Monday, November 23, 2009

Biocharcoal - A weird way to save the Earth

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.