At first glance, Orobanche ramosa looks like an interesting blossoming plant, one that could add a unique flair to flower arrangements. But it’s a parasitic weed that attaches to roots, sucks out nutrients and is threatening California’s lucrative $1.5 billion processing tomato industry.

Professor Benjamin Houlton, director of the John Muir Institute of the Environment and champion of the One Climate Initiative says carbon farming is the key to help solve climate change. His mission is to counteract a simple, startling fact: A single carbon dioxide molecule remains in the atmosphere for more than 100 years, locking us into climate change in the future.