleading information. The episode serves as a critical analysis of the article, highlighting the importance of fact-checking and the credibility of mainstream media in reporting on complex issues such as climate change and carbon finance.

The episode begins with a passionate rant about the Washington Post's story, titled "How Carbon Cowboys Are Cashing In on Protected Amazon Forest," which misrepresents the reality of carbon credits and their role in combating climate change. The host points out the flaws in the article's framing of the issue of nebulous land titles in the Brazilian Amazon and its failure to provide a nuanced understanding of the complexities involved.

Throughout the episode, the host emphasizes the difference between uncertainty and inaccuracy, drawing on examples from the article to illustrate the importance of distinguishing between the two. The host also references the concept of Gell-Mann amnesia, highlighting the tendency for readers to overlook inaccuracies in one area while trusting the same source on other topics.

The episode delves into the challenges of reporting on climate finance and the need for accurate and nuanced coverage in mainstream media. The host critiques the Washington Post's oversimplification of the issue of tangled land titles in Brazil and highlights the importance of understanding the nuances of carbon finance and climate solutions.

In conclusion, the host calls for a more informed and critical approach to reporting on climate issues, emphasizing the need for accuracy, accountability, and progress in media coverage. The episode ends with a call to support the podcast through Patreon and sponsorship opportunities, highlighting the importance of amplifying legitimate debates and challenging misinformation in the climate realm.

Overall, episode 108 of Bionic Planet offers a thought-provoking analysis of the Washington Post's misleading story, shedding light on the complexities of climate finance and the challenges of reporting on environmental issues in mainstream media.

00:00:00 - Introduction to Rant about Washington Post Article
00:05:30 - Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect
00:11:30 - Critique of Washington Post's Misleading Claims
00:17:45 - Misrepresentation of Carbon Market
00:20:59 - Importance of Voluntary Carbon Market
00:23:10 - Criticism of The Guardian's Perspective
00:25:28 - Examination of World Rainforest Movement
00:29:12 - Issues with Independent Auditing Groups
00:30:14 - Conclusion and Call to Action

• "The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia." - 00:05:21-00:05:32

• "We chase the immediate, the ephemeral, and ignore the seismic, the fundamental." - 00:18:37-00:18:48

• "Let's not forget that we're here because we failed." - 00:20:59-00:21:10

• "The fact is that many, and perhaps most, project developers were bleeding red ink for most of the past 15 years." - 00:17:45-00:17:55

• "The Washington Post seriously overstates the prices that developers have received over the past 25 years." - 00:19:38-00:19:48

• "The impetus for this Washington Post piece was a seriously flawed bit of blather called Neocolonialism in the Amazon, Red Projects in Portal, Brazil." - 00:24:46-00:24:57

• "The problems with this Washington Post piece go on and on, but it also raises a few points that could be serious if they turn out to be true, and that's what's so frustrating." - 00:30:14-00:30:24

• "Given the reporter's failure to get even basic premises right, and to insist on presenting an old, gray, intractable problem as a new, simple story complete with heroes and villains, I'm inclined to disbelieve those parts that seem to offer answers where I've only found questions." - 00:30:24-00:30:36

• "I'm not here to balance negative stories with positive ones. I'm here to balance half-baked simplistic gibberish with contextualized complex truth." - 00:31:39-00:31:49

Support Bionic Planet: https://www.patreon.com/bionicplanet

Books referenced in this episode:

"The Discovery of Global Warming" by Spencer Weart (Hypertext version): https://history.aip.org/climate/index.htm

"Lavoisier in the Year One" by Madison Smartt Bell: https://wwnorton.com/books/Lavoisier-in-the-Year-One/

"The Life and Letters of Joseph Black, M. D." by William Ramsay (Hypertext version): https://archive.org/details/lifelettersofjos00ramsrich/page/n5/mode/2up

In this episode of Bionic Planet, we delve into the history of the science underpinning Nature-based Climate Solutions (NbCS), beginning in the 1620s, in the Flemish village of Vilvoorde.

The episode kicks off with the story of Jan Baptist van Helmont, a physician who conducted an experiment planting a five-pound baby willow tree in a 200-pound pot of soil, launching a sequence of events that solved the riddle of where trees come from, accelerated the Industrial Revolution that propelled us to our current state of ecological overshoot, and planted the seeds of our eventual salvation.

