[Terrapreta] Restoring soil carbon can reverse global warming

[Shengar at aol.com]

Hi TP Listers,
 
Here is a strait forward conversion of the impact of  building soil organic 
material (SOM) on ppm of GHGs using just marginal  land.
 
_http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0221-soil_carbon_lovell_interview.html_ 
(http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0221-soil_carbon_lovell_interview.html) 
 
 
Tony Lovell of _Soil Carbon P/L_ (http://www.soilcarbon.com.au/)  in 
Australia estimates that by  actively supporting regrowth of vegetation in damaged 
ecosystems, billions of  tons of carbon dioxide can be sequestered from the 
atmosphere. 
 
 
"Determining how much carbon dioxide (CO2) can  physically be consumed from 
the atmosphere? 


    
As the planet has 7.8 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in circulation for  
each 1 ppm of atmospheric CO2, and there are 5 billion hectares of  
inappropriately managed or unmanaged, desertifying savannahs on the Earth (which  on 
empirical evidence we contend to be the case), the question that should  sensibly 
be asked is: How much carbon dioxide would be absorbed if policies were  put in 
place (in Australia and elsewhere) that caused the focus of on-ground  
management to be deliberately directed towards the widespread consumption of  
cyclical GHGs within the currently under-utilised savannah lands?  

Consumption of CO2 per hectare 
    *   One hectare is 10,000 sq. metres. If a hectare of soil 33.5 cm deep, 
with  a bulk density of 1.4 tonnes per cubic metre is considered, there is a 
soil  mass per hectare of about 4,700 tonnes.  
    *   If appropriate management practices were adopted and these practices  
achieved and sustained a 1% increase in soil organic matter (SOM)6, then 47  
tonnes of SOM per hectare will be added to organic matter stocks held below  
the soil surface  
    *   This 47 tonnes of SOM will contain approximately 27 tonnes of Soil 
Carbon  (ie 47 tonnes at 58% Carbon) per hectare  
    *   In the absence of other inputs this Carbon may only be derived from 
the  atmosphere via the natural function known as the photo-synthetic process. 
To  place approximately 27 tonnes of Soil Carbon per hectare into the soil,  
approximately 100 tonnes of carbon dioxide must be consumed out of the  
atmosphere by photosynthesis  
    *   A 1% change in soil organic matter across 5 billion hectares will  
sequester 500 billion tonnes of physical CO2 
Converting global Soil Carbon capacity to ppm of atmospheric GHGs 
    1.  Every 1% increase in retained SOM within the topmost 33.5 cm of the 
soil  must capture and hold approximately 100 tonnes per hectare of atmospheric 
 carbon dioxide (the variability in the equation being due only to the soil  
bulk density). We submit that under determined, appropriate management, that  
this is readily achievable within a very few years  
    2.  For each 1% increase in SOM achieved on the 5 billion hectares there 
will  be removed 64 ppm of carbon dioxide from atmospheric circulation  
(500,000,000,000 tonnes CO2 / 7,800,000,000 tonnes per ppm = 64 ppm).  
    3.  Soil Organic Matter is the plant material released into the soil 
during  the natural phases of plant growth. It includes root material sloughed off 
 below the soil surface and plant litter carried into the soil by microbes,  
insects and rainfall  
    4.  Soil Carbon is the elemental carbon contained within Soil Organic 
Matter  (SOM).  
    5.  One tonne of CO2 contains 12/44 units of carbon (ie 0.27 tonnes of 
carbon  per tonne of CO2.). Therefore 27 tonnes of carbon sequesters 27/0.27 = 
100  tonnes CO2 (rounded). NB Carbon atomic weight 12, oxygen atomic weight 16 
ie  CO2 = 12+(16+16) = 44 
The global opportunity and numbers 



It appears that the pre-industrial level of atmospheric carbon dioxide was  
280ppm, and that globally we are now at 455ppm, and heading towards 550ppm. To  
get from 550ppm back to 280ppm, 270ppm must be removed. Globally, a 4.2%  
increase in SOM would potentially reverse the expected situation. In any case,  
any form of determined management will substantially reduce the now crippling  
legacy loadings in the atmosphere. 


Erich J.  Knight
1047 Dave Berry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA.  22840
540-289-9750
shengar at aol.com




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