Eric Toensmeier
{{Short description|Climate change author}}
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| subjects = Climate change, Biodiversity, and Nutrition
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| website = {{URL|http://www.perennialsolutions.org/}}
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Eric Toensmeier is an author of several books focused on climate change, biodiversity, and nutrition.{{Cite web|date=2020-08-19|title=Perennial Vegetables Are a Solution in the Fight Against Hunger and Climate Change|url=https://civileats.com/2020/08/19/perennial-vegetables-are-a-solution-in-the-fight-against-hunger-and-climate-change/|access-date=2021-05-25|website=Civil Eats|language=en}} He is also a lecturer at Yale University{{Cite web|date=2020-09-01|title=Can Perennial Vegetables Help Fight Hunger and Climate Change?|url=https://www.livekindly.co/perennial-vegetables-fight-hunger-climate-change/|access-date=2021-05-25|website=LIVEKINDLY|language=en-US}} and a Senior Biosequestration Fellow at Project Drawdown.{{Cite web|date=2020-02-11|title=Carbon Farming: A Solution to Climate Change?|url=https://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/carbon-farming-solution-climate-change|access-date=2021-05-25|website=JIA SIPA|language=en}}
Previously, he managed a farm program for Nuestras Raices, a nonprofit organization that ran community gardens in Holyoke, Massachusetts; and ran a mail-order seed company with Jonathan Bates for plants that would improve the soil or attract beneficial insects.{{Cite news|last=Raver|first=Anne|date=2013-02-13|title=Their Trip to Bountiful|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/garden/a-permaculture-love-story.html|access-date=2021-05-25|issn=0362-4331}}
Career
Toensmeier's works include Paradise Lot,{{Cite web|first=Anne-Gerard|last=Flynn|date=2020-02-23|title=Spring Bulb Show opens March 7 at Smith College|url=https://www.masslive.com/entertainment/2020/02/spring-bulb-show-opens-march-7-at-smith-college.html|access-date=2021-06-02|website=masslive|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Raver|first=Anne|date=2013-02-13|title=Their Trip to Bountiful|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/garden/a-permaculture-love-story.html|access-date=2021-06-02|issn=0362-4331}} Perennial Vegetables: From Artichoke to ‘Zuiki’ Taro, a Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious, Easy-to-Grow Edibles, Edible Forests Gardens: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture (co-authored), and Perennial Vegetables: A neglected resource for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and nutrition (co-authored).{{Cite journal|last1=Toensmeier|first1=Eric|last2=Ferguson|first2=Rafter|last3=Mehra|first3=Mamta|date=2020-07-10|title=Perennial vegetables: A neglected resource for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and nutrition|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=15|issue=7|pages=e0234611|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0234611|issn=1932-6203|pmc=7351156|pmid=32649667|bibcode=2020PLoSO..1534611T|doi-access=free}}
In Perennial Vegetables: A neglected resource, Toensmeier provides information on crops that could help address malnutrition issues, including trees with edible, nutritious leaves.{{Cite web|date=2020-08-19|title=Perennial Vegetables Are a Solution in the Fight Against Hunger and Climate Change|url=https://civileats.com/2020/08/19/perennial-vegetables-are-a-solution-in-the-fight-against-hunger-and-climate-change/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=Civil Eats|language=en}} Perennial plants are those that grow all-year-round and do not require replanting or reseeding. They are used in regenerative and sustainable farming.
In February 2020, Toensmeier's 2016 book, Carbon Farming: A Global Toolkit for Stabilizing the Climate with Tree Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices, was released as an ebook.{{Cite web|date=2016-03-16|title=How Carbon Farming Could Reverse Climate Change|url=https://civileats.com/2016/03/16/how-carbon-farming-reverse-climate-change-eric-toensmeier/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=Civil Eats|language=en}} In the book, Toensmeier argues that carbon farming has the potential to return carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, while also providing food for people and regenerating soil. Carbon farming is defined as the use of agriculture to remove excess carbon from the air and soil by storing it in trees and plants.{{Cite web|title=Some advice for starting your own backyard 'carbon farm'|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-12-27/some-advice-starting-your-own-backyard-carbon-farm|access-date=2021-06-02|website=The World from PRX|date=14 December 2016 |language=en}} Toensmeier practices carbon farming at his home in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Toensmeier is an adviser for Summersweet Gardens Nursery at Perennial Pleasures, whose owner was inspired by Toensmeier's book, Perennial Vegetables.{{Cite web|last=Pasanen|first=Melissa|title=Vermont Farmer-Researchers Explore the Potential of Perennial Vegetables|url=https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/vermont-farmer-researchers-explore-the-potential-of-perennial-vegetables/Content?oid=33106199|website=Seven Days VT}}
More recently, Toensmeier became a senior fellow at the climate think tank, Project Drawdown, as well as lecturing at Yale.{{Cite web|last=Philpott|first=Tom|title=To save the Corn Belt, plant trees|url=https://www.motherjones.com/food/2021/10/corn-belt-agroforestry-trees-erosion-carbon-sequestration-walnuts-acorns/|access-date=2021-12-01|website=Mother Jones|language=en-US}}
Publications
- Paradise Lot
- Perennial Vegetables: From Artichoke to ‘Zuiki’ Taro, a Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious, Easy-to-Grow Edibles
- Edible Forests Gardens: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture (co-authored)
- Perennial Vegetables: A neglected resource for biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and nutrition (co-authored)
- Carbon Farming: A Global Toolkit for Stabilizing the Climate with Tree Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices
See also
- [http://carbonfarmingsolution.com/bio The Carbon Farming Solution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122170034/http://carbonfarmingsolution.com/bio |date=2017-11-22 }}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Yale University faculty
Category:Male non-fiction writers