[Terrapreta] Charcoal agriculture: not ready for prime time

[Tom Miles]

My thought was more modest:  a concentration of charcoal left in a poor soil
from any natural cause could have resulted in abundant growth and  inspired
terra preta. Studies that I have linked on the terra preta site have shown
that the nutrient impact of fires in grasslands only lasts for about a year,
and slash and burn about three years. Forest fires, however, can leave some
substantial pockets of char. 

 

Tom

  

 

From: Sean K. Barry [mailto:sean.barry at juno.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 9:49 PM
To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org; 'Allan Balliett'; Tom Miles
Subject: Re: RE: [Terrapreta] Charcoal agriculture: not ready for prime time

 

Hi Tom,

 

I might be way off base, but I think lightening starts more wildfires than
passing comets or asteroids.  And, I think more charcoal is formed by
controlled burning in the absence of air, than by wildfires blowing in the
wind on the surface until the entire forest is leveled.  My guess is, more
charcoal was made by humans and put into soil, than all of the comet and
asteroid ignited wildfires combined.

 

SKB

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Tom Miles <mailto:tmiles at trmiles.com>  

To: 'Sean K. Barry' <mailto:sean.barry at juno.com>  ;
terrapreta at bioenergylists.org ; 'Allan Balliett'
<mailto:aballiett at frontiernet.net>  

Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 11:25 PM

Subject: Spam: RE: [Terrapreta] Charcoal agriculture: not ready for prime
time

 

Or we can just look for layers of charcoal left over from a passing comet or
asteroid and the resulting wildfires.  

 

See: http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/kennettcomet

 

Tom

 

 

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Sean K. Barry
Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 8:18 PM
To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org; Allan Balliett
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Charcoal agriculture: not ready for prime time

 

Hi Allan, Michael,

 

I agree with Allan.  Neo Terra Preta (renewed charcoal agriculture) not
ready for prime time?!  Balderdash.  Now is the absolute best time to
develop charcoal in agriculture.  The simplest way to harvest CO2 from the
atmosphere, reduce NO2 emissions from the industrially fertilized soil and
reduce CH4 emissions from animal manure is to harvest energy from biomass
and animal waste, and use agricultural land as a sink for carbon in the form
of charcoal.  It is our absolute best chance to mitigate the effects that
humans have made on global climate.

 

The possibilities for improving the productivity of cultivated crops is
there and real too.  It is evident by the existence of "an area the size of
France" covered in Terra Preta soils in the Amazon River basin.  We may not
have the recipe for to make Neo Terra Preta the same as the original Terra
Preta yet and it may take 50 or 100 years for us to make it that useful as
an agricultural paradigm, but we ought to get started.  The ancient Amazon
people didn't just build that soil for shits and giggles.  It did work.  It
did improve agriculture in the soils.  It still works today there.  Its only
a mystery to us now.  It's not ancient magic.  We can do it again.

 

Clearly, the current anthropogenic flux of carbon into the atmosphere is
primary cause of global climatic change.  The IPCC has studied it long
enough to have verified that and thousands of scientists are in agreement.
The critics are in handfuls and they've got axes to grind and the wrong kind
of corporate backing for their researches.  It amounts to like 5.4-6 billion
tons of carbon goes into the atmosphere as a result of human activity.  That
carbon was not there before.  It was buried and has been buried in the
ground for hundreds of millions of years.  Mining fossil fuels and burning
them to harvest the energy they contain is probably not going to stop
anytime soon either.  The mining and oil interests alone are going to throw
every bleeding psuedo-scientific quack at trying to debunk an anthropogenic
cause for global warming until doomsday comes.  They do not want to pay to
clean up the mess.  They do not want to pass the cost along for cleaning up
the mess to consumers (clearly that is what they would do too!)

 

The outputs from human civilization of carbon in the form of CO2 and CH4
(methane) are not the only greenhouse gases we generate.  NO2 is a gas which
is released from industrial fertilizer that has been put into soils which
have little or no organic matter to retain the fertilizer nutrients.  For
more than thirty years, soil scientists at the USDA have tried to convince
farmers to increase the soil organic matter in their fields by promoting
"no-till" and "low-till" farming practices.  Although effective if
practiced, these methods take a long time.

