[Terrapreta] What is so bad about global warming?

[Richard Haard]

 From   http://biocharfund.com//index.php

Terrestrial carbon sequestration is recognised both by the  
International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as well as by the  
European Union as a viable method to reduce emissions. However, this  
technique to offset carbon emissions has not been taken up in the  
Kyoto Protocol (and its Clean Development Mechanism). Scientists, NGOs  
and conservation groups are therefor advocating its inclusion in a  
post-Kyoto agreement.

I have talked with several us based co's and verification is an issue

the low value of carbon offsets is only of value to wind power and  
utility scale hydropower. This is why Folke's posting about the  
Swedish carbon tax was interesting
On Mar 13, 2008, at 10:31 PM, Sean K. Barry wrote:

> Hi Kevin,
>
> Those are tough questions.  I don't have the answers to them.  There  
> is a London and a Chicago "Carbon Trading Market", so I have heard.   
> I've heard prices anywhere form $5 to $10 per ton of carbon.  I see  
> Terra Preta as the only way we can reduce atmospheric carbon  
> levels.  I see this for two main reasons:
>
> 1) Plants that grow every year are doing the job of taking CO2 out  
> of the atmosphere every year.  We just need to take the step of  
> charring up a lot of that biomass (so that is doesn't decay and  
> remit the stored carbon back into the atmosphere) and then put it  
> into the soil for long term sequestration.  Every amount we do can  
> offset fossil carbon emissions.
>
> 2) Biomass carbon is distributed everywhere plants grow and people  
> live (eating plants as food).  Charring biomass can be clean and  
> simple.  Burying it in the ground is simple.  There are lots of  
> people in the world who could benefit immediately from putting  
> charcoal-in-soil if it paid them "carbon credits" to do so and lots  
> who could still benefit anyway if it did not.  There are lots of  
> people scattered out in many diverse places in the world.  There is  
> lots of work to be done to solve GCC and GW.  The economics of doing  
> that work may be better in some places than it is in others (like in  
> the an African desert versus downtown Manhattan).
>
> Maybe you could find some answers to your questions and discuss what  
> you find with us.
>
> Regards,
>
> SKB
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Kevin Chisholm
> To: Sean K. Barry
> Cc: Dan Culbertson ; Larry Williams ; Toch Susan ; Pilarski  
> Michael ; Miles Tom ; Baur Hans
> Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 11:58 PM
> Subject: Re: [Terrapreta] What is so bad about global warming?
>
> Dear Sean
>
> Has anyone on the List actually tried to buy and to sell Carbon  
> Credits?
> What would be the "Buy" and the "Sell" prices?
>
> Does anyone know where the present Carbon Credits are coming from?
>
> Do the Carbon Credits purchased balance with the Carbon Credits sold?
>
> Is it presently possible to make money producing char for Terra Preta
>
> Has the agricultural benefit of Terra Preta been quantified, and  
> reduced
> to dollar terms?
>
> Are there any Farmers anywhere in the World actually buying char to  
> make
> Terra Preta because of a perceived commercial benefit? If not, what is
> the "Loss per tonne of carbon that would have to be offset" before it
> would be commercially advantageous for the Farmer to make Terra Preta?
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Kevin
>
> Sean K. Barry wrote:
> > Hi Dan, Larry, Others,
> >
> > That is a thought provoking question, Dan.  It sounds kind of like
> > those hyped History Channel segments, "After We're Gone" or the
> > "Aftermath".  You are right I think about the atmospheric carbon
> > levels being wrong for our species and right for other species.  One
> > could wonder to what species thrive in atmospheric carbon levels on
> > Venus now, too.
> >
> > The point is, and you said it, "Not that I personally want to become
> > extinct don't-ya-know", but who does?  Do you even want the  
> quality of
> > your life to degrade?  Do you have any children?  What are you going
> > to do to make your life better in the face of current GCC for  
> yourself
> > and/or them in the future?  That's the point.  "Carpe Diem" is all
> > that we can do for anything we do, isn't it?  Global Climate  
> Change in
> > the near term (our lifetimes) isn't about human extinction now or  
> soon
> > nearly as much as it is about the human strife beginning now of the
> > path to human extinction.
> >
> > Larry, I hear you ...
> > "High tech toys cannot produce enough charcoal to effectively lower
> > the atmosphere's CO2 percentages. They are to expensive to produce  
> the
> > quantity that is needed. Would you call it a poor return on  
> investment
> > or the dollar to char deal? "
> >
> > I can't adopt that defeatist attitude.  I think it's doable.  We can
> > produce enough charcoal and lower CO2 emissions enough to strike a
> > balance.  I think it is a monumental worldwide undetaking to do it,
> > too.  So?  When do we get started, I say.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > SKB
> >
> >
>
>
>
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