[Terrapreta] scramble or blueprint

[lou gold]

Yes, you can formulate it that way Kevin. If you do, you will be caught in
the awkward position of explaining the global warming beliefs not only of a
lot of scientists, but also a lot of businesses, corporations, governments
and common folk. Thinking that this is a mass delusion surely is an option,
but not for me.

Another option might be to attempt to "write" TP into one of the emerging GW
response scenarios and thus acquire the public understanding and political
will to undertake the enormous and expensive task of converting the present
form of global agriculture -- which is subsidized at the level of more than
one billion dollars a day -- to a better way.

I offer various things that to me represent the way the world is turning,
not as a diversion but as a way to connect the dots into the kind of
social/political/economic movement that we and TP need.

But let me assure that I am not inviting a conversation about Global
Warming.  At this point, I assume it  and YOU want to talk about it. That's
the rub. Basically, I want to change to flow of one billion dollars a day
more toward putting carbon into the earth and I know no way that is better
than linking the TP mission to the need to sequester carbon. The only thing
that possibly comes close is the need to conserve water.

Establishing good agricultural practices based on proving their usefulness
has not conquered the forces that have distorted our agriculture into its
present sorry state. The GW-TP link is precisely the wedge that might be
able to move the entrenched paradigm toward something better. This is too
big an opportunity for me to avoid or deny.

On Sat, Apr 19, 2008 at 4:25 PM, Kevin Chisholm <kchisholm at ca.inter.net>
wrote:

> Dear Lou
>
> These Scenario package ASSUME that we are entering a period of Climate
> Change that the Actions of Man are able to change.
> If there was Global Warming, and if it was indeed caused by Man, Science
> should be able prove it. As it stands now, the best teh IPCC could do was
> credit a decision to "consensus science." The phrase "consensus science" is
> an admission that the decision is not based on science, but rather, on
> opinion. Going by the opinion of the majority can have serious consequences.
> "A million lemmings can't be wrong."
>
> We are asked to "believe" in Anthropogenic Global Warming. If there was
> adequate science, truth, and fact, we would not have to "make the big leap
> and believe it to be so." The evidence would speak for itself.
>
> At this point in time we have two options:
> 1: To do nothing
> and
> 2: To do something
>
> The Shell Study examines two possible action scenarios from the second
> option only. The best we can say about the Shell Study is that it is
> interesting but incomplete.
>
> Is not the purpose of the Terra Preta List to seek an understanding of the
> use of charcoal in Agriculture? Can we focus on learning more about TP,
> rather than diffusing our efforts with climate change issues? There are many
> venues where GW can be discussed, but few where TP can be discussed. It is
> patently obvious that if you bury carbon in the ground, you will sequester
> carbon. There is no need to discuss that any more, in that the case is
> already proven.
>
> I would suggest that when on the TP List, we should focus on answering the
> basic question:
> "How can char additions to the soil help a Farmer make more money?"
>
> Does that make sense for the TP List?
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Kevin
>
> lou gold wrote:
>
> > Interesting discussion starting up at DOT.earth
> >
> > Seems relevant to one of the major discussions here.
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/looking-forward-an-energy-scramble-or-a-blueprint/index.html?hp
> >
> >
> >  April 18, 2008,  12:42 pm
> >
> >
> >    Looking Forward, an Energy Scramble or a Blueprint?
> >
> > By Andrew C. Revkin <http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/author/arevkin/>
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Terrapreta mailing list
> > Terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
> > http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biochar/
> > http://terrapreta.bioenergylists.org
> > http://info.bioenergylists.org
> >
>
>
>


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