Here’s What Happens When Fighting Global Warming is in Your Company’s DNA
/An environmental scientist, an inventor, and a soil scientist walk into a room. No, that’s not the start of a joke. It’s the start of bio365 when the right people brought together their expertise, experience, and common goal to fight global warming.
Bringing to Life an Idea to Solve Global Warming to Life
Back in 2007, the origins of what would become bio365 began when David Shearer, PhD and Jackie Klein (née Wallace) met. Jackie is an inventor and philanthropist, and David is an environmental scientist with a focus on environmental sustainability and improvement. He consulted on the second generation Toyota Prius – the breakthrough vehicle that created today’s hybrid market.
Together, David and Jackie had an idea.
At the time, biochar had been identified as one of the key strategies to fight global warming because when it’s made, CO2 is sequestered. That means it’s not released into the atmosphere where it adds to the global warming problem.
Environmentalists wanted farmers to use more biochar. David and Jackie responded by creating a company that would make biochar for the agriculture industry in order to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels.
They soon realized that making biochar to help the environment was a worthwhile mission. However, to truly make a difference in their fight against global warming, they needed to create a business and a commercial market for biochar, so more people would want to buy it.
Taking the Fight against Global Warming to Wider Agricultural Audiences
The reality back in 2008 was that most people cared about global warming, but not everyone was fully onboard with investing more money to make what they thought would be a small impact. David and Jackie discovered that biochar doesn’t just help the environment but it also helps improve crops. This discovery gave them the message they needed to attract the wider agriculture market to biochar.
But first, they needed some help.
They brought in Cornell University agriculture professor and soil scientist John Gaunt who was actively doing a lot of research on biochar and environmental sustainability. John knew that some biochar is better than others to sequester CO2 and improve crops. The next phase of what would ultimately become bio365 living grow media was born when John partnered with David and Jackie to invent the absolute best biochar possible.
Soon, they patented their invention – the ultimate biochar for CO2 drawdown and crop quality.
The result of the team’s work to fight global warming combined with the new patented invention was a raw biochar that farmers could sprinkle on outdoor crops. They sold the new biochar through their company, Full Circle Biochar.
The Next Phase of the Fight against Global Warming – Biochar for Every Farmer
The recession of 2008 brought challenges to many companies, including Full Circle Biochar. However, the science was sound, and the goal to fight global warming was still the top priority. That’s why John Gaunt continued to research biochar, as well as other agricultural technologies, which led him to develop an innovative product – biochar, combined with a clean cultured biology, in ready-to-use soil mixes that could be sold directly to cultivators.
The soil mixes were sold on the East Coast through John’s company, GreenTree. A couple of years later, Jackie married Michael Klein, an entrepreneur, environmentalist, and Chairman of Rainforest Action Network, a non-profit organization with a mission to preserves forests, protect the climate, and uphold human rights. Together, the Kleins started selling the soil mixes on the West Coast through a Full Circle Biochar spinoff company, bio365.
Soon, bio365 acquired GreenTree, and the soil mixes began to be sold across the United States under the bio365 brand.
Extending the Fight against Global Warming with Living Soilless Media
In the following years, John continued his research and was awarded more patents for his inventions that introduced biology to bio365 soil and created what we now refer to as the world’s first living soilless media.
As of 2022, bio365 has eight patents for the innovations that John, David, and other members of our team have developed related to biochar, biology, and more. We continue to develop positive environmental aspects to our products that not only support our goal to fight global warming but also help farmers grow higher quality crops for less money. For example, using bio365’s grow media means cultivators can:
Use less fertilizer because bio365 grow media makes fertilizer more efficient by reducing runoff. As a result, the need for chemical fertilizer drops by 20%, which means there is a smaller impact on wildlife, water, and the environment.
Reduce watering because bio365 grow media’s biochar matrix is filled with nano-pores that hold water. As a result, less water is lost, which reduces cultivator costs and helps the environment.
These are just two of the many ways that bio365’s soilless living soil helps both cultivators and the environment. As an environmentally-focused business, we’re always researching and looking for ways to be more environmentally-friendly.
Still Keeping Commitments to Support the Environment and Solve Global Warming
The origins of bio365 began more than 15 years ago with an idea to fight global warming using biochar in agriculture. David Shearer, Jackie Klein, John Gaunt, and Michael Klein joined forces because of the environment.
Today, the fight against global warming and supporting the environment and sustainability are built into the DNA of bio365, and every decision we make adheres to the early commitment made by our founders – to only make organic products and never make anything with chemicals or synthetics.
Our products are organic, and the nutrients we provide are organic. We recommend organic inputs, but we do understand that not all farmers are operating 100% organic facilities yet. We still recommend that these farmers use bio365 living soil, because doing so will help the environment. They’ll need to use less chemical fertilizer and water when they choose bio365 grow media. Ultimately, they’ll save money and grow higher quality plants and increase yields. At the same time, they’ll be set up to shift to organic growing when it makes sense to do so in the future.
To learn more about how bio365 grow media can help your grow operation get better results while helping the environment at the same time, contact us to start a conversation, or request a free trial right now.