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Food’s Future: Nature or Technology? • Dr. Philip Gregory • Food Matters Series
Sunday November 3 @ 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Dr. Philip Gregory on Food’s Future: Nature or Technology?
Sunday, November 3, 2024, 1:30 pm, at the Bowen Island Public Library
This event is part of the Food Matters series, featuring four Bowen Island presenters. This series is presented in partnership by Bowen Island Food Resilience Society & Bowen Island Public Library.
About this Talk
Food insecurity is rising globally and across Canada. Are we looking in the right places for solutions to current and future food crises? Our current agriculture system is an industrial model: it’s unhealthy and unsustainable. Regenerative organic agriculture mimics nature to grow crops and raise animals. It’s a healthy, profitable, and sustainable method that mimics nature. Humans need to respect nature’s 4.5 billion years of research and development. We ignore nature’s lessons at our peril.
About Dr. Philip Gregory
Dr. Phil Gregory is Professor Emeritus of Physics & Astronomy at UBC. Seven years ago, he refocused his research to what is necessary to sustain human life on earth in the face of climate change, the looming collapse of agriculture, and an explosion of chronic diseases. His book, Pathway to Regeneration, shows how they are all interconnected, and a key part of the solution is regenerative agriculture, which is all about mimicking nature. Phil loves to share the fascinating connections between plants, animals, and the invisible world of soil microbes, which nature uses to build fertile, carbon rich soil without the need for fossil-fuel based chemical inputs. His videos and presentations on soil and regenerative agriculture can be accessed here. Phil’s commitment to regenerative agriculture is also evident in his volunteering his engineering expertise for projects such as the polytunnel (greenhouse) at Grafton Commons Garden on Bowen.
Sixty-two perscent of the world’s agricultural land is used for animal grazing, and much of this land is becoming or has already become desert. Currently, Dr. Gregory is collaborating with the University of Alberta on the largest comparative grazing experiment with the potential to answer the important question: Can regenerative grazing practices restore degraded land and sequester a meaningful amount of atmospheric carbon in the soil? Phil brings to the project some amazing numerical analysis tools that he developed for his textbook, Bayesian Logical Data Analysis for the Physical Sciences published by Cambridge University Press in 2005 and 2010.