[Terrapreta] tipping point

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi 'terrapreta' list,

Thanks for yet another nice, controversial post, Lou.  I can always count on you.

http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2012<http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2012>

Somebody please say Bill McKibben is hysterical ... Kurt, Greg, Kevin?  

This one is for you, Kevin => http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=1211<http://e360.yale.edu/content/digest.msp?id=1211>

e360 digest


05.30.08: Bush Administration Concedes 
Earth is Warming and Humans are the Cause
Four years late and under court order to issue a report, the Bush administration has officially conceded what scientific studies have long maintained<http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/scientific-assessment/>: The planet is warming rapidly and the burning of fossil fuels is "very likely" the cause. In a report entitled "Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Warming," U.S. government scientists sign on to many of the conclusions reached recently by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Though mainstream in its conclusions, the report is a big step for an administration that for years denied the link between human activity and climate change. The report, which was supposed to have been issued in 2004 under the federal Global Change Research Act, says that one upshot of rising temperatures will be greater demands on the energy sector to produce more electricity to cool buildings, industries, and homes, and to pump more water to irrigate crops in a hotter - and often drier - world.

Oh, one more thing.   I said Dr. Steiner reported 290% improved growth in biomass with charcoal + fertilizer over fertilizer alone.  Well, I cannot find the reference.  The only one from Dr. Steiner that I did find said, "Plots with charcoal alone grew little, but those treated with a combination of charcoal and fertilizer yielded as much as 880% more than plots with fertilizer alone." from "SCIENCEterra preta1.pdf", available on the 'terrapreta' list site under writings by Steiner.

I found another document, "Biochar_as_a_soil_amendment_-_a_review.pdf" (attached), that reported some numbers similar to 290% increase in biomass yield,  see on page 20 of the document ...

Kishimoto & Sugiura (1985)

Sugi trees on clay loam,

Japan

0.5 Mgha-1 wood charcoal increased biomass 249%

0.5 Mgha-1 bark charcoal increased biomass 324%

0.5 Mgha-1 activated charcoal increased biomass 244%

Francoise likes to think I state untruths.  Okay, 880% is NOT 290% ... My boo boo.  Take the validity of the numbers up with the authors.

Regards,

SKB
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