[Terrapreta] Focus on Trials

[Tom Miles]

Rob,

 

Your enthusiasm is infectious but you also need to be realistic about your
expectations for online discussions. The list actually accomplishes quite a
lot. It has been a "starter" soil for many regarding terra preta. Several
people have shared their terra preta experiments with photos - yourself
(China), Richard Haard (US Washington), John Flottvik(Canada), Danny Day
(Georgia), Sai Bhaskar Reddy (India) - others like Bakary Jatta (Gambia)
have been inspired by the list to try TP, and many others like Danny,
Adriana Downie and Stephen Joseph (Australia) have generously shared their
trials and experiences. There are others who no doubt have planted charcoal
and are waiting and watching. Not everyone will have the bumper crop, poster
child, experiences that you and EPRIDA seem to achieve. Not everyone will
have tests as carefully organized or documented as Richard Haard or BEST.
But people have made the connections that have led them to explore TP as a
technique and adapt it to their needs. And the information exchange is
ongoing.    

 

I agreed to host and sponsor this Terra Preta list and website in January at
the request of Ron Larson, Erich Knight and Michael Bailes. We have a
diverse membership with new subscribers joining all the time. Some have
broad hopes for charcoal for restoring the environment. There are people on
the list like myself who are primarily engaged in developing charcoal
production as a product or byproduct of wood and agricultural crop/residue
use. Others focus on the agronomy and soils. We all have the objective of
discovering how biochar can be produced and used effectively in agriculture.


 

We have populated the website with a substantial library of information and
references along with ongoing stories, including links to papers and
presentations (e.g.  from the landmark conferences in 2004 and 2007) and to
other forums like SANET and the Hypography Science Forum.  We have an
evolving taxonomy, or vocabulary, for the website that is intended to let
people focus in just the way you describe.  The website has been getting
1500 to 2000 hits per week from up to 150 countries. 

 

List membership includes several people who attended the International
Agrichar Initiative/International Biochar Initiative (IBI) conference.
Debbie and Adriana have supported and participated in the list. We hope that
the IBI will get funded and move forward to develop a website and
specialized discussion forums but that organization will only be able to do
as much as it can afford with the funding they are able to obtain. It takes
time and talent to organize and manage productive research programs
associated with technical discussions and that requires funding. 

 

Why don't you start by defining for us the tests, soils and treatments that
you have in mind? What qualities of biochar would you use? What nutrients
would you provide and in what form? What would you expect from those
treatments? How will you measure the conditions and results? How will these
trials compare with current and past trials? Don't be limited to three.
(That's just the Irish influence.  Everything Irish comes in threes.) Lead
by example. That should inspire others on the list to do collaborative,
corroborative,  or complementary trials.

 

Regards,

 

Tom

      

 

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Sean K. Barry
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 9:45 AM
To: Robert Flanagan
Cc: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] A New Theory of Climate Change

 

Hi Rob,

 

I agree.

 

SKB

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

From: Robert Flanagan <mailto:saffechina at gmail.com>  

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

Cc: David Yarrow <mailto:dyarrow at nycap.rr.com>  ;
terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 

Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 1:35 AM

Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] A New Theory of Climate Change

 

Hey Guys,

I find it quite hard at times to read some of the emails from this list as
they tend to drift back and forth with no real focus on proposed actions!!!
What I'm hoping will come from the new IBI website is a data base to direct
all these ideas into direct action so people like me that hang on each and
every piece of practical data to guide me on my next trial don't have to
sift through unrelated info. 

I think this "Terra Preta" list really really needs to set clear objectives
with a start, middle and end in relation to recreating Terra Preta on at
least three soil types. To simply send mails back and forth with no
direction is mearly "Preaching to the choir". 

 I've been on the road (self funded) for over three years trying to find
ways I can make a difference and show others the benefits of adding biochar
into sustainable agriculture, I for one would like to know how many
contributing writers are putting into the ground...and where their data is! 

It's said "The pen is mightier then the sword" but not when every one is
doing nothing more then holding the pen! When you say "ACTION" it needs to
have a start, a middle and an end (the proof!!!) otherwise it's not action,
it's an activity! with no sence of purpose and little benefit to others! 

 

LESS TALK, MORE TRIALS!!!

Rob.

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