[Terrapreta] Increase of TP soils in the Amazon.

[lou gold]

On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 2:52 PM, Mary Lehmann <mlehmann3 at austin.rr.com>
wrote:

> Dear Lou-
>
>  Kevin says "Didn't you [Lou] post an article on your Blogsite showing how
> Terra Preta actually "grows"? The article was about Brazilians who harvest
> TP for sale elsewhere. The article clearly noted that they find that
> vegetation that falls into depressions and low lying areas is converted to
> TP for harvesting about 20 years later."
>

Somewhere I posted a comment in reference to a segment about this in the
BBC, Secret of El Dorado video where a local farmer speaks of this.

>
> From other reading I gathered that the soil next to the terra preta turned
> into terra preta after 20 years.  I think the people to consult as to what
> really happens are the people who have collected Terra Preta over the
> years.  Do scientists have any data on this?  Could there be such a thing as
> spontaneous charring, either due to a strange property of plants or microbes
> in a particular environment?
>

I don't know. Like you I would like see some studies. Lots of questions
swirling around this.

>
> That research should continue, but for practical reasons, developing a list
> of people experienced in charring that collects the byproducts to recycle
> for fuel, and getting those people setting up and keeping continuous
> projects going, like cities' charring their waste, should be the first order
> of business.   Be guided by the fact that we are in a fight against Time.
> We should be getting governments at all levels to learn about, to finance,
> and to develop charring operations as soon as we can.  We'll have to learn
> as we go.
>

Basically, I'm told by the one soil scientist I've had discussions with that
there's char and char, there's soil and there's soil, there are ecologies
and ecologies. A lot of research is needed to determine the what, when and
how of chars.

>
> LATER:  It occurs to me that if the energy crisis is met by making changes
> in our culture that are basic enough, like having free but limited energy
> rationing per capita -as M.K. Hubbert suggested and Britain is now
> considering, people will want to cut energy consumption  and develop small
> scale charring for their vegetable gardens just to survive.  Should we  be
> giving more attention to explaining to people how they may experience
> greater hardships to come, and the value of Terra Preta then?
>

I don't think the "doomsday" approach works -- even in small doses. Denial
is generally the first and preferred option. But, it sure would be great to
get the home gardeners talking about it.

hugs,

lou




>  Meanwhile, is the structure of this list still simple or divided into
> topics?
> Mary Lehmann
> =======================================================================
>
> On May 29, 2008, at 10:03 AM, lou gold wrote:
>
> I understand your logic Kevin but it's all in your mind.
> No one has yet found anything in the Amazon basin to confirm your
> suspicion. At least I know of nothing that has been published to that
> effect. That's the best response I can give for your question [whether TP
> was naturally occurring as well as man-made].
>
> hugs,
>
> lou
>
>
>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> h <http://lougold.blogspot.com>
>
>
>
>


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