As our world has started to see the immediate effects of global warming (such as stronger hurricanes, increasing drought, higher temperatures in both land and sea, and the disappearing polar ice), we are getting more and more desperate and creative in finding measures to mitigate global warming.
One of these measures as mentioned today in CNN, is using biochar (also known as biocharcoal).
Here's the link to CNN's article.
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/news/0911/gallery.geoengineer/7.html
According to CNN, biochar is right up there with the other "weird" solutions. But, unlike the other proposed solutions such as "whitening" large deserts by applying vast white tarps over them, biochar is far more practical and far more achievable. This is because it is much more cost-effective and literally very easy to produce in massive quantities.
In a nutshell, biochar can be made by burning decaying woodchips and dead leaves in a vacuum tank until the remains are just a highly porous black charcoal. So instead of letting the dead leaves and wood decay and release CO2 to the atmosphere, the carbon is locked into the charcoal. This biochar can then be broken up and added to regular soil, making it more stable as well as making it a sink for carbon to be trapped in. Every farmer can do this, and if more and more join in the biochar movement, pretty soon something seemingly insignificant can actually be a more important and "not-so weird" way of saving the Earth.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Biochar allows the soil food web to build much more recalcitrant organic carbon, ( living biomass & Glomalins) in addition to the carbon in the biochar.
ReplyDelete.
Biochar viewed as soil Infrastructure; The old saw;
"Feed the Soil Not the Plants" becomes;
"Feed, Cloth and House the Soil, utilities included !".
Free Carbon Condominiums with carboxyl group fats in the pantry and hydroxyl alcohol in the mini bar.
Build it and the Wee-Beasties will come.
As one microbiologist said on the Biochar list; "Microbes like to sit down when they eat".
By setting this table we expand husbandry to whole new orders of life.
One aspect of Biochar systems are Cheap, clean biomass stoves that produce biochar and no respiratory disease. At scale, the health benefits are greater than ending Malaria.
www.unccd.int/publicinfo/poznanclimatetalks/docs/Natural%20Draft%20Stove.pdf
Endorsments:
Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, NASA's Dr. James Hansen
Charles Mann ("1491") in the Sept. National Geographic
Dr. James Lovelock; " Mankinds only Hope"
Tony Blair, Malcomb Turnbull, Richard Branson
Dozens of USDA-ARS Researchers
Soil Carbon Sequestration Standards Committee. Hosted by Monsanto, this group of diverse interests has been hammering out issues of definition, validation and protocol. The past week, this group have been pressing soil sequestration's roll for climate legislation to congress.
www.novecta.com/documents/Carbon-Standard.pdf
Along these lines internationally, the work of the IBI fostering the application by 13 countries for UN recognition of soil carbon as a sink with biochar as a clean development mechanism will open the door for programs across the globe.
www.biochar-international.org/biocharpolicy.html.
Reports:
This new Congressional Research Service report (by analyst Kelsi Bracmort) is the best short summary I have seen so far - both technical and policy oriented.
assets.opencrs.com/rpts/R40186_20090203.pdf .
Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.
Mark my words;
ReplyDeleteGiven the potential for Laurens Rademaker's programs to grow exponentialy, only a short time lies between This man's nomination for a Noble Prize.
He recently received the Manchester prize.
Another significant aspect of bichar and aerosols are the low cost ($3) Biomass cook stoves that produce char but no respiratory disease. http://terrapretapot.org/ and village level systems http://biocharfund.org/ with the Congo Basin Forest
Fund (CBFF). The Biochar Fund recently won $300K for these systems citing these priorities;
(1) Hunger amongst the world's poorest people, the subsistence farmers of Sub-Saharan Africa,
(2) Deforestation resulting from a reliance on slash-and-burn farming,
(3) Energy poverty and a lack of access to clean, renewable energy, and
(4) Climate change.
The broad smiles of 1500 subsistence farmers say it all ( that , and the root ball size of the Biochar corn )
http://biocharfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=75
There are dozens soil researchers on the subject now at USDA-ARS.
and many studies at The up coming ASA-CSSA-SSSA joint meeting;
http://a-c-s.confex.com/crops/2009am/webprogram/Session5675.htm