Didi Pershouse is the founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative, where people learn to see the processes of living systems at work, and find effective intervention points. She is the author of The Ecology of Care and Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function; and a contributing author to The Climate Emergency: How Africa Can Survive and Thrive; Health in the Anthropocene; and Climate Crisis and Creation Care. She teaches participatory workshops both in person and online, (often in collaboration with the Soil Food Web School) exploring how natural systems regulate local and regional temperatures and weather; and how healthy soil provides resilience to flooding, drought, wildfire, and heatwaves. Her workshops show the nested relationships between soil health, human health, water cycles, and climate.

She is a Planning Commissioner for her town, a member of the Vermont State-appointed Payment For Ecosystem Services and Soil Health Working Group and is on the board of directors of the Soil Carbon Coalition and the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition. She led a successful effort to conserve the Zebedee Headwaters Wetlands while serving as a Vermont Conservation Commissioner.

She is an independent trainer and curriculum developer for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s Farmer Field School Program and the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming Initiative in India (involving over 700,000 farmers). Her field training manual will be published by the UN-FAO this year. She was one of five speakers at the UN-FAO World Soil Day in 2017.

Time: Wednesday, Feb 7, 10:00 – 11:30 AM

Title: How the Structural and Functional Integrity of Healthy Soil Can Aid in Climate Resiliency