 

Profit and politics are the most impatient, short sighted endeavors on the
planet.  That is why we are in the pickle we are in.  We need to revert to
our old mores and and old way of doing things, to reward the efforts of hard
working people all over the world.  Huge governments, oil companies, and
mining companies need to become dinosaurs and extinct themselves.  Neo Terra
Preta is something that all people can be a part of.  It can be formed on
any land with any biomass.  Anyone making charcoal and burying it in soil
should be able to receive a carbon credit.  They will be creating a real
value to the world.  They will have sequestered carbon, effectively and
cheaply for thousands of years.

 

Our world is as populated as it is, because of the success of human
agriculture.  We are 6 billion because we can feed the world.  That did not
happen because of magic or politics.  The profit of the farmer has been for
centuries to feed his family.  Just in this past century farmers have
learned and developed ways to feed many, many families.  There is great
potential in agriculture, still.  Hundreds of thousands of acres and
hectares of land, which were previously uncultivated, are going in new
production now.  These agronomists can do it economically too.

The arable land is not unlimated, though, and they will eventually need ways
to improve the productivity of the lands they cultivate.  I believe farmers
will find a way to do it using Neo Terra Preta.

 

You know, too, it was not politics or profit which put a man on the moon,
either.  That cost a great deal of treasure for the space race, here and in
the former Soviet Union.  The consequent arms race cost a great deal too.
We have yet to profit from either of them.  Both the space race and the arms
race were accomplished by the work science and engineering professionals.
They did it.  It was not for profit and it was only directed and financed by
politicians, even if it was economic folly.  Scientists, engineers, and
farmers can build a working solution to the global warming crisis.
Scientists, engineers, and farmers can build a working solution to how we
are going to possibly feed 10 billion people on this planet by the end of
the century.  I think we need to listen to scientists, engineers, and
farmers about how and what to do and do some of the things they say should
be done, some of the things they can do.

 

Neo Terra Preta is a great hope, possibly our "Last Great Hope".  All the
the renewable energy sources like solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, wind,
geothermal power, and ocean tidal power, cannot boast what biomass use and
Neo Terra Preta can.  They are only "carbon neutral energy" and can only
reduce future emissions (population growth alone will likely offset any
gains in output reduction).  But Neo Terra Preta from biomass is the one
"carbon NEGATIVE energy" possibility.  Neo Terra Preta from biomass is the
only way to REVERSE the current trend in increasing carbon output to the
atmosphere.  Neo Terra Preta is the only way we can clean up the mess and
take back all of that CO2 pollution that we out into the atmosphere.  We can
still use all of the renewable energy technologies.  We can harvest carbon
from the atmosphere and energy from the biomass and we can clean up this
mess.  It only took 150 years to make the mess.  We can clean it up as fast,
I think.  We just have to change how we get energy.  If we do this, we will
see a cleaner world in our lifetimes.  We may also see the benefit to
agriculture that Neo Terra Preta promises.

 

Neo Terra Preta alone can clean the world and feed the world.

 

But we have to act NOW!  We must begin doing this work immediately.  It must
be seen that the IPCC is not telling us that global climatic change caused
by humankind is a serious problem.  It must be seem that the IPCC is telling
us that it is an international emergency.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sean K. Barry
Principal Engineer/Owner
Troposphere Energy, LLC
11170 142nd St. N.
Stillwater, MN 55082
(651) 351-0711 (Home/Fax)
(651) 285-0904 (Cell)
sean.barry at juno.com

 

 

----- Original Message ----- 

From: Allan Balliett <mailto:aballiett at frontiernet.net>  

To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 

Sent: Monday, May 28, 2007 8:48 PM

Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Charcoal agriculture: not ready for prime time

 

Michael (et al) - Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but all the 
info we have on this 'we can't make terra preta' thing is an 
unsubstantiated quote in a Scientific American article, isn't it? 
Gosh, after biological farming for a couple of decades I'm STILL 
continuously surprised by how many unaccounted far factors can affect 
the productivity of a planting or of a piece of ground. I'd sure like 
to see 'more sciene' on this 'conclusion.' Without seeing some 
replication and, really, without the involvement of some biological 
farmers - - you know, the ones who were telling science that compost 
is a good way to grow plants for about 70 years before science 
started supporting the idea of a 'soil food web - - in that 
replication, I have a hard time thinking that terra preta nova has 
been debunked.

Or, have I missed something here?

Thanks

-Allan

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