Submitted by Card (not verified) on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 07:25.
In some traditional cultures, the practice of slash and burn was used. I realize the negatives of this practice, but am wondering if indeed it did not place carbon in the soil. Ideas? Thoughts?
Submitted by Rock Geluk (not verified) on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 11:45.
Agriculture should not be rewarded for deforesting North America. A forest is the only true carbon sink and unfortunately, we don't have much left.
I think carbon credits should only be awarded to permanent reforestation or perennial grassland restoration.
In SW Ontario, forest soils have over 15% organic matter (not including the actual trees) and farmland is around 1.5 - 4% OM. You do the math.
I agree with John Vivier. Studying Carbon in the soil for the purpose of improving crops makes more sense and is money better spent.
In the end, the price of oil will influence CO2 emissions more than anything.
Submitted by Erich J. Knight (not verified) on Mon, 08/09/2010 - 22:59.
To me, in the long run, the final arbiter / accountancy / measure of sustainability will be
soil carbon content. Once this royal road is constructed, traffic cops ( Carbon Board ) in place, the truth of land-management and Biochar systems will be self-evident.
A dream I've had for years is to base the coming carbon economy firmly on the foundation of top soils. My read of the agronomic history of civilization shows that the Kayopo Amazon Indians and the Egyptians were the only ones to maintain fertility for the long haul, millennium scales. Egypt has now forsaken their geologic advantage by building the Aswan dam, and are stuck, with the rest of us, in the soil C mining, NPK rat race to the bottom. The meta-analysis of Syn-N and soil Carbon content show our dilemma; https://www.agronomy.org/publications/jeq/articles/38/6/2295
In my efforts to have Biochar's potential included, I have recruited several to join the list, briefed the entire committee about char when issues concerning N2O & CH4 soil GHG emissions were raised, fully briefed a couple of the 100 members when they replied individually to my "Reply all" briefs. The members cover the full spectrum of Ag interest.
With the Obama administration funding an inter-departmental climate effort of NASA, NOAA, USDA, & EPA, and now even the CIA is opening the data coffers, then soil carbon sensors may be less than 5 years away. I'm told by the Jet Propulsion Lab mission specialists responsible for the suite of earth sensing satellites, that they will be reading soil carbon using multiple proxy measurements in 5 years. Reading soil moisture to 3 foot dept in two year with SMAP, Reading GHG emissions and biomass from the tree tops down next year when the Orbital Carbon Observer (OCO, get it:) is rebooted, to 1 Ha resolution.
Then, any farmer can click "Google Carbon maps" to see the soil carbon accounted to his good work, a level playing field to be a soil sink banker.
The Moon Pie in the sky funding should be served to JPL
Sowing Seeds With New Agricultural Carbon Accounting Tool Carbon dioxide emissions from agricultural activity in the United States can now be tracked with unprecedented resolution because of a method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory team led by Tristram West. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100602131436.htm
A Carbon Tool to Drool Over:
sure be nice to test out some mid- or near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy technology for field-based, non-destructive measurements of soil carbon. http://soilcarboncenter.k-state.edu/originals/Veris.html
Since we have filled the air , filling the seas to full, Soil is the Only Beneficial place left.
Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.
EcoTechnologies Group Technical Adviser http://www.ecotechnologies.com/index.html
Shenandoah Gardens (Owner)
1047 Dave Barry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA. 22840
540 289 9750
Co-Administrator, Biochar Data base & Discussion list TP-REPP
For those looking for an overview of biochar and its benefits, These authors have done a very nice job of distilling a great deal of information about biochar and applying it to the US context:
Submitted by Erich J. Knight (not verified) on Fri, 08/13/2010 - 01:44.
I forgot to mention in the first section of this report C. Steiner shows in his new work that Composting low C:N ratio materials with Char reduce NH3 loses by 52%!!
US -Focused Biochar report: Assessment of Biochar's Benefits for the USA
The Terra Preta Prayer
Our Carbon who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name
By kingdom come, thy will be done, IN the Earth to make it Heaven.
It will give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our atmospheric trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against the Kyoto protocols
And lead us not into fossil fuel temptation, but deliver us from it's evil
low as we walk through the valley of the shadow of Global Warming,
I will feel no evil, your Bio-fuels and fertile microbes will comfort me,
For thine is the fungal kingdom,
and the microbe power,
and the Sequestration Glory,
For ever and ever (well at least 2000 years)
AMEN
Soil Carbon Commandments:
1) Thou shalt not have any other Molecule before Me
2) Thou shall not make wrongful use of the name of Biochar, It will not acquit anyone who mis-charactorizes it's name
3) Observe the Fallow days and keep them, as Sustainability commands thou
4) Honor your Micro Flora & Fauna , as the Soil Carbon commands you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that High Soil Carbon has given you.
