[Terrapreta] Net Present Value vs. Net Future Value of Terra

[Richard Haard]

For those of you interested here is a 440 word presentation I will  
make to a local grass roots Dem party plank meeting this evening.  
Thanks to some of our list members for input and helpful narrative.

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 From the desk of Richard Haard, Monday, March 17, 2008

A proposal for a Whatcom County, Washington, Democratic Party,  
agricultural platform plank committee topic: Carbon Sequestration

Terrestrial carbon sequestration is recognized both by the  
International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as well as the European  
Union as a viable way to reduce atmospheric carbon content. However,  
this technique was not taken up in the Kyoto Protocols (clean  
development mechanisms). Since scientists, NGO’s and conservation  
groups are advocating its inclusion in a post Kyoto agreement and also  
since the United States is not yet a signatory to this convention here  
is something we can do immediately to join the rest of the world in  
this action to cleanse our atmosphere of carbon.

The problem. Climate change can wreak havoc on food production and  
displace millions of people. If we see an atmospheric temperature  
change of more than 2 degrees C in the next 50 years we could enter a  
period of runaway climate warming. We can either clean up our  
atmosphere or we might perish trying to live in the conditions of  
runaway climate change.

Burying charcoal in soil is one element of many in what we need to do  
to reduce the carbon content of our atmosphere. The use of charcoal in  
agriculture will address multiple purposes: climate mitigation, food  
production and a viable renewable energy source. Wide scale  
implementation of carbon sequestration in the soil will significantly  
reduce atmospheric carbon.

Biochar is charcoal with specific properties and is made by pyrolysing  
biomass derived from agricultural and forestry waste and crops grown  
specifically for this purpose. If these source materials were for  
example composted and added to soil the carbon in them would  
eventually decay and be released to the atmosphere.

Charcoal on the other hand remains active in the soil for many  
thousands of years forming a permanent functional substitute for  
organic matter. The second property of charcoal in soil is its high  
affinity to nutrients (adsorption). Lastly, in the formation of  
charcoal the microscopic features of the wood are preserved making  
habitat for beneficial organisms thereby reducing the need for  
commercial fertilizer.

Plank this: ‘Cleansing our atmosphere of carbon is the issue for our  
times’ Make a law that puts ‘earning carbon sequestration credits’  
into the US tax code.  This will be implemented either as a check box  
for creation of a carbon removal fund or direct tax credit towards  
activities that:

1.  Disseminates carbon removal technology and information on how to  
use biochar here and abroad.

2.  Provides a direct payment for every verified ton of biochar  
permanently buried in the United States and territories to make local  
use feasible .
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