SoCal Gas Pro Series – How to Build a Living Soil Sponge: From Soil Testing to Phytoremediation
About This Course
“How to Build a Living Soil Sponge: From Soil Testing to Phytoremediation,” hosted by Southern California Gas Company in collaboration with The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Healthy soil provides the foundation for a healthy, biodiverse, climate-resilient landscape that thrives on less water and fewer, less frequent inputs. While many of the practical strategies for improving soil health are overlooked in typical commercial landscape practices, they are essential tools for low-cost and long-term landscape transformations. This webinar helps everyone understand how soil “works” for the benefit of the plants, and what practical steps landscape professionals can take to evaluate their soil and improve it dramatically and rapidly Topics include:
- Why the Soil Food Web matters
- Soil testing (compare how and why each test is used and the type of results)
- Using compost and other soil amendments (especially determining quality)
- Soil building through the Decomposition Pathway (including sheet composting)
- Soil building through the Liquid Carbon (living root) Pathway
- Current practices in using plants to improve soil and remove toxins (phytoremediation)
Learning Objectives
Material Includes
- Video of presentation
- Links to resources and research papers
- Certificate of Completion
Target Audience
- Landscape Professionals
Curriculum
Video – SoCal Gas Pro Series – How to Build a Living Soil Sponge: From Soil Testing to Phytoremediation
Video – SoCal Gas Pro Series – How to Build a Living Soil Sponge: From Soil Testing to Phytoremediation2:59:33
Resources
Certificate of Completion
Your Instructors
Pamela Berstler
CEO, G3 Green Gardens Group
Our very own force of nature, Pamela Berstler is a highly experienced landscape expert who co-founded and continues to manage G3, Green Gardens Group. G3 is an award-winning EPA WaterSenseTM Partner and Professional Certifying Organization that educates and certifies property owners, policymakers, and landscape professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada in irrigation and rainwater capture using the Watershed Approach to landscaping.
Pamela spent a decade working as a landscape contractor with her own bespoke design/build firm specializing in innovations for sustainable cities. She didn’t come to landscapes and agriculture through a direct route, as she first took a detour through a career in derivative securities trading and raising private equity for technology and media companies. Pamela is deeply committed to the reinvigoration of American entrepreneurship through regenerative land management and agriculture.
Pamela is a 2019 Climate Reality Leader and is the recipient of many awards including the National APLD Sustainability Award, EPA Certifying Professional Organization of the Year, and Garden Communicators Association Green Medal in Sustainability.
Pamela incubated a love of gardening turning 40-year-old compost on her grandfather's urban farm and with her hands in the soil cultivating her mother's beloved tomato patch. And while she once loved the fast live, she now is returning to her roots, sharing her passion for growing family farm economic value and rebuilding rural comunities. Pamela is happiest in a garden and in front of an audience talking about the power of gardens to heal the planet.
Material Includes
- Video of presentation
- Links to resources and research papers
- Certificate of Completion
