Our planet is in the midst of climate chaos. We’re seeing the desertification of land. Chaotic rain events and flooding, heat events and severe drought. Not to mention the plastic and trash littering our globe. Carbon released into the atmosphere shapes our climate.
Warming parts of the climate and causing glaciers to crumble.
And jet streams to slow and stagnate. We watch as the world around us changes in unexpected and dangerous ways.
Vineyards, both large and small, are embracing farming methods that revitalize their soils. This sequesters carbon and helps mitigate climate change.
Climate chaos means you might be in a drought one year and a flood the next. Northern Italy saw this severe drought in the summer of 2022, and then heavy rains and flooding in the spring of 2023. Germany saw horrific flooding in the air in the summer of 2021, and devastating floods in northern Germany occurred as recently as January of 2024.
In South America, El Nino brought severe rain and flooding to the vineyards in Chile in 2023. While they still struggle with drought and a lack of snowfall in the Andes that provides irrigation in the warm summers. It’s not one or the other any longer. It’s both.
We’ve all seen photos of dry, cracked earth. These are areas where there used to be water and fertile land. But due to drought, deforestation or other human activities, the land is now dry and barren. The dustbowl in the US in the 1930s combined drought with desertification. The Homestead Act of 1862 and several acts that followed had settlers rushing to grab some land and plant.
The drought came and the land torn up for planting had nothing to hold it down. When severe winds came through.
There are solutions. Cover crops. Crop rotation. Rotational grazing and irrigation improvements can all help stabilize soil. Contour farming help slow the flow of running water, giving it time to seep into the soil, and windbreaks can also help. The goal is to encourage life. Plants in their roots hold the soil in place. They also aerate the soil, allowing the water to soak in.
This encourages microbial life and the positive cycle continues. Cover crops help hold water, allowing for less runoff and erosion. Riparian areas along rivers can also help hold the banks in place. Many small changes can make a difference. For more insights on what regenerative vintners are doing for the planet,
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https://www.CanWineSavetheplanet.com
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