[Terrapreta] Fwd: the scope of the problem

[Michael Bailes]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Bailes <michaelangelica at gmail.com>
Date: 4 Mar 2008 17:56
Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] the scope of the problem
To: Larry Williams <lwilliams at nas.com>

I don't propose that widespread adoption of Terra preta gardening and
farming techniques will SOLVE our GHG woes.
Hopefully with it can be combined with organic gardening techniques also
sequestering green SOM.
I am proposing that it can make a MAJOR contribution.
(in the meantime alternative tecnology energy alternatives need to be
developed.)
Far more so than planting trees or turning off city lights (Both a cruel
con. in my view).

Kelpie Wilson is in my view the best writer on TP .
Her article "Birth of a New wedge" on the IAI conference at Terrigal last
year I recommend to you
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050307R.shtml.
My own pathetic attempt is here
http://forums.hypography.com/terra-preta/14348-my-aricle-tp.html#post209874

There are thousands of factories producing billions of tonnes of organic
waste. paper companies, feel lots, chook farms, council green waste, flavour
and fragrance companies etc etc. All this should be used before any tree is
cut down.(WHY are we shipping woodcips to Japan???)
 Every day I see a tempting pile of timber waste outside an neigbour's home
waiting for the council to collect it. O for my own pyrolysis machine!

In my View it should be mandatory for all organic waste  be used to make
char and the char given away if necessary.(Probably not the best idea as
char should be highly prized and valued)
Dumping in landfill organic waste is no longer acceptable
I produces methane and other GHGs for many tears.
It costs money and energy to transport waste to more and more remote remote
land fill areas.
Please read Kelpie she is the TP poet.
Michael
On 03/03/2008, Larry Williams <lwilliams at nas.com> wrote:
>
>  Sean-------You have suggested and other members using similar
> figures suggest that  "In order for TP (Terra Preta) 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. "
>
> This is a mischaracterization, as I see it, of the available biomass from
> forests and I would like you to consider the significance of individual tree
> harvesting in our evergreen forests. This concept applies to areas of the
> world where there are full canopies, specifically multi-layered canopies. In
> the Pacific Northwest we have sustainable farm foresters who practice
> individual tree harvests on their forest lands. As a general rule, it was
> recommended by these timber harvesters that trees selected for harvest be
> subordinate trees within the forest canopy. This practice is on private
> forest lands.
>
> In a newly acquired properties they would first remove trees that were of
> lesser value, that is, trees with physical or disease damage so that the
> dominate trees would have the available light, water and nutrients that were
> used by the subordinate trees. The practice was to remove 5-8% of the canopy
> every 10 years. This was enough opening to encourage natural regeneration
> and at the same time allow for a significance closure of the canopy before
> the next harvest.
>
>
-- 
Michael the Archangel

"You can fix all the world's problems in a garden. . . .
Most people don't know that"
FROM
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/wp-content/permaculture.swf


-- 
Michael the Archangel

"You can fix all the world's problems in a garden. . . .
Most people don't know that"
FROM
http://www.blog.thesietch.org/wp-content/permaculture.swf
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