[Terrapreta] Question

[lou gold]

hi folke,

i can't open the file.

sure, i understand that shifting from open-range ranching into more
efficient feedlot production will reduce the stress. and i also understand
that there are some extremely creative ways that grazing can be integrated
into an intelligent and sustainable land management scheme.

my question is more one of political economy. i can understand the many
benefits of char for producers who grow crops (and how to incentivize them
toward char) but so far i am not able to see the benefits for the meat
industry (thus they will not support char?).

my projections about increased demand for meat? so far it seems to be
associated with economic development. no, it is surely not infinitely
expandable and, yes, the world is going to change its eating habits. but i
do expect a spike in meat consumption (it's already happening) before the
re-balancing occurs and that spike will take down lots of forests. do you
disagree?

thanks for wrestling with this.

lou

On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 5:05 AM, folke Günther <folkeg at gmail.com> wrote:

> *It is cattle ranching that is the problem (with stress on ranching). Too
> retain the forest diversity, you have to protect certain areas from the
> stress of he muzzle Let the forest re-grow. If you absolutely think you have
> to cut it down, do that and char the forest. Put the char and a seed-bank on
> muzzle-devastated land and let that land re-grow into a new forest. See the
> attached sketch Not on muzzling, but in mining. But it is almost the same
> from the forest point of view.
> But I don't think your projections are right. Post-peak world will be quite
> another than the one we are accustomed to.
> FG
> *
> 2008/5/20 lou gold <lou.gold at gmail.com>:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I need some help working through a puzzle.
>>
>> As you know, my highest priority is saving the forest, especially the
>> Amazon forest. I have been investing a lot of hopes in the possibility that
>> terra preta might somehow show the way. But I have not been able to figure
>> out the benefit of soil improvement (etc, etc) for cattle ranching and it is
>> the expansion of cattle combined with logging that is the front line of
>> deforestation.
>>
>> I know that switching from slash-and-burn to slash-and-char will be
>> helpful. But cattle are going to expand as the world gains more and more
>> people who want to eat meat. Please, let's not go into the protein
>> efficiencies or ethics of this trend. I'm trying to deal with the world as
>> it is.  Can anyone see a way that terra preta might be helpful here?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> lou
>>
>> --
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>
>
>
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