5 Comments

1. 1. erichj 12:43 AM 8/29/08

   the rest of the Biochar story:
   Charles Mann in the Sept. National Geographic has a wonderful soils article which places Terra Preta / Biochar soils center stage.
   I think we have climbed the pinnacle, the Combined English and other language circulation of NGM is nearly nine million monthly with more than fifty million readers monthly!
   We need to encourage more coverage now, to ride Mann's coattails to public critical mass.
   
   Please put this (soil) bug in your colleague's ears. These issues need to gain traction among all the various disciplines who have an iron in this fire.
   http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/soil/mann-text
   
   I love the "MEGO" factor theme Mann built the story around. Lord... how I KNOW that reaction.
   
   I like his characterization concerning the pot shards found in Terra Preta soils;
   
   so filled with pottery - "It was as if the river's first inhabitants had
   thrown a huge, rowdy frat party, smashing every plate in sight, then
   buried the evidence."
   
   A couple of researchers I was not aware of were quoted, and I'll be sending them posts about our Biochar group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/b...guid=122501696
   
   and data base;
   http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=node
   
   
   
   I also have been trying to convince Michael Pollan ( NYT Food Columnist, Author ) to do a follow up story, here's my latest pleading email to him, after his first reply that " I think Charles has the subject covered " :
   
   
   "Dear Michael,
   .On Friday, the Washington Post ran an article on another story in NGM's September issue; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/14/AR2008081401492.html
   on "The Green Sahara".
   
   Since the NGM cover reads "WHERE FOOD BEGINS" , I thought this would be right down your alley and focus more attention on Mann's work.
   
   I've admired your ability since "Botany of Desire" to over come the "MEGO" factor (My Eyes Glaze Over) and make food & agriculture into page turners.
   
   It's what Mann hasn't covered that I thought would interest you as a follow up article for the NYT.
   
   The Biochar provisions by Sen.Ken Salazar in the farm bill,
   
   Dr, James Hansen's Global warming solutions paper and letter to the G-8 conference last month, and coming article in Science,
   http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0804/0804.1126.pdf
   
   The new university programs & field studies, in temperate soils
   
   Glomalin's role in soil tilth & Terra Preta,
   
   The International Biochar Initiative Conference Sept 8 in New Castle;
   http://www.biochar-international.org/ibi2008conference/aboutibi2008conference.html
   
   
   

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2. 2. cairus 02:58 AM 8/29/08

   Similar information had already been published by M. Heckenberger in 2003. The reader has a right to be told what items, if any, are really news now.

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3. 3. doug l 07:06 AM 8/29/08

   But, but, but...How is it that the Amazonian basin is the endlessly diverse fountain of biological process if humans were cultivating the land so intensely only a few hundred years ago? Is it possible that the qualities we hold in such high regard are in fact the result of human cultivation? Is it possible that we could once again farm the amazon without disrupting it's natural complexity? Seems like it to me.

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4. 4. doug l 07:15 AM 8/29/08

   Chares Mann has an article in the upcoming National Geographic? That is great news. I'm looking forward to it, big time! His thoroughly captivating updating of the old eurocentric story of what the americas were prior to their arrival is one of the most compelling and significant pieces of the puzzle yet to be brought forward for consumption. It's also very refreshing to know that archaeology and other investigative field studies are pushing forward in attempts to accurately establish the reality of pre-contact americas. If National Geographic is going to support his interpretation, let's hope it likewise is going to produce a program for television similar to the "Germs, Guns, and Steel" productions of Jared Diamond's work seen earlier last year.

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5. 5. erichj 04:17 PM 8/29/08

   I also sent Jared Diamond my comments above, adding that this is the technology to avoid our own "Collapse".
   
   Biochar, the modern version of an ancient Amazonian agricultural practice called Terra Preta (black earth), is gaining widespread credibility as a way to address world hunger, climate change, rural poverty, deforestation, and energy shortages& SIMULTANEOUSLY!
   
   This technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability;
   10X Lower Methane & N2O soil emissions,
   3X Fertility .
   
   
   Every 1 ton of Biomass yields 1/3 ton Charcoal for soil Sequestration. If US farmers were to get payed the price of CO2 abatement in Europe, that would be over $500 per ton for biochar put on their fields.
   
   Carbon to the soil , the only ubiquitous and economic place to put.
   
   Cheers,
   Erich

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