Black Swan of Biochar
Short of a nano material PV / thermoelectrical / ultracapasitating Black swan,
The most cited soil scientist in the world, Dr. Rattan Lal at OSU, was impressed by this talk given to the EPA chiefs of North America, commending me on conceptualizing & articulating the concept.
Bellow the opening text. A full Report on my talk at CEC, and complete text & links are here:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar-policy/message/3233
The Establishment of Soil Carbon as the Universal Measure of Sustainability
The Paleoclimate Record shows agricultural-geo-engineering is responsible for 2/3rds of our excess greenhouse gases. The unintended consequence; flowering of our civilization. Our science has now realized these consequences, developing a more encompassing wisdom. Wise land management, afforestation and the thermal conversion of biomass can build back our soil carbon. Pyrolysis, Gasification and Hydro-Thermal Carbonization are known biofuel technologies, What is new are the concomitant benefits of biochars for Soil Carbon Sequestration; building soil biodiversity & nitrogen efficiency, as a feed supplement cutting the carbon foot print of livestock & in situ remediation of toxic agents, Modern systems are closed-loop with no significant emissions. The general LCA is: every 1 ton of biomass yields 1/3 ton Biochar equal to 1 ton CO2e, plus biofuels equal to 1MWh exported electricity, so each energy cycle is 1/3 carbon negative
Beyond Rectifying the Carbon Cycle, the same healing function for the Nitrogen and Phosphorous Cycles
Some of us may be interested to know that I discovered a local (Ashfield, western Mass) source for biochar. Current price is $20 for 15lbs, which includes a $5 bucket deposit. Here is the contact information:
Bear Meadow Apiary
Nany and Rick Intres
926 Watson-Spruce Corner Road, Ashfield, MA 413-628-3970
Biochar is an amazing long-term builder of soil fertility, used historically by indigenous peoples, and now being re-discovered. There is a lot of information on the web for those who would like to read more about it. I understand you apply it just once in your lifetime and after a year or so, should see a very large increase in soil fertility -- Rick Intres recommends 1 lb per square foot. Another experienced grower friend recommends also adding seaweed or marsh hay to the soil along with biochar, to add the minerals found in the oceans.
I thought this info may be of interest to those who include gardens in their preparedness.