[Terrapreta] TERRA PRETA SAVE THE EARTH?

[Michael Bailes]

Quite right Christopher,
 I often watch my suburban neighbors mow/harvest their lawns and put the
clippings into the council green-waste bin for later collection.
(I think they then pay someone to take it away make potting mix from it and
sell it back).

There is no reason why wastes from cities could not be returned to the farm
as pyrolised charcoal.
I am told sewage waste has problems with heavy metal contamination.
Surely that problem could be solved? (Perhaps by stopping people listening
to their music?)

Charcoal, by holding on to nutrients, should help reduce the eutrophication
of rivers. If organic fertilisers like blood and bone were used this problem
could be further reduced.

Chicken litter char is great for the garden with fertiliser and char all in
one. It may have  a high pH (9) but its texture is granular and just right
for soil and potting mixes.

There are some moves afoot to make growing food more locally (See the
Permaculture forums) but I am not holding my breath as excellent
agricultural land around Sydney is increasingly swallowed up by Mac
Mansions.

I do hope Chris you are doing your bit by saving all your kitchen peelings
and composting them?
Michael Bailes.

"I know the answer!
The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
The answer is twelve?
I think I'm in the wrong building."
         -- Charles M. Schulz
On 28/03/07, Christoph Steiner <Christoph.Steiner at uni-bayreuth.de> 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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>



-- 
Michael Bailes.

"I know the answer!
The answer lies within the heart of all mankind!
The answer is twelve?
I think I'm in the wrong building."
         -- Charles M. Schulz
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