In this 30-minute video interview with Ben Dobson Steering Committee member of Regeneration International and co-founder of the Hudson Carbon Project (Hudson, NY), American Grassfed Association regenerative rancher Will Harris, and OCA’s Ronnie Cummins, hosted by Alexis Baden-Mayer, we discuss how, on the one hand, most “carbon credits” nowadays have become little more than a greenwashing tool for corporate agribusiness and Wall Street, while on the other hand, Regeneration International, Hudson Carbon, Vía Orgánica (OCA’s sister organization in Mexico) and other groups are building a genuine climate and environmentally regenerative grassroots-based alternative to greenwashing that we call “Ecosystem Service Investments.”

This system of scientifically verifiable carbon offsets or Ecosystem Service Investments, not only operates on the principle of forcing the polluters to pay; but at the same time preserves our forests, wetlands, and above ground plant life; draws down and sequesters large amounts of excess carbon from the atmosphere; restores soil fertility, rainwater retention, and biodiversity, meanwhile paying farmers a fair price ($100 or more per ton of carbon per acre/per year) for carbon sequestered and other environmental services (water conservation, biodiversity, and soil fertility) through organic and regenerative practices.

In other words, instead of just criticizing Wall Street and transnational corporations we encourage/pressure/force them to pay for their pollution, leave carbon reserves in the ground, and pay farmers, indigenous, and rural communities to reverse climate change and global warming though regenerative and organic farming, grazing, and land management practices.

Watch the Interview: Regenerating Ecosystems and the Climate