“Nature has been healing itself for a very long time, [but] there are ways for us as human beings to ally with the different organisms and try to facilitate their work.” Leila Darwish, author of Earth Repair, provides a grassroots guide to healing toxic and damaged landscapes. She talks about involving the local community, getting the soil and/or water tested periodically, and approaching the work with humility rather than “humans know best.” Healers can use plants, microbes and fungi like mushrooms to extract, bind or break down contaminants. She is excited by the experimentation done by grassroots remediators, who are openly sharing their successes and failures. “It shouldn’t be on the [local] people to do the cleanup work, but if you have healing work that needs to be done, it should be with people who have the heart to do it.” Episode 284.
Earth Repair – Homegrown Healing of Toxic Lands, part 1
By Janaia Donaldson, originally published by Peak Moment Television
March 16, 2015
Janaia Donaldson
Janaia Donaldson is the host and producer of Peak Moment TV conversations showcasing grass roots entrepreneurs pioneering locally reliant, resilient communities during these challenging times of energy and resource decline, ecological limits, and economic turbulence. We tour North America in our mobile studio, taping on location. Peak Moment Conversations are online at www.peakmoment.tv/
Tags: bioremediation, grassroots, toxic landscapes
Related Articles
A Crop for a Saltier Future?
By Ashley Stimpson, YES! magazine
What will farmers grow in the salty fields of the future? Melino thinks it might be salicornia.
January 29, 2025
Hand in Hand for the Future of Farming – Call For Courage at #WHES25
By ARC2020 Staff, ARC2020
At this year’s Wir haben es satt! Demonstration in Berlin, thousands of farmers, activists and consumers gathered in front of the Reichstag to demand bold action on agri-food policy, urging the next German government to deliver fair prices, support for agroecological farming and decisive climate action ahead of a pivotal federal election.
January 27, 2025
Power to the microbes: Reclaiming traditional foods for a degrowth food future
By Christiane Heisse, Sevgi Mutlu Sirakova, Degrowth.info
Traditional fermentation practices, essential for self-sufficiency, embody a form of everyday resistance and quiet sustainability, countering the homogenization and commodification of food.
January 24, 2025