The narrative then takes us through the evolution of scientific thought, from the ancient Greek philosophers to the alchemists of the Middle Ages, and eventually to the pioneers of modern chemistry like Joseph Black and Antoine Lavoisier. We explore the concepts of phlogiston, fixed air, and the discovery of oxygen, shedding light on the gradual unraveling of the mysteries of the natural world.

The episode also highlights the contributions of individuals like Joseph Priestley and Jan Ingenhousz, who made key observations about the role of plants in purifying air and the process of photosynthesis. These discoveries laid the foundation for our understanding of how plants breathe in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, shaping our knowledge of the interconnectedness of ecosystems.

The episode wraps up with a brief segue into the concept of latent heat, as elucidated by Joseph Black, and its pivotal role in the development of steam engines. This technological advancement sparked the Industrial Revolution, which delivered previously unimaginable wealth to the world but pushed our planet to the brink of ecological collapse.

As the host, I aim to provide a comprehensive and engaging exploration of the historical milestones that have shaped our understanding of climate and biodiversity finance. By unraveling the untold story of the voluntary carbon market, I seek to dispel myths, challenge simplistic narratives, and foster a deeper appreciation for the complexities of environmental science.

Join me on this enlightening journey through the annals of scientific discovery, as we uncover the threads that connect past breakthroughs to present-day challenges and solutions. Together, we can gain a deeper insight into the intricate web of relationships that sustain life on our bionic planet. Thank you for tuning in to Bionic Planet, where we explore the past to illuminate the path forward.

In this episode of Bionic Planet, we delve into the inspiring journey of Marco Cerezo, the director of Fundaeco, a conservation NGO based in Guatemala. Marco shares his lifelong dedication to nature conservation, sustainable community development, and the fight against climate change. He recounts his early experiences studying development economics and the pivotal moment in 1989 when he learned about climate change from NASA geophysicists, which fueled his passion for conservation.

Marco discusses the challenges faced by Fundaeco in its early days, relying on small grants and volunteers to support their conservation efforts. As the organization grew, they realized the limitations of traditional funding sources and turned to carbon finance as a sustainable solution. Through the creation of a REDD+ project in Caribbean Guatemala, Fundaeco engaged over 700 forest owners and 1,000 forest parcels to protect over 55,000 hectares of forest.

The episode highlights the meticulous process of securing free, prior, and informed consent from communities, educating them about carbon, and designing a transparent benefit-sharing mechanism. Marco emphasizes the importance of building trust with communities and ensuring that they directly benefit from the carbon revenues generated by the project.

Furthermore, Marco explains the methodology used to establish the baseline for the project, utilizing national forest cover maps and regional deforestation rates. He reflects on the long-term impact of REDD+ projects, with a time horizon of 30 years, providing financial sustainability and institutional strength to conservation efforts.

As the episode concludes, Marco underscores the critical role of REDD+ in biodiversity conservation and community development, urging for continuous improvement in standards and transparency. He envisions a future where local conservation NGOs and communities are empowered with carbon knowledge to mobilize capital at the scale needed to protect tropical rainforests.

Listeners are encouraged to support the production of more episodes by becoming patrons of Bionic Planet and leaving five-star reviews to help amplify the message of conservation and climate action. The episode closes with a call to unite in the collective effort to address the climate challenge and safeguard our planet for future generations.

• Introduction to the Episode: 00:00:00-00:01:02

• Transition to Carbon Finance: 00:01:02-00:02:37

• Challenges of Implementing Carbon Finance: 00:02:37-00:03:21

• Overview of the Project in Guatemala: 00:03:21-00:04:54

• Discussion on Climate Change and Anthropocene: 00:04:54-00:05:26

• Interview Introduction with Marco Cerezo: 00:05:26-00:06:06

• Marco Cerezo's Early Conservation Work: 00:06:06-00:09:15

• Funding Challenges and Transition to Carbon Finance: 00:09:15-00:11:36

• Importance of Sustainable Landscapes: 00:11:36-00:13:46

• Agroforestry and Sustainable Farming Practices: 00:13:46-00:14:53

• Implementation of Carbon Finance in Guatemala: 00:15:05-00:17:39

• Establishing Carbon Benefit and Methodologies: 00:17:39-00:19:52

• Community Engagement and Benefit Sharing: 00:20:03-00:27:42

• Long-Term Sustainability and Time Horizon: 00:34:26-00:35:39

• Baseline Establishment and Methodologies: 00:36:01-00:37:46

• Closing Remarks and Call to Action: 00:38:02-00:38:55