[Terrapreta] the scope of the problem

[Sean K. Barry]

Hi Michael,

I think the scope of the problem is not addressed by any means.  Whether we uses conservation (turn lights off for an hour), short term sequestration (plant trees), or whether we put charcoal-in-soil into practice as a CO2 emissions offset and carbon sequestration strategy, the total of our effort has to be ENORMOUS!  Humans put 6 billion tons of new carbon (as CO2 and CH4) into the atmosphere every year.  That amount is growing.  Nitrous oxide-N2O (another highly potent GHG) emissions are growing too.  The population is growing and consuming more fossil fuel than ever before, with no stop in sight.  Food production is suckled to fossil fuel based fertilizer production and it is required to grow with the population, lest some will starve.

In order for TP to work at solving these problems the world needs to cleanly produce ~6 billion tons of charcoal from ~25 billion tons of dry biomass every year.  This cannot be done with trees alone.  We would exhaust all of the standing wood on the planet in 10 or 20 years doing that.  Handling and processing 25-50 billion tons of biomass every year into 6 billion tons of charcoal would be the largest industry the world has ever seen!

I believe forming Terra Preta soils to improve agricultural productivity on degraded and poor land and to sequester carbon is among the best of approachs to solving this atmospheric carbon concentration, but it is just simply a very huge undertaking.  Reduction in fossil fuel emissions would help (by reducing the need to produce charcoal for TP carbon sequestration).  When charcoal is made with a yield of ~25% by weight and ~50% by energy content, then there is ~50% of the original chemical energy in the biomass which is released in the process.  We need to find ways to capture and use this energy, as much as possible.  This could reduce fossil energy consumption by 20-25%.

Fossil fuels will eventually run out, cheap fossil fuel will go first, natural gas first, then petroleum, and lastly coal.  Some arrogant fools believe we will be able to continue to burn fossil coal for 300-1000 years more!  God help us if we do not see that this will choke us all in the heat and starve us or drown us in the inundation by the seas and the loss of most of the living species (and food) on the planet.

Mitigation work for the Global Climate crisis is only beginning.  All approaches needs to be looked at and undertaken immediately.  Action, action, action, on extremely large scale atmospheric CO2 reduction has to also take place very soon.  Forming Terra Preta soils needs to begin ON MASSE with many other types of CO2 emissions reduction and carbon sequestration strategies.  This needs to be looked at not as a hobby, or research, or studied by a few any longer.  Everyone (all 6 billion of us) needs to sequester 1 ton of charcoal away every year for the rest of our lives.  The 1 ton initiative!

Regards,

SKB


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Michael Bailes<mailto:michaelangelica at gmail.com> 
  To: geoff moxham<mailto:teraniageoff at gmail.com> ; Terra Preta<mailto:terrapreta at bioenergylists.org> 
  Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2008 8:50 PM
  Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] methane, cowfarts and charcoal in the feedlot





  On 03/03/2008, geoff moxham <teraniageoff at gmail.com<mailto:teraniageoff at gmail.com>> wrote: 
    I'd call that a BINGO!

    How many win win win win situatuations did we need as a culture to see
    a good thing when it was under our noses? (or our cow's noses) I think
    it's too late to catch the current collapse slide, that will probably
    take high-intensity feedlots with it, but after the dust settles char
    in feed may be a part of dairying.
    Geoff TDH

   
  Yes 


  How many do we need??? 

  It is depressing me a bit at the moment with people with fly-by-night tree planting schemes and switching off city lights for an hour 
  .What is it about charcoal and basic TP that is hard to understand?



  -- 
  Michael the Archangel

  "You can fix all the world's problems in a garden. . . . 
  Most people don't know that"
  FROM
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