[Terrapreta] Catalyst: Carbon Bigfoot

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Duane,

WHAT?!  Is your response to my post "tongue in cheek"?  I hope so ... or you really do not see things the way I do, either.  Burning coal and oil has to slow way down, even to stopping altogether.  If coal energy is required, then it has to change over to "clean" coal, without the release of CO2 emissions.

Production of synthetic fertilizers from fossil fuels (natural gas and coal gasification) needs to change the hydrogen gas-H2 source to some other source (how about hydrogen from biomass?).  Inputs to soil and/or land use has to change, so that crop residues are not releasing CO2 (no-till, low-till, Terra Preta soils, etc).  Agricultural practices need to change so that gaseous nitrous oxide-N2O releases into the atmosphere from synthetic fertilizers will slow down.  Water soluble nitrates-NOx also need to be slowed.   Terra Preta soils can help do all these things, too.  If plant nutrient losses from agricultural soil can be reduced and the nutrients retained in the soil, then fertilizer use will decline.

Animal manures, thawing permafrost, and thawing methyl hydrate (frozen methane under the oceans) all release Methane gas-CH4.  These should be dealt with (anaerobic digesters for animal manure, mining methane gas from thawing permafrost and methyl hydrate).  Portland cement production from limestone should also be curtailed or cleaned up (it releases enormous amounts of CO2).

I think human energy use characteristics need to change radically.  The routes to change involve energy conservation; more efficient buildings, better insulation, more efficient appliances, less driving, more renewable energy sources; wind, solar thermal, geothermal, solar photovoltaic, hydraulic (river currents, tidal power), and expansion of nuclear energy, with effective and immediate methods for dealing with spent nuclear fuel.

Action towards improvement is the best policy.  We all need to not just begin to act in ways that combat global warming, we have to change the way the world runs and keep on that track!  We have to look at both the supply side and the demand side of this issue.  Producers of products that cause GHG emissions need to change their ways.  Consumers of products that produce GHG emissions need to change their ways.  We need to reduce emissions AND find ways to mine GHG and take them out of the atmosphere, to bury them for as close to forever as we can.  Terra Preta can do this, too.

There is lots of talk on the Global Warming issue nowadays.  There is lots to talk about.  But, we need to stop just talking and trying to prove all of this beyond the smallest doubt to all the disbelievers.  We have to act!  We can't wait to suffer the consequences of inaction any longer.  The guy on that video Lou sent is right ... We and Al Gore will be called Polly-Anna's for not really pushing for action as vehemently as we must.

Many will find what I just wrote to sound like the words of an ALARMIST.  I say too bad if you don't like that message, at least you understood it.  We are never going to achieve 40% reductions in world wide GHG emissions by 2020, if we keep trying to prove to idiots, disbelievers, and greedy malcontents, that Global Warming is happening, is caused by humans, and we better all start paying for fixing the problem now.  If its pay now or pay later, I advise and choose now, because the price will absolutely be higher later (its already going up!).

Whoa, Duane ...

Regards,

SKB


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Duane Pendergast<mailto:still.thinking at computare.org> 
  To: 'Sean K. Barry'<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com> ; 'lou gold'<mailto:lou.gold at gmail.com> 
  Cc: 'Terrapreta'<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 9:34 PM
  Subject: RE: [Terrapreta] Catalyst: Carbon Bigfoot


  Whoa up there Sean! If you take the CO2 out of the atmosphere to improve the health of soil, there will be decreasing returns. Wouldn't we be able to effect greater improvements if we keep burning the oil and coal?  Lets make those greenhouse gases our friends.



  Duane


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