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Our civilization needs to change or the world we live on will change for us.

Our now global civilization needs to change or the world we live on will change for us right under our feet. In fact, in many ways this has begun already. And we are not even just talking about climate change. We also mean soil health and biodiversity as well as where all of our waste products go. Like we said, all the behaviours behind these issues need to change or the change will happen for us. 

We change our levels of greenhouse gas emissions, or the world changes its temperature.

According to the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) atmospheric levels of the three main greenhouses gasses hit new all-time highs in 2021. See the story at this (Link). Climate and weather-related disasters increased fivefold between 1970 and 2019.  In 2020, 30 million people became climate-related migrants. It is estimated that by 2030, 50% of the world’s population will live in coastal areas exposed to floods and storms. In 2022, 27 million children around the world had been put at risk of devastating floods that have been breaking records globally. Flooding has knock-on effects that increase the spread of the main causes of child mortality such as malnutrition, malaria, cholera and diarrhoea. See the story from UNICEF at this (Link). The first regions seeing these effects are of course counties like Chad, Gambia, Pakistan and north-east Bangladesh that have contributed relatively little to GHG emissions. The list of harmful to devastating results of unrestricted greenhouse gas emissions is long and it is likely that you can add a few more yourself without even using a search engine. 

In 2021 the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducted the world’s largest survey of public opinion on climate change and a majority of people called for wide-ranging action. See the story at this (Link). The survey, which was the largest and most international of its kind, showed that despite what you may have heard, the majority of the people of the world want immediate action to tackle the climate crisis. Also, for this survey, it seems that the younger you are the more seriously you take climate change. The only real divergences were in rural or urban areas and in terms of the types of solutions.  

How can we make positive changes?

We all need to consume more consciously, and this is something we all need to learn. But it can start simply. Buying things, we only actually need and taking into account how long an item might last is a beginning. 10 Ways to Become a More Conscious Consumer offers some tips (Link). 

At ARTi we see the need for change and for us this means better practices that have positive knock-on effects. 

Changing our practices means reducing our carbon footprint. ARTi works on sequestering carbon with a practice called biochar. 

We sequester CO2 and stabilize it in the soil where it belongs.

Our technology is biochar and the pyrolysis reactors that produce it. Biochar is made from agricultural residues that would have otherwise decayed and emitted CO2. Plants naturally capture CO2 during photosynthesis. When they die and decay, that CO2 begins to be released back into the atmosphere. But this doesn’t have to happen. Instead, when the plant residues are transformed into biochar they become a product that has numerous soil benefits and sequesters carbon for hundreds of years or more. At ARTi, we’re committed to making a real impact in the fight against climate change. Our pyrolysis technology plays a crucial role in sequestering CO2 in a scalable and permanent way.

Want to make a real change? We can measure your CO2 emissions and comprehensively help you to become carbon negative.  

We launched our own carbon removal project called iTRAp. Biochar has huge potential to slow climate change. iTRAp CO2 directly reflects our commitment to taking on climate change. Biochar can reduce CO2 concentrations in a more effective and long-term way, being a friendly solution to both soil and the planet. Putting your funding into our biochar and biochar projects can offset your carbon emissions making your activities carbon neutral. And if you go further and put even more funding in than needed you become carbon negative. Our and now your biochar will go into sustainably managed agriculture projects primarily in our home state of Iowa, US. It can also include tree planting with biochar which leads to less carbon in the atmosphere. 

And this brings us to our next big topic of change. Soil.

We change our soil management practices or our soils become impoverished. 

IPBES, or the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has reported that soil degradation is one of the main causes of climate change. Every five seconds a soil surface equivalent to a football field is eroded. You can see the IPBES media report at this (Link). 33% of the planet’s soils are already degraded. If we don’t change then by 2050 more than 90% could be degraded. 

Biochar restores and regenerates soil, puts carbon where it belongs which is in the soil.  You get better soil water retention, more microbes, more nutrients and more fertile soils.

We need to change to friendlier agricultural practices. Reducing the use of chemical fertilizer is one way. Sometimes even smaller changes make a big difference. The USDA has stated the main things to change for better soil management practices include less invasive, low tilling practices, reducing chemicals and promoting biodiversity. Here you can read the USDA on Soil Health at this (Link). Promoting biodiversity is not just for nature conservation in remote forests. It means for agricultural and soil management practices too. 

The variety of life forms that can be found in a given location is known as biodiversity. The biodiversity found in a given area includes a wide range of the animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world. These various species and microorganisms collaborate in complicated web-like ecosystems to keep things in balance and support life.A healthy ecosystem depends on biodiversity. It is essential to ecosystem stability, which supports a system’s resistance to stressors which can include environmental change. You can add to this category what may be anticipated from upcoming changes in climate. To accommodate the demands of wildlife without compromising the potential for food production on farms is a balance, but it’s one we must achieve. Better soil practices can support animal and bird life to protect biodiversity on a farm. This also can include micro-biodiversity. 

ARTi is part of the change towards better soil management. 

ARTi’s biochar directly addresses the need for micro-biodiversity as biochar attracts beneficial microorganisms, improves cation exchange capacity and soil water retention and aeration. All of which make for a healthier soil that supports greater biodiversity. Biochar can be an excellent addition to more effective and positive soil management practices. Its use can cut down and even eliminate the use of chemical fertilizers and reduce the need for tilling. All of which are what’s called for addressing our soil challenges. And the next step is biomass or agricultural residue management. The vegetation that isn’t needed is often a liability for farmers, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be turned into biochar that will hold its carbon content preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. The world’s most effective climate solutions lie just under our feet. In the ground. Our Biochar products transform atmospheric carbon into stable organic carbon with plenty of benefits for soils fertility. Utilizing soil as a carbon sink helps reduce emissions and reverse soil degradation. Reducing waste to create better soil and carbon sequestration.

We change how we do waste management or the world changes to a landfill.

Each year, 2,000 million tons of trash are produced worldwide, 46% of which are organic. Better  management of waste can significantly lessen the impact of agriculture emissions, which are a major contributor to world emissions. For the ecosystem to remain healthy, sustainable waste management is essential. We face a number of challenges with our waste. 

Global Waste is set to Grow by 70 Percent by 2050. We have no choice but to make a change and find a better way to deal with it. Otherwise, the landscape will change for us and at this rate it won’t be pretty. 

We turn waste residues into high value material.

Ineffective and inefficient waste management causes hazardous emissions, adverse health effects, and increased air, land, and water pollution in addition to wasting valuable resources and commodities. Globally, about 46% of waste is organic. Food and yard trimmings make a huge amount of this. We can do something better with this material. Organic material can be feedstock for biochar. All it needs is to be properly dried.  Then instead of waste, it’s a material that sequesters CO2 and makes for improved soil. 

Poor manure management is another problem. There is a lot of livestock in the world and this means a lot of manure which means a lot of emissions. Manure is often dumped in lagoons or piled high for storage. It has been used for fertilizer for eons. But it still can be used better. 

ARTi is ready to help change all of these water materials into something better.

Residues management is key to creating a sustainable future. We’re committed to finding innovative solutions to transform waste and make a positive impact on the planet. Through a process called pyrolysis we turn agricultural, forestry and industrial waste into high-value carbon products that can be used as soil amendment, animal bedding, building materials and other uses in the fashion and beauty industries.

Together let’s take a stand for a change for the better.