[Terrapreta] Anthropogenic casue for Global Warming

[David Yarrow]

jim,

several of your questions address the truth that the real energy crunch isn't technological but moral.  how much energy does one human being expect to burn in a day?  in a lifetime?  as my native friends ask: how much is enough?  yet we are trapped in an economic culture that drives us forward to want more, buy more, burn more, go more, spend more....  for the earth, nature and humanity to survive, such a blind consumer culture must die.

technical fixes are easy.  behavior changes are harder.  mindset shifts are startling, often unnerving.

who is going to pay for all these critically needed changes?

the honest answer is the next generations will pay the bills for our 200-year industrial party.

David Yarrow
"If yer not forest, yer against us."
Turtle EyeLand Sanctuary
44 Gilligan Road, East Greenbush, NY 12061
dyarrow at nycap.rr.com
www.championtrees.org
www.OnondagaLakePeaceFestival.org
www.citizenre.com/dyarrow/
www.farmandfood.org
www.SeaAgri.com
 
"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, 
if one only remembers to turn on the light."  
-Albus Dumbledore
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jim Joyner 
  To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 
  Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 11:44 AM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Anthropogenic casue for Global Warming


  Sean,

  You said, "You seem to want to pigeon hole and kick at me for my opinions . . ." No, I don't. I said I didn't want to argue the causes of global warming and I don't. I don't have the knowledge. What I was trying to do was argue a path of action that would encompass the possibility that the popular belief might be wrong -- which in a sense, would be a much worse scenario. I mean, if it is human caused, it might be reversed, at least, to some extent. If it has to do with cosmic rays being blocked by solar activity and those rays are responsible for cloud formation, we've got a problem that can't be human reversed. I, frankly, don't know but as a farmer I want to be prepared in any event.

  What I am not arguing is that we should in any way stop the move toward carbon sequestration or reductions in carbon emissions. There is simply to much at stake and, ultimately, the cost can be borne along with the cleaning of the environment that needs to be done anyway.  But grand gov't schemes bother me. Glassy eyed bureaucrats, politicians and do-gooders in general too often want to do things without considering who must shoulder the burden for paying for them. These are typically the people who don't pay for them.

  I do have a question about your statement below. I certainly agree on the potential benefits of TP but where is it that you are going to get charcoal from renewable, perennial plant matter (not trees . . .)? What renewable, perennial plant matter?

  I guess I've been assuming that charcoal would be made from waste or by-products of things we already grow. But come to think of it, that waste and those throw-away bi-products are becoming more difficult to find. I've not grown corn and soy beans in a long time, but when I did, nothing but the corn and beans left the field. What was "waste" was put back into or onto the soil for tilth and erosion control. And I don't plow/till the soil. There are a few things that leave a little waste, like rice hulls, but they don't amount to much and typically they are more expensive to utilize then they are worth.

  In my case I can take trees because I have species that are dying off on their own. And I am replacing them with more valuable, better adapted trees. Some of these newer ones might be harvested, but probably by my great grand children.

  I suppose one could utilize something like bamboo or kanaf, but I'm not sure of the economics of that. The cost might be more than the benefit. What I suspect is that my original estimate of $10k to $15k per acre might end up being conservative. What say you?

  Jim

  From: Sean K. Barry <sean.barry at juno.com>


  I would like to restate my views on the possibilities for Terra Preta Nova.  Formation of TP soils, by burying charcoal can improve soil conditions for growing plants.  Making that charcoal from renewable, perennial plant matter (not trees, not plastics, not lignite coal) can harvest CO2 from the atmosphere.  Once buried, it has the potential to not just improve degraded soils (better water holding capacity, better CEC, better nutrient holding capacity, better living conditions for beneficial soil microbiology, etc.) but it can at the same time remove and sequester the same number of tons of carbon from the atmosphere that we would be using to improve the soils.

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