[Terrapreta] Fw: Nature Story on journal Climatic Change Editorial - offlist

[Peter Read]

Hi terrapreta people
Nice to join you
My response to the question raised by Erich furthest below is as immediately below
Despite my grumble over Climatic Change reviewers it is an excellent journal aiming to present inter-disciplinary research
best
Peter


-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Read [mailto:peter at read.org.nz] On Behalf Of Peter Read
Sent: January 10, 2008 12:12 PM
To: still.thinking at computare.org; Shengar at aol.com; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] Nature Story on journal Climatic Change Editorial


  Hi Duane and everyone



  The essay in Climatic Change contains a passage that runs



              ""More generally, the stocking of carbon, once fixed by photosynthesis can be:

    ·         pre-combustion - standing forest (Read 1996),

    ·         post combustion - CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS) (Obersteiner et al. 2001),

    ·         partial combustion - pyrolysis to yield bio-oils plus stable carbon biochar that can be permanently stocked in the soil, raising fertility (Lehmann et al. 2005), or

    ·         nothing to do with combustion - wooden houses and other structures.

    These examples show that negative emissions energy systems are a sub-set of the negative emissions systems that yield economic benefits. In turn, a larger set includes systems that yield no economic benefit, such as 'pickling logs' and the direct capture of CO2 from the air and its storage underground (Keith and Ha-Duong 2003).""

  So biochar was not forgotten.  That said, the focus of the essay is on the potential of biosphere management to control carbon levels much more rapidly than is possible while priority is given to emissions reductions.  But note that the calculations that yield this result were done early in 2005 and have been surpressed by the gatekeepers of mitigation orthodoxy [i.e. reviewers at Climatic Change] for over two years, hence missing the IPCC's 4th assessment report. Those calculations can be accessed though Read and Parshotam, 2007  http://ips.ac.nz/publications/publications/show/205 and, if I recall correctly, include a small role for biochar.  At that date I was too uncertain of biochar data to give it a large role, as I would if re-doing the arithmetic today.  The IPS Working Paper includes the comments of reviewers G and H along with my rejoinders, which may entertain.



  A propos the Nature report I have asked them to publish a letter correcting certain errors, as attached 



  Have a good 2008



  Peter





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



    From: Duane Pendergast 

    To: Shengar at aol.com ; terrapreta at bioenergylists.org 

    Cc: Peter Read 

    Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:00 PM

    Subject: RE: [Terrapreta] Nature Story on journal Climatic Change Editorial



    Eric



    I believe Peter Read initially started out to propose that carbon dioxide from burning of biofuels could be sequestered by pumping it underground as is proposed for fossil fuels. He noted that this would constitute a means of establishing negative emissions.  I think he later he became aware of the charcoal and terra preta concept. He participated in the conference Danny Day organized in Georgia in 2004.



    His paper is available on the Internet and he does include the production of char as a soil enricher.



    http://www.springerlink.com/content/rt798740226381q8/fulltext.pdf





    The Nature story you posted Eric, suggests to me that Climatic Change and editor Stephen Schneider are both a little slow to pick up and expose new ideas. Better late than never though.  



    Congratulations Peter for fighting this through the publishing system. Maybe you would like to contribute to the list and help to enlighten us - or correct my understanding of the progression of your interest in this.





    Duane Pendergast







    --Original Message-----
    From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org [mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Shengar at aol.com
    Sent: January 9, 2008 10:14 PM
    To: terrapreta at bioenergylists.org
    Subject: [Terrapreta] Nature Story on journal Climatic Change Editorial



    Hi All,



    No direct charcoal wording in the text of this Nature story, 

    I couldn't find the Climate Change journal article, but from this Nature story ...I have one question.

    Does Peter Read's proposal involve Charcoal to the soil via pyrolysis?

    Referees at the journal Climatic Change rejected Read's paper, but editor Stephen Schneider elected to publish it as an editorial commentary.

    Published online 9 January 2008 | Nature 451, 113 (2008) | doi:10.1038/451113a 

    News

    Could global gardening fix climate change?
    Biomass proposal could hugely reduce carbon dioxide levels.

    http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080109/full/451113a.html





    Erich




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