Childhood Agricultural Teachings

• Parents took Louise outside to show land stewardship for food production
• Grandfather's advice: plant rocks underneath sweet potatoes for better root crops
• Grandmother's guidance: plant according to lunar cycles (full moon, never new moon) for best fruit harvests
• Father's technique: whistle specific tone to harness wind for sifting rice/cocoa nibs
• Family dismissed grandparents as "crazy" - called practices "just traditions"

Professional Climate Work

• Works at frontlines of climate crisis
• Builds resilient agroforests to withstand intense super typhoons
• Established Cacao Project initiative
  • Builds resilient agroforests
  • Works closely with farmers
  • Focuses on ecosystem/landscape stewardship
• Career: "make chocolates for restoration"
• Combines traditional knowledge techniques with modern science
• Highlights simple, practical climate change solutions

Farmer Training and Knowledge Exchange

• Two-way learning street with farmers
• Teaches regeneration concepts:
  • Put more carbon back in soil than taken
  • Plant crops suited to local ecosystems/landscapes
  • Propagate life that strengthens forests/trees

Testing Traditional Methods

• Collaborated with farmers to test family stories
• Planted rocks under sweet potatoes → better, sweeter, more delicious results
• Planted according to lunar cycles → delicious harvests
• Consistent success with traditional methods
• Realized stories = "decades of peer review" passed down through generations

Scientific Explanations for Traditional Practices

• Lunar cycles connected to:
  • Insect flight activity and reproduction
  • Better pollinators = more fruits
  • Irrigation and water patterns
• Rocks under root crops:
  • Creates better drainage
  • Inviting ecosystem for worms/creatures
  • Natural fertilizers
• Whistling for wind: no scientific explanation found, but consistently works

Climate Solutions Philosophy

• Traditional knowledge = keys to landscape stewardship
• Creates ecosystem/forest resilience for climate change
• Knowledge exists in countries, communities, traditions, family stories
• Young environmental workers' responsibility: carry knowledge to next generation
• Transfer information to modern age while articulating why methods work

Vision for Climate Solutions

• Climate crisis solutions may not be one "big, amazing, sparkling solution"
• Solutions exist in:
  • Soils under feet
  • Wind in air
  • Sunlight
  • "Crazy, wild stories of grandmothers"
• Opportunity to build solutions embodying community/family/landscape wisdom across generations
• Harness "exciting magic" and "sorcery" for global stewardship