[Terrapreta] TERRA PRETA SAVE THE EARTH?

[rukurt at westnet.com.au]

This decoupling of the food production is only possible because of our 
fuel supply. If we do in fact suffer a fuel supply crash, with the 
concomitant after effects (population crash??) the situation may rectify 
itself.

Kurt



Christoph Steiner wrote:
> There is a substantial difference between agriculture indigenous people in
> the Amazon practiced and modern agriculture. Before arrival of the
> Europeans agricultural goods were mainly produced for the settlement
> itself. Furthermore INPUT came from hunting and gathering in the
> surrounding area. Food was processes, consumed and the remains deposited,
> all within the boundaries of the settlement. This was a huge INPUT of
> nutrients (one major source of Terra Preta fertility are bones!).
> Modern agriculture is completely different. Almost everywhere food is
> produced for outside markets (even for a global market). Together with the
> food the nutrients are exported from the fields to locations where they
> are frequently accumulated in largest amounts already toxic for the
> environment = OUTPUT. Many rivers in the industrialized world carry to
> many nutrients (eutrophication) and this load damages the oceans and
> lakes. The poultry industry (based on imported food) in Georgia produces
> enough chicken litter to raise the phosphorus and calcium levels of the
> land above Terra Preta levels. The problem is that the poultry production
> is decoupled from poultry fodder production. Our modern agriculture can
> not be sustained without mineral fertilization. In the cities the ?Terra
> Preta material? get mixed up with toxic wastes and deposited in landfills
> =OUTPUT. Landfills which would otherwise be something like a Terra Preta.
> To save the Earth we need to change our global and nationwide nutrient
> (food) cycles and our consumer habits. This is one step to balance
> nutrients and carbon. The use of charcoal for soil amelioration can help
> to balance carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon which is out of balance due to
> fossil fuel burning and the conversion of forest into agricultural land
> (again mainly for export-food and fodder).
>
> Christoph Steiner
>
>
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