Simple Actions Everyone Can Take, Starting Today, to Restore (Sequester) Carbon in the Soil and Mitigate Climate Change

NOFA-NY Organic Action Plan (PDF)

  • Eat organically grown food
  • Buy from local farmers who are organic and trade fairly
  • Use organic methods in your own garden or window box
  • Turn your yard into a carbon sink by doing some of the following:
    • Do not use synthetic nitrogen fertilizers
    • Make your own compost by mixing food and yard waste or sign up for a compost collection service
    • Increase biodiversity
    • If you must use pesticides, use organic pesticides that are not toxic to soil microorganisms – focus on the prevention of pests
    • Reduce the area of lawn that you mow
    • Add white clover, birdsfoot trefoil, or native grasses for drought tolerance
    • Set your mower to 3 – 4 inches and leave grass clippings on the lawn
    • Preserve or add native plants
    • Observe the natural landscape and apply nature’s lessons
    • Grow more vegetables and flowers and less grass
    • Plant nitrogen-fixing cover crops in the walkways, such as white clover
    • Water infrequently and never more than 1″ per week including rainfall
    • Turn off automatic sprinklers
    • Divert roof run-off to low-lying areas or rain barrels

Thank you! We can all start sequestering carbon today and every bit helps!

By Elizabeth Henderson, NOFA-NY member, Northeast Organic Farming Association -Interstate Council Co-Chair Policy Committee, Agricultural Justice Project Board