Harvesting Resilience: Regenerative Farming & Zero Waste Cities (Part 2)

In this two-part episode of Harvesting Wisdom, host Mike McMahon dives deep into the intersection of regenerative agriculture, forest restoration, and urban sustainability. He is joined by two inspiring guests who are transforming waste into solutions for both rural and urban environments:

Tyson from SW Biochar

Tyson shares how his family’s wood product business evolved into a climate-smart biochar production company. Based in northeastern Arizona, SW Biochar uses excess wood from forest thinning projects to create biochar—a powerful carbon-based soil amendment that improves water retention, boosts microbial life, and sequesters carbon for hundreds to thousands of years.

Tyson breaks down the pyrolysis process, the versatility of feedstocks, and how this ancient technique is now being leveraged for clean energy, soil health, and even cookstove fuel in energy-scarce regions like Africa.

Alexa Dargis from Greenworks

Later in the episode, Mike welcomes Alexa Dargis, who shares exciting updates on Greenworks' Earth Month initiatives. Alexa, who comes from a background in tech and PR, discusses their “Green Takeover” events happening nationwide—including one at Grand Canyon University. These activations feature electric landscaping equipment and sustainable construction demonstrations that showcase what a zero-waste city could look like in action.

Alexa gives us a behind-the-scenes preview of Earth Day plans, including simultaneous podcasting across locations and sustainability collaborations with schools, municipalities, and changemakers like Chip Wade.

Why Listen?

This episode blends ancient agricultural wisdom with cutting-edge clean tech to show how communities—rural and urban alike—can build resilience through circular systems. Whether you're a farmer, educator, city planner, or eco-conscious citizen, this episode will inspire you to close the gap between information and action.

Timely Highlights

• 00:55 — Tyson’s backstory: wood products to biochar innovation
• 03:48 — Forest thinning and wildfire prevention in the Southwest
• 07:32 — What is pyrolysis? Turning forest waste into pure carbon
• 10:50 — Biochar as microbial housing & water-saving tool
• 12:19 — Amazonian Dark Earth and ancient biochar wisdom
• 15:29 — Yields, feedstock efficiency, and scalability
• 21:18 — Using waste heat: biochar kilns & future energy plans
• 22:49 — Biochar’s wide-ranging applications
• 25:07 — Transition to Alexa Dargis of Greenworks
• 26:45 — Earth Month rollouts and sustainability events
• 28:22 — Demo Day at Grand Canyon University
• 29:34 — Earth Day “Green Takeover” and national activations
• 30:17 — Podcasting Earth Day live across the country
• 31:38 — Closing thoughts: building the future, one tool at a time

Links

• 🌿 SW Biochar Products
• ⚡ Greenworks Commercial
• 🌱 Urban Farming Education
• 🎥 Watch on YouTube

#RegenerativeAgriculture #Biochar #GreenTechnology #ZeroWaste #ClimateSmartFarming #EarthDay2025 #SustainableLandscaping #HarvestingWisdom #SoilHealth #ForestRestoration #GreenworksTools