No Till Farming

Pioneering farmer builds richer soils while absorbing CO2

For over 25 years, John Aeschliman has been farming the rolling hills of eastern Washington with a no-till drill. No-till farming, also called direct seed or conservation tillage, has increased his yield, stopped erosion, and diversified the type of crops he is able to grow. Because of its minimal impact upon the soil, no-till farming practices retain significant amounts of carbon in the soil. Carbon storage in soil is beneficial for both crops and the atmosphere.

Green Infrastructure 

A utility saves money, restores wildlife habitat and reduces CO2 in the atmosphere 

Clean Water Services (CWS) manages wastewater and stormwater in Washington County, Oregon. In 2003, the agency made an unorthodox and highly innovative decision that saved their community about $100 million while reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Instead of building an expensive, engineered solution to cool down the heated wastewater they release into the Tualatin River, they invested in restoring riverside habitat along some 50 miles of the river.  It got the job done much less expensively with big benefits for wildlife, landowners, and our atmosphere. 

Turning ‘Waste’ Into Compost

A family-owned composting business creates jobs, builds soils and helps our atmosphere.

Cedar Grove Composting, a local and family-owned business in King County, Washington, has rescued recoverable and reusable organics from the garbage pile and changed the face of the solid waste industry in the Northwest. With an innovative life-cycle management process, they collect lawn clippings, leaves, and food waste to process into high quality compost. Through collaboration with local governments and businesses, Cedar Grove has grown from 12 employees to 104, and become the largest, single dedicated yard waste composting facility in the United States.

Biosolids Are an Endlessly Renewable Resource

Loop is a three-dimensional climate solution.

Kate Kurtz, Biosolids Project Manager for King County Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) likes to say that King County’s biosolids are “an endlessly renewable resource.” And this will be true as long as 1.5 million or so people served by the County’s wastewater treatment system eat food and contribute their waste via toilets to the system.

Watch this short interview with Kate, and then in our second clip see an honest-to-goodness doo-flippin machine in action (Loop biosolids getting applied to a Washington forest to enhance the soil and the plants). Brian Vrablick, Forestry Project Manager for King County WTD explains how it's done.

Gallucci Learning Center: Not only a biocarbon solution, also a vital hub for Tacoma’s Hilltop

Kristen McIvor is a little like a few million soil micro-organisms – and I mean that in a good way.  She breaks down the ossified lifeless clods in the metaphorical soil structure of the community, and she transforms them into fertile, tilthy substrates in which people of all kinds find kinship, delight, and healthy food.