[Terrapreta] Ice-age anyone?

[David Yarrow]

folks,

please try to not get lost nitpicking the finer details of our onrushing global calamity.  you don't need an altimeter to realize the river you're on is about to sail over a waterfall.

i don't need IPCC or al gore movie to tell me human activities have tipped and ripped the web of life on this planet -- most critically and globally, the thermal engine of ocean and atmosphere that yields our climate and weather.  i don't need science to tell me something is out of balance -- out of ordinary boundaries -- exceeding normal thresholds.

and i have conversations with native elders who say simple truths like, "if you don't respect the gifts of the mother, they will be taken away."  most indigenous cultures have prophecies about the eventual inevitable consequences of the western white way of conquest and consumption of nature.  lots of folks agree with these statements -- and do nothing to change their lifestyle to be more eco-sensible.

at any rate, in a purely conceptual view, the basic data is as simple as algebra -- which puts it "beyond the limits" of many people's conceptual mindfield.  but, if you examine the curve of carbon in earth's atmosphere, beginning with measurements in the 1880s, it flows up in a steadily increasing increase (with a few wiggles & jiggles) -- in an exponential curve.

exponential curves and logarithmic scales (slide rules, anyone?) share a certain characteristic called a "limit."  most often, these curves reach a point where rise exceeds run -- y-axis increases faster than x-axis.  once this "knee of the curve" is reached, and vertical exceeds horizontal, conditions change very rapidly, and soon reach nearly vertical and acutely critical.

this is generally a catastrophic event in electronic circuits, and are carefully designed out by engineers.

our planet is at such a "limit."  actually, at a multitude of limits.  taken as a self-contained, self-balancing system, the planet is arriving at multiple limits in relation to our human presence, use and disturbance of the life-support systems of the planetary biosphere.  "limit" is a mathematical word for "tipping point."

this should call on us to stop, and to take stock of our behavior, and to institute major changes in our use and re-use of resources, our participation in the communities of life, and our political, spiritual and ideological schisms that keep us from global unity and ecological harmony.  given the unprecedented global scope of this situation, we need the equivalent of a planetary teach-in where business-as-usual stops and every community gathers in town meetings to learn about and deliberate our intention and destiny.  however, the current mindset is to not do anything that might disturb and interupt our daily destructiveness.

while recent global weather trends says global heating is well underway, never underestimate the cascades of compounding conditions that occur when a limit is reached and threshold crossed.  geological records indicate climate change can occur in a few decades.  discovery of several mammoths frozen with green grass in their stomachs suggest climate change can occur in hours.  can you imagine freezing a mammoth in hours ... a mammoth eating fresh, ripe green grass?

thus, i try not to underestimate the intelligence of planetary synergy to maintain stable conditions, and i don't think we have yet seen serious, strong responses from the earth to these human-induced disturbances to various equilibria.  my analogy is a kitchen refrigerator: on a hot day, when internal temperatures get too high, the switch is tripped, the motor starts to compress coolant, which flows to the exchange coils.  once the compressor starts up, a temperature imbalance will shift rapidly in the reverse direction.

one thing i learned clearly from my native elders is a deep respect for the terrible truth that white man have no understanding of the vast powerful forces they have unleashed by tinkering with and dismembering the natural world -- mining, selling, shipping the land itself and everything on it.  native elders understood that the power of nature is many times greater than the greatest power of men -- many times more intelligent.

the real mystery of terra preta isn't about the indigenous recipe to cook up carbon-rich, microbe-alive soil.  the real mystery is  the culture, community, social structure, and coonsciousness -- the state of mind that allowed them to flourish in such fertile density of population without leaving the scars common from industrial empires.  what changes must happen in the human head and heart for us to participate so seamlessly with nature again.

one thing is certain: change is underway.  global transformation.  paradigm shift.  and cultural evolution.

alright.  enough.  back to work on teaching TP production to as many folks as possible this year.  including how to make their own in one of the dangerous, inefficient, polluting, and ugly barrel burners.  or does anyone have a better backyard design than folke?

for a green & peaceful planet,
David Yarrow
44 Gilligan Rd, E Greenbush, NY 12061
www.championtrees.org
www.OnondagaLakePeaceFestival.org
www.farmandfood.org
www.SeaAgri.com
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