Remineralize the Earth

Remineralize the Earth (RTE) promotes the use of finely ground rock dust and sea-based minerals to restore soils and forests, produce more nutritious food, and remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere.

 

Soil remineralization will lead to a more productive and sustainable agriculture, abundant healthy forests, and is a key strategy to stabilize the climate through sequestering carbon. RTE facilitates a global movement advocating for finely ground rock dust and sea minerals as an alternative to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

 

Throughout millennia soils are formed during the glacial cycles, through volcanic eruptions and alluvial deposits. We can go beyond organic by recognizing that not only do we need to recycle organic matter through composting and other means, but we also need to return the minerals and trace elements back into our soils through imitating the Earth’s natural cycles.

 

Remineralization can be easily integrated with other sustainable agriculture techniques such as composting, compost teas, vermiculture, biochar, permaculture, and other sustainable practices and we can all contribute to the goal of creating and promoting food security worldwide. (For a local source, contact Rock Dust Local )

 

Over decades industrial agriculture has depleted our soils of crucial minerals and trace elements. Today on average you would need to eat five apples to get the same nutrition as one apple in 1965 (USDA). Now imagine producing as much as 2-4 times the increased yields for agriculture while at the same time enhancing the nutrient quality of the food we eat.

 

As a key strategy to stabilize the climate, a recent study in Panama showed 8 times the growth of trees grown with a local basalt rock dust that translates into healthy trees that sequester 8 times more carbon in our soils.

 

In an era of peak oil and diminishing resources, we can move from an era of scarcity to an era of abundance. Rocks are one of the most abundant resources on Earth! Finely ground rock dust is readily available as a byproduct from the aggregate industry which supplies materials for construction and highways. It can be applied to soils and forests and it requires no extra energy other than transportation costs.

 

In the Pioneer Valley we are initiating a research project with 8 science classes at the Paulo Freire Social Justice Charter School (PFSJCS) in Holyoke, MA field testing onsite at Nuestras Raices (http://nuestras-raices.org). Students will be testing crops with and without rock dust and will be contributing their data to our online research database.  We plan to create a K-12 Handbook for teachers and students all over the world to learn about remineralization and contribute their results and photos providing us with information about their local sources of rock dust.

 

RTE is not just focused on local initiatives, but also a diverse range of projects happening around the world in Senegal, Cameroon, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil and many other countries. They are currently partnering on a research project in an African Brazilian community in Bahia, Brazil which will analyze the results of productivity for cactus for fodder, with and without rock dust.  

 

RTE advocates for an innovative agroforestry system as demonstrated at Sitio Semente just outside of Brasilia which produces a tremendous diversity of fruits, vegetables, coffee and cacao, and sell their produce at a farmer’s market in Brasilia. They are transforming the surrounding degraded land into a productive food forest, made possible through one initial application of rock dust with no reliance on outside inputs thereafter. Please see the inspiring video “From Garden to Forest:” (agendagotsch.com)

 

In November, RTE was invited to be a part of an official delegation by the Cuba-U.S. Agroecology Network (CUSAN) to visit farms and gave a presentation on agroecology with rock dust and is looking for a grant to return to Cuba to train farmers.

 

RTE is partnering with Heifer International in the Sahel region of Senegal. If our demonstration project is successful it will be scaled up to 8 countries to create food security for local communities in one of the most impoverished regions in the world.

 

Thank you for supporting us on Valley Gives Day on May 3, an event dedicated to community action that will help empower our mission! Every donation shows your participation and commitment to creating better soils, better food, and a better planet.