Charles Post

The BAM Files is a series of interviews answering Why Agriculture Matters.  

Many people will tell you they love nature, but few people have gone as far to showcase that love as Charles Post. An ecologist and sustainability communications strategist, Post beautifully documents his adventures with our natural world from his new home in northern Norway. 

Growing up in California and living primarily in agricultural communities for the better part of his adult life, Post shares a unique perspective on the urgency for all of us to engage with nature. Consider following Charles and his artist wife, Rachel Pohl, on Instagram. You won’t regret it. Here, he discusses the power of a single flower; forest bathing; and why agriculture matters to him. 

There’s been increased interest in the intersection between our environmental health and our personal health, something you’ve been focused on for a long time. Why do you think that interest is bubbling up now? 

I think climate change has been, perhaps, one of the most apparent bridges between our existence as humans and the well-being of the natural world. That's triggered an element of awareness. But also, I think there's something evolutionary that we should discuss and that is, Gaia theory, we are animals, we are part of nature. E.O. Wilson had the Biophilia Hypothesis, which says we're better when we're connected with nature, our bodies perform better and function better when we have a connection to nature. That could be [hearing] bird song. Studies have found that bird song actually reduces cortisol in your body. Forest bathing. There are generations of researchers in Japan who have studied the physiological and mental effects of just spending time in a forest. These aren't new approaches or new questions but they are topics that are being explored in a contemporary sense because people are longing for connection, they're trying to understand, where do we fit in this complicated, changing, sometimes, scary planet. A sense of place and a sense of connection is one of those ways to feel grounded and to feel like you're part of something. 

Many of us feel overwhelmed by the idea of activism of any kind, including environmental activism. How would you encourage someone to get started?

We tend to protect the things we love. I think the environmental movement, activism at large, is really born from a love for something. The question we should all be asking ourselves is, What do we love? What makes our heart full and what makes our heart ache? Depending on how you answer those questions, I think that'll give some clarity on maybe where you should direct the time that you have, which is our most precious resource. As you start to think about that and plant that question in your heart, it's gonna change, so be open to that flexibility. 

What’s one simple thing anybody can do to be more of an environmentalist, even if that person might live in a city with limited or no outdoor space?

A really simple thing that I think a lot of people have a touch point with is a flower. Go buy a flower. Ideally one that's native. It can be in a coffee cup and you can stick it on your windowsill or on your rooftop terrace or on your front porch. When you see a bee, or even a fly, come to that flower, you're participating in the preservation of pollinators who are in global decline. It's that simple $2.00 purchase, with just a little bit of tending to and care, that can incorporate you into this massive groundswell that's trying to save pollinators, who by the way, make everything possible. A majority of the bites of food we take are a byproduct of pollination. 

Throwing out the textbook definition, how do you define agriculture today?

I think it depends on the context. Today, agriculture to me on a macro scale, the word that comes to mind is mechanized. I've lived in agricultural communities for a long time and still do. I think the mechanization of agriculture is probably the most apparent facet about agriculture that the average person connects with. You see the tractors, you see the sprayers, you see all the big machinery, and also that plays into the consumer demands that we place on our planet. On a more of an ancestral level, agriculture to me is the garden I grew up with. It's having a mixture of plants, it's recognizing there's earthworms and recognizing that in order to grow a strawberry, it takes care. To me, agriculture continues to be this engagement with nature and engagement with a natural system. I think what you're doing is kind of a challenge to this mechanization of agriculture that's become so pervasive. People are recognizing that we need a rethinking and a re-design of this practice that has fed the world but also led to tremendous negative and deleterious effects on our ecosystems.

Why do you think there is this interest in soil health and regenerative agriculture at this moment in time and what does that interest say to you about the direction we’re headed with agriculture? 

I think people are recognizing we're losing a lot. You know, we're losing topsoil, we're losing biodiversity, we're losing the birds that make springs spring. So whether you're a mega nerd, like myself, or you're somebody who grew up passively engaging with nature, I think we are all aware that our planet is in trouble. The natural inclination is, what's the solution? How do we slow this devastation? Regenerative is the other side of the coin to destructive. We have been overdrawing our collective bank account, consistently for generations. Now people are like, whoa, pause, let's redeposit that energy. Let's find ways to heal, let's find ways to restore and to regenerate. I think it's the outcome of society going too far in the destructive, extractive, modalities. It's a response to people wanting a different reality for our future and for the planet. Regenerative agriculture is just an extension of that kind of awakening.

BAM stands for Because Agriculture Matters. Why does agriculture matter to you? 

I think agriculture matters because many of us engage with it three times a day, or if you're snacker, maybe 15 times a day, but we're all engaging with it on a daily basis. I'm definitely not the first person to say this, but we vote with our dollars. Every bite is a vote. And what that means is that the choices we make at the grocery store, or the farmers market, are a micro investment into an agricultural producer who's making decisions about the ecosystem. How do they value their land? How do they value the water? How do they value the pollinators and other species that live in and or rely on these agricultural spaces? When we look at these macro issues, like biodiversity loss, carbon sequestration, erosion, groundwater depletion, these are all huge, complex, broad scale environmental phenomena. And yet, the choices we make at the market influence them. You can invest in a producer or a brand or a company that is prioritizing ecosystem health and you can invest in somebody who's not. I think it's really incredible that we have this opportunity to invest in the right types of producers many times a day and for many years into the future. That's exciting because of not many other touch points that we have that directly shape business and therefore the influence of business on nature.

BAM is America’s first buckwheat milk, it’s an old crop that is experiencing renewed interest. One reason I’m so excited about buckwheat, outside of its environmental benefits, is that it adds much needed diversity to our diets. We get a majority of our calories from so few crops – corn, wheat, soy – we need diversity! 

Yeah! In ecology, diversity is resiliency and that translates to our microbiome, that translates to the ecosystems that we farm. The more species that we can have inside of us and out on the landscape, the more resilient we are. And so I think that is a huge win for more buckwheat on the land.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.