5) Thou shall not murder the Soil Food Web
6) Neither shall thou adulterate the Soils with Toxicity
7) Neither shall thou steal Biomass from the Soil Food Web
8) Neither shall thou bear false witness against your neighbors Biochar, or about Thy own
9) Neither shall thou covet your neighbor's Fertility
10) Neither shall thou desire your neighbor's house, or field, or Pyrolysis Reactor, or farm implements, or anything that belongs to your neighbor, as thou may Create thy Own
Soil Carbon Dream
I have a dream that one day we live in a nation where progress will not be judged by the production yields of our fields, but by the color of their soils and by the Carbon content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, a suite of earth sensing satellites will level the playing field, giving every farmer a full account of carbon he sequesters. That Soil Carbon is given as the final arbiter, the common currency, accountant and Judge of Stewardship on our lands.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made forest, the rough soils will be made fertile, and the crooked Carbon Marketeers will be made straight, and the glory of Soil Sequestration shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see a Mutually assured Sustainability.
This is our hope.
My apologies to Dr. King, but I think he would understand my passion
Erich
Submitted by John Vivier (not verified) on Wed, 08/04/2010 - 12:44.
Studying Carbon in the soil for the purpose of improving crops......
makes sense.
If the goal is preventing carbon emission to the atmosphere, that is
silly!
CO2 has no effect on cooling or warming as global as can be, nor does it contribute to the greenhouse effect.
If it did (hypothetically), there is nothing men could do to change it.
So much time and energy wasted by naive and gullible people chasing
rainbows.
John Vivier,AIA Architect.
Former Environmental Engineer.
Signatory to the Petition Project. www.petitionproject.org
Carbon through burning crops
In some traditional cultures, the practice of slash and burn was used. I realize the negatives of this practice, but am wondering if indeed it did not place carbon in the soil. Ideas? Thoughts?
Carbon
Agriculture should not be rewarded for deforesting North America. A forest is the only true carbon sink and unfortunately, we don't have much left.
I think carbon credits should only be awarded to permanent reforestation or perennial grassland restoration.
In SW Ontario, forest soils have over 15% organic matter (not including the actual trees) and farmland is around 1.5 - 4% OM. You do the math.
I agree with John Vivier. Studying Carbon in the soil for the purpose of improving crops makes more sense and is money better spent.
In the end, the price of oil will influence CO2 emissions more than anything.
Rock Geluk
Organic
Soil Carbon Dream
To me, in the long run, the final arbiter / accountancy / measure of sustainability will be
soil carbon content. Once this royal road is constructed, traffic cops ( Carbon Board ) in place, the truth of land-management and Biochar systems will be self-evident.
A dream I've had for years is to base the coming carbon economy firmly on the foundation of top soils. My read of the agronomic history of civilization shows that the Kayopo Amazon Indians and the Egyptians were the only ones to maintain fertility for the long haul, millennium scales. Egypt has now forsaken their geologic advantage by building the Aswan dam, and are stuck, with the rest of us, in the soil C mining, NPK rat race to the bottom. The meta-analysis of Syn-N and soil Carbon content show our dilemma;
https://www.agronomy.org/publications/jeq/articles/38/6/2295
The Ag Soil Carbon standard is in final review by the AMS branch at USDA.
Read over the work so far;
http://www.novecta.com/documents/Carbon-Standard.pdf
In my efforts to have Biochar's potential included, I have recruited several to join the list, briefed the entire committee about char when issues concerning N2O & CH4 soil GHG emissions were raised, fully briefed a couple of the 100 members when they replied individually to my "Reply all" briefs. The members cover the full spectrum of Ag interest.
With the Obama administration funding an inter-departmental climate effort of NASA, NOAA, USDA, & EPA, and now even the CIA is opening the data coffers, then soil carbon sensors may be less than 5 years away. I'm told by the Jet Propulsion Lab mission specialists responsible for the suite of earth sensing satellites, that they will be reading soil carbon using multiple proxy measurements in 5 years. Reading soil moisture to 3 foot dept in two year with SMAP, Reading GHG emissions and biomass from the tree tops down next year when the Orbital Carbon Observer (OCO, get it:) is rebooted, to 1 Ha resolution.
Then, any farmer can click "Google Carbon maps" to see the soil carbon accounted to his good work, a level playing field to be a soil sink banker.
