The way we currently manage the suburban and urban landscape is creating a wasteland and harming the well-being of Earth. We pave over forests, use giant machines to scrape away healthy soil, and turn thriving grasslands into dead lawns. Rain is unable to soak into the ground and instead rushes downhill, causing erosion and flooding. We repeatedly soak the land in toxic chemicals that kill life. There is little food for the birds, butterflies, and bees that need it. These efforts are costly, time-intensive, and increase CO2 in the atmosphere.

Fortunately, we have an alternative path: we can work with natural systems instead of working against them. By doing so, we can help heal Earth. We also save time and money because we perform fewer tasks and use fewer products. Best of all, these are simple things that anyone can do regardless of their knowledge or experience.

During the presentation we will begin by examining how the systems of photosynthesis and soil formation work and how they affect water, carbon, and all other life on land. We will also discuss how we are damaging these systems.

The remainder of this presentation are practices we can implement that help heal Earth based on first-hand expertise developed at Leaf & Limb. We'll begin with the easiest concepts, like planting saplings and saving mature trees. Then we'll move to some more challenging, more impactful approaches, like planting pocket forests and replacing our lawns with Piedmont Prairies. Finally, for those who want to help shift paradigms even more, we discuss how we can use the Project Pando model to work with our community to gather native seeds, raise them into trees, and give them away for free.