[Terrapreta] Terra Preta - not just about charcoal in soil

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Michael,

I was thinking about this question, when I was writing that long post.  I have a hypothesis about this.  It goes something like this ...

I was reading Jarod Diamonds book, "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The FATES of Human Societies", $16.95 from NORTON press, a thick paper back book, and a fantastic read.  In it he was describing the rise of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent.  He said that when human hunter-gatherers discovered that they could harvest 1 ton of edible grain, with 50 kilocalories of nourishment in it, from one hectare of land containing wild wheat and do this for just 1 kilocalorie worth of work, that this was crucial to allowing them to sit around and wait for Mother Nature to provide.  Learning how to do this, to make more food than you need for oneself, could allow people to provide for and have power over others.  Kingdoms came from being able to TAKE more from the land than you needed to give to it.  Even the best hunter-gatherers could not feed 50 people every day with only their own work.  

Where I live, in Minnesota, there was once a great boreal forest ... tall white pines as far as anyone could see no matter how many miles they traveled into the area.  It was believed by the loggers then that they would NEVER deplete the resource.  It took less than 100 years to cut almost the entire forest down.  There are hardly any original virgin stands of white pine left.

Humans TAKE, TAKE, and TAKE MORE.  We have for 100s of generations.  It is part of many cultures to TAKE the most that we can for the least effort and maintain a bottom line.  It is a short-sighted and market driven approach.  Now, the Earth has come home to roost.  The resources are drying up everywhere.  But, we are all mostly stuck with these generations of learned behavior to just TAKE what we need and move on when we can no longer do that.

Those were few that began to sit, harvest, and then grow crops only to feed more vast peoples, to the amazement of the hunter-gathers, as the numbers of hunter-gatherer dwindled.  I think there is a chance that some few will begin to adopt a program of GIVING or RETURNING to the Earth more than we TAKE out, and by doing so, will continue to be able to feed vast numbers, while others watch in amazement, as their own number of TAKERS dwindles.

That prospect is both the only way out and scary at the same time;  when TAKERS become "HAVE NOTS", they will TAKE from the "HAVES" while they can.  They will TAKE, not knowledge, but only their primitive needs.  It will be a brutish reality.  Educating them to be GIVING to Earth before Earth has no more to give is maybe possible, but it will require maybe trying to starve children and making them eek out a life, by learning how to GIVE to the Earth rather than only TAKE from it.

Regards,

SKB
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Michael Bailes<mailto:michaelangelica at gmail.com> 
  To: Sean K. Barry<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com> 
  Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 10:27 AM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Terra Preta - not just about charcoal in soil


  Yep,
  Just being frivolous. (The Oz sense of humour is acquired)
  I have read much of what he has to say.
  (BUT why is the book so expensive?)

  The question is- Why is not every farmer/gardener adopting the Terra preta system? 
  MA


  On 02/10/2007, Sean K. Barry <sean.barry at juno.com<mailto:sean.barry at juno.com>> wrote: 
    Hi Michael,

    Thanks Michael.  It is a 500 page hard bound book and in some parts, a very tough read.  The author/editor is on this list, Dr. Johannes Lehmann.  I do not think he would appreciate me infringing upon his copy rights.  If Dr. Lehmann would be willing to share any of it to the list, than I think he should be the one to do it.  I am willing to summarize for this list what I learn though from reading it, as I have tried to do with this most recent posting, .  Hopefully, Dr. Lehmann will not object to this.

    Regards,

    SKB




  -- 
  Michael the Archangel

  "You can fix all the world's problems in a garden. . . . 
  Most people don't know that"
  FROM
  http://www.blog.thesietch.org/wp-content/permaculture.swf<http://www.blog.thesietch.org/wp-content/permaculture.swf> 
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