The Moon Pie in the sky funding should be served to JPL
Sowing Seeds With New Agricultural Carbon Accounting Tool Carbon dioxide emissions from agricultural activity in the United States can now be tracked with unprecedented resolution because of a method developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory team led by Tristram West. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100602131436.htm
A Carbon Tool to Drool Over:
sure be nice to test out some mid- or near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy technology for field-based, non-destructive measurements of soil carbon.
http://soilcarboncenter.k-state.edu/originals/Veris.html
Since we have filled the air , filling the seas to full, Soil is the Only Beneficial place left.
Carbon to the Soil, the only ubiquitous and economic place to put it.
WorldStoves in Haiti;
http://www.charcoalproject.org/2010/05/a-man-a-stove-a-mission/ and
The Biochar Fund; deserves your attention and support.
Exceptional results from biochar experiment in Cameroon
http://biocharfund.org/
NSF Awards $600K to BREAD: Biochar Inoculants for Enabling Smallholder Agriculture
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0965336
Thanks for your efforts.
Erich
Erich J. Knight
Chairman; Markets and Business Review Committee
US BiocharConference, at Iowa State University, June 27-30
http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/events/biochar2010/conference-agenda/age...
EcoTechnologies Group Technical Adviser
http://www.ecotechnologies.com/index.html
Shenandoah Gardens (Owner)
1047 Dave Barry Rd.
McGaheysville, VA. 22840
540 289 9750
Co-Administrator, Biochar Data base & Discussion list TP-REPP
For those looking for an overview of biochar and its benefits, These authors have done a very nice job of distilling a great deal of information about biochar and applying it to the US context:
US -Focused Biochar report: Assessment of Biochar's Benefits for the USA http://www.biochar-us.org/pdf%20files/biochar_report_lowres.pdf
Soil Carbon Dream
I forgot to mention in the first section of this report C. Steiner shows in his new work that Composting low C:N ratio materials with Char reduce NH3 loses by 52%!!
US -Focused Biochar report: Assessment of Biochar's Benefits for the USA
The Terra Preta Prayer
Our Carbon who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name
By kingdom come, thy will be done, IN the Earth to make it Heaven.
It will give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our atmospheric trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against the Kyoto protocols
And lead us not into fossil fuel temptation, but deliver us from it's evil
low as we walk through the valley of the shadow of Global Warming,
I will feel no evil, your Bio-fuels and fertile microbes will comfort me,
For thine is the fungal kingdom,
and the microbe power,
and the Sequestration Glory,
For ever and ever (well at least 2000 years)
AMEN
Soil Carbon Commandments:
1) Thou shalt not have any other Molecule before Me
2) Thou shall not make wrongful use of the name of Biochar, It will not acquit anyone who mis-charactorizes it's name
3) Observe the Fallow days and keep them, as Sustainability commands thou
4) Honor your Micro Flora & Fauna , as the Soil Carbon commands you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that High Soil Carbon has given you.
5) Thou shall not murder the Soil Food Web
6) Neither shall thou adulterate the Soils with Toxicity
7) Neither shall thou steal Biomass from the Soil Food Web
8) Neither shall thou bear false witness against your neighbors Biochar, or about Thy own
9) Neither shall thou covet your neighbor's Fertility
10) Neither shall thou desire your neighbor's house, or field, or Pyrolysis Reactor, or farm implements, or anything that belongs to your neighbor, as thou may Create thy Own
Soil Carbon Dream
I have a dream that one day we live in a nation where progress will not be judged by the production yields of our fields, but by the color of their soils and by the Carbon content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, a suite of earth sensing satellites will level the playing field, giving every farmer a full account of carbon he sequesters. That Soil Carbon is given as the final arbiter, the common currency, accountant and Judge of Stewardship on our lands.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made forest, the rough soils will be made fertile, and the crooked Carbon Marketeers will be made straight, and the glory of Soil Sequestration shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see a Mutually assured Sustainability.
This is our hope.
My apologies to Dr. King, but I think he would understand my passion
Erich
Carbon
Studying Carbon in the soil for the purpose of improving crops......
makes sense.
If the goal is preventing carbon emission to the atmosphere, that is
silly!
CO2 has no effect on cooling or warming as global as can be, nor does it contribute to the greenhouse effect.
If it did (hypothetically), there is nothing men could do to change it.
So much time and energy wasted by naive and gullible people chasing
rainbows.
John Vivier,AIA Architect.
Former Environmental Engineer.
Signatory to the Petition Project.
www.petitionproject.org
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