[Terrapreta] Fwd: Fwd: Global Carbon Cycle

[Duane Pendergast]

            Thanks for reading it Lou,

 

You say my submission sounds like the voice of industrial forestry. I wish
it was, as in that case I might have been paid to prepare it. I was not. I
submitted it as a Canadian citizen concerned that Canada's forests were not
given adequate recognition in the Kyoto protocol. 

 

As you can see the accounting method Canada uses for forest products assumes
harvested trees are, in essence, burned on the spot releasing their carbon
as CO2 back to the atmosphere. There is thus no incentive to try and contain
the carbon in forest products as could be accomplished by accounting for
carbon in forest products with ultimate conversion to biochar. I did not go
there in the submission as I expected that just the concept of storing
carbon in wood products would be too difficult a concept for our
parliamentarians to understand. 

 

I was right. You might be comforted to know that the Parliamentary
Committee, which was considering Canada's commitment to Kyoto, showed zero
interest in the submission. They did seem to get a modest grasp on the idea
growing trees could absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. One step at a
time. 

 

So far many proposed  actions related to greenhouse gas emissions take a
very narrow view, protecting pet projects which might not have much to do
with controlling greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Preserving "natural"
forests and protecting them from human intervention is one of those pet
goals coming from environmental organizations. Good luck with that. 

 

If we are to control greenhouse gases, then the needs of humans will need to
be better integrated with the carbon cycle - and forests. Terra preta could
be a breakthrough which allows, through human intervention, an increase in
earths "capital" and overall productivity. 

 

I guess that could be the voice of human industry.

 

Duane

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: lou gold [mailto:lou.gold at gmail.com] 
Sent: June 5, 2007 11:00 PM
To: still.thinking at computare.org; Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Fwd: Fwd: Global Carbon Cycle

 

Hi Duane, 

OK, I read the submission. It in no way answers the assertion that more
carbon is released into the atmosphere than is sequestered in construction.
AND, whatever is  "sequestered"  in construction was  already sequestered in
the tree  -- no gain there  but an enormous loss in the release of carbon
previously 
previously in its forest sink. New growth in plantations does not offset it,
especially since they are soon cut again in short rotations largely for
paper products and short lived products from sawdust and wood chips. 

The submission sounds very much like the voice of industrial forestry.

lou

 

http://www.computare.org/Fora%20Input.htm   down the page at  "February 21,
2005 - Brief on the Role of Forests in Canada's Greenhouse Gas Inventory"

 

Duane

 

 

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