About the Farming, Forests and Food Systems Workgroup

Our purpose is to preserve a liveable climate and the biodiversity of our planet.
Stopping fossil fuel emissions is essential, but it is not enough to address the climate crisis and restore ecosystem balance.
We work to foster a deeper understanding of the causes of climate change and biodiversity collapse, and to support comprehensive strategies that focus on often overlooked nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change and restore ecosystem health.
In collaboration with our allies we educate about and advocate for practices, policies, and systems that:

  • Expand the understanding that climate change, land abuse, loss of biodiversity, food insecurity, environmental and racial injustice, human and planetary health are all inextricably linked.
  • Protect forests, those complex living social communities which provide a multitude of essential eco-functions, such as carbon sequestration and storage, air and water purification, flood control, and support of terrestrial biodiversity; 
  • Counter the myth that woody biomass is a clean and renewable energy source and support policies and legislation that remove government biomass incentives; 
  • Use natural processes to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in soils, forests, and plant life, thereby restoring health to the soil food web;
  • Support regenerative eco-agriculture, farmers, and land stewards;
  • Oppose practices such as the use of toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers that destroy the soil microbiome and negatively impact the health of all living things;
  • Transform food systems to give everyone access to healthy and nutritious food, food security, and local food sovereignty.

Current Campaigns and Projects

Education, Collaboration and Legislation

  • Forest Protection
    • Share concerns of communities where forested land is threatened by large solar facilities
    • Forest Speaker Series on the Critical Importance of Forests — View the videos
    • Campaigns to update forest management policy and protect MA public lands
  • Collaboration with statewide youth climate coalitions, including local High school and College groups in Amherst
    • Some of our goals and objectives:
      • Education outreach; workshops, presentations, forums, dialogs, websites
      • To learn more about
        • The need to also focus on ecology and natural systems in climate healing
          • the connections between ecology/ecosystem health, climate, land, environmental justice,
          • organizing effectively with heart, wisdom, respect and sanity.
      • Influence public awareness, legislation, policy, school curriculum
      • Support and inspire youth activists through experiences of climate grief/eco-anxiety
      • Network, Movement and organizational skill building
  • Educational Outreach Programs/Workshops
    • Beyond Climate: A Holistic approach to Ecological Healing and Justice
    • Ongoing Talks on Biodiversity in Ecosystems, Soil Health, Forests, Regenerative Organic Farming, Food Justice/Sovereignty
  • Pesticide Free Campaigns
    • Collaborating with NOFA/Mass on bills relevant to agriculture that ban/restrict use of pesticides in Mass.
  • Alliance Building/Collaborations
  • Environmental Justice
    • Biomass campaign
    • Food Sovereignty network: Western Mass Regenerative Food System/NOFAMass

Get in touch

To receive meeting notices or email updates on our work join the RF3 listserv.

If you want more information, send an email to farms-forests-food@climateactionnowma.org .