This grassroots site is about management for simultaneous social, financial, and ecological benefit. Our goal is to promote change toward a future that works. More…

Today's featured photo:

Developed in moist climates like this, modern range management produces desertification in seasonally dry and arid climates. Article...

Today's featured book:

Gardeners of Eden: Rediscovering Our Importance to Nature by Dan Dagget. Called "the most important conservation manifesto since Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic." Review...

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Recent additions

Soil Carbon Coalition founded. Enterprise, Oregon, January 2008--The Soil Carbon Coalition, with pending 501c3 nonprofit status, plans to advance the practice of turning atmospheric carbon into soil organic matter, and to advance public awareness of the soil carbon opportunity to enhance biosphere processes and reverse global heating.

Australian author reveals comprehensive solutions to the climate crisis. Enterprise, Oregon, July 2007--Biosphere Media has published a US/UK edition of Allan Yeomans's controversial book Priority One: Together We Can Beat Global Warming.

Allan Yeomans has a background in physics, chemistry, meteorology, and agriculture. He realized that the rapid development of soil organic matter could solve the global warming problem, in combination with a switch to nonfossil energy sources. But most scientists, experts, organizations, and governments are unfamiliar with soil-enhancing farming and grazing methods, or the large and rapid increases in soil organic matter that they were achieving. "The undue influence of the coal, oil, and gas industries on every aspect of American politics has blinded Americans to the opportunities we have to stop global warming," he said. Continue article...

Forestry that Works. 30-minute film about excellent forest stewardship, highlighting the opportunities for public land management, and some observations on fire. Forestry that Works page, with a trailer and ordering info.

Discover the most common cause of droughts and floods worldwide. Viewable as a Flash movie with quiz, HTML slide show, or downloadable Flash and PowerPoint versions for classroom use, presentations, and offline viewing. In 6 languages:

Water cycle basics
水循环常识
Водный цикл
Los principios fundamentales del ciclo del agua
Les principes de base du cycle de l'eau
المبادئ الأساسية لدورة الماء في الطبيعة

Today's featured story

Landscape brittleness and productivity

by Jim Howell

As I work and travel around the world, I constantly ask myself where I am on the brittleness scale. (Brittleness measures how much seasonal dryness an area experiences, and is independent of total rainfall.) I look at all the things Allan Savory always emphasizes to try and figure out brittleness levels — things like how plant material is breaking down, distance between perennial grass plants, amount of bare ground in areas that I know have rested for years, etc.

Over time I've realized that there are lots of different types of forests, grasslands, steppes and savannas.… Through experience I am learning that the application of tools has to vary across these distinct environments, even though they lie at similar points on the brittleness scale. Read article…

Sample articles

Democracy and power by Bob Chadwick. How to share power so that democracy works, and people don't need to bypass the existing power structure.