I think the good news on this front, if it can be called that, is that rising food prices are creating the conditions for a small farmer resurgence and an urban agriculture revival.

As for 40% charcoal in the soil I hope many will begin experimenting on a scale that will be a true biodiversity, soil improvement and production test.

The emerging “Carbon Exchange” can create the difference that makes the difference. Those who have no immediate choice about polluting — airline companies for example — can fund those who are able to do the right thing. The right thing is to reward everyone (rich and poor) for repairing soil so that it can it can grow plants faster — pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere and providing more food — which will sustainably provide an abundance for all.

Charcoal (carbon) put into the soil increases its fertility, stores more nutrients (think less fertilizer), holds more water and filters what is released, pulls more CO2 out of the atmosphere and provides greater production of both fuel and
food — and the char can be made out of agricultural waste. How’s that for a win/win/win/etc?

This is the way we can leave the blame-game and help each other. We can jump-start a new no-fault relationship between ecology and economy — a healing one — by focusing attention on the soil.

It’s all based on recent discoveries of an ancient Amazon Indian technique called terra preta de indio that was able to create a living soil — up to 800% more productive than nearby nutrient-poor tropical soil. It was so successful that it is thought that prior to the Conquest there may have been millions of people living in great cities in the central Amazon without continuously deforesting the forests around them. There actually might have been an El Dorado of people living in harmony with nature. But its history is lost to us. It was devastated when the European explorers carried in diseases for which there was no immunity. The only hints that we have are buried in the soils.

A 2002 BBC documentary put the first media spotlight on terra preta and concluded with these words: “So there is a true irony to the story of the hunt for El Dorado. There was once a great civilisation in the Amazon, one the Europeans destroyed even as they discovered it, but the Amazonians may have left us a legacy far more precious than the gold the Conquistadors were seeking. That black earth, the terra preta, may mean a better future for us all.”

Here are some links about what we should be thinking about “on the way to Bali”.

The ABC 11 minute video about “Agrichar”.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s2012892.htm

A lay person’s introduction to terra preta.
http://www.biochar-international.org/images/Joyful_Liiving_Terra_Preta_Sept-Oct_0207.pdf

The BBC documentary, “The Secret of El Dorado”tells the story of rediscovering terra preta soils.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/eldorado.shtml

Lou Gold
An American in Brazil
http://lougold.blogspot.com/

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=5670236C-E7F2-99DF-3E2163B9FB144E40

After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming (AGW) I believe this technology can manage Carbon for the greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales. It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies.

Could you please consider looking for a champion for this orphaned Terra Preta Carbon Soil Technology.

The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held by the IPCC that the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal. Below are the first concrete steps in that direction;

S.1884 – The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007

A Summary of Biochar Provisions in S.1884:

Carbon-Negative Biomass Energy and Soil Quality Initiative

for the 2007 Farm Bill

http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html
CALL your repps and Senator in Support of S. 1884…….NOW!!

Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.

Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Biomass by 2030by Ralph P. Overend, Ph.D. and Anelia Milbrandt
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

http://www.ases.org/climatechange/toc/07_biomass.pdf

The organization 25×25 (see 25x’25 - Home) released it’s (first-ever, 55-page )”Action Plan” ; see; http://www.25×25.org/storage/25×25/documents/IP%20Documents/ActionPlanFinalWEB_04-19-07.pdf
On page 29 , as one of four foci for recommended RD&D, the plan lists: “The development of biochar, animal agriculture residues and other non-fossil fuel based fertilizers, toward the end of integrating energy production with enhanced soil quality and carbon sequestration.”
and on p 32, recommended as part of an expanded database aspect of infrastructure: “Information on the application of carbon as fertilizer and existing carbon credit trading systems.”

I feel 25×25 is now the premier US advocacy organization for all forms of renewable energy, but way out in front on biomass topics.

There are 24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his agriculture and waste stream, all that farm & cellulose waste which is now dumped to rot or digested or combusted and ultimately returned to the atmosphere as GHG should be returned to the Soil.

Even with all the big corporations coming to the GHG negotiation table, like Exxon, Alcoa, .etc, we still need to keep watch as the Democrats/Enviromentalist try to influence how carbon management is legislated in the USA. Carbon must have a fair price, that fair price and the changes in the view of how the soil carbon cycle now can be used as a massive sink verses it now being viewed as a wash, will be of particular value to farmers and a global cool breath of fresh air for us all.

If you have any other questions please feel free to call me or visit the TP web site I’ve been drafted to co-administer. http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/?q=node

It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail list , Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox), Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus), chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day of EPRIDA , Dr. Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks and probably many others who’s back round I don’t know have joined.

Also Here is the Latest BIG Terra Preta Soil news;

The Honolulu Advertiser: “The nation’s leading manufacturer of charcoal has licensed a University of Hawai’i process for turning green waste into barbecue briquets.”

About a year ago I got Clorox interested in TP soils and Dr. Antal’s Plasma Carbonazation process.

See: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707280348

ConocoPhillips Establishes $22.5 Million Pyrolysis Program at Iowa State 04/10/07

The difference I think is I think the Japanese think of themselves as a breed apart. The book the Enigma of Japanese Power suggested that Japanese have relative rather an absolute morality in that the correct thing to do depends heavily on circumstances such as who is concerned, what their relative status is etc. Even other Asians consider this strange.

There are definitely good points to Japan retaining it’s cultural character, if only they’d managed to do it with their architecture. The Japanese are also a lot more concerned with art, so much so that Japanese fans keep ageing Jazz artists from being destitute and every ballet company in the world regularly visits Japan. Seoul is much more of a working city so comparing Tokyo and Seoul is like comparing a shopping mall to a factory. There’s no way on earth one could compare Kyoto and Seoul. The words sublime and ridiculous come to mind.

that’s kinda funny.. I think it’s cause more people touring in tokyo then seoul… cause imo tokyo seems more “appealing” then seoul when somebody wants to go touring.

it’s just a bit wierder in seoul or something.. i dont really know.

anyway– i think foreigners in seoul are a bit better cause— i think most of them actually live there. i went to another city close to seoul and there were actually… quite a few white faces… grociery shopping. as in they lived there. not tourists.