Terra Preta Soils to Save the Biosphere
Last post 11-10-2007, 12:15 AM by thinman666. 9 replies.
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Hi All: I thought, I first read about these soils in " Botany of Desire " or "Guns,Germs,&Steel" but I could not find reference to them. I finely found the reference in "1491", but I did not realize their potential . Also, Terra Preta was on the Agenda at this years world Soil Science Conference ! I've sent this thread to the researchers at M-Roots, who make Mycorisal fungus inoculations for acceleration of the reestablishment of the symbiotic fungal / root relationship. Here's the M-Roots site: http://www.rootsinc.com/I also sent it to Dr. Jared Diamond, if he replies, I will probably have an orgasm! I am a landscape design/builder, with other interest in Bio-fuels. I found this work a few months ago and have been posting it around to science forums, local academics, soil science people, local farmers, and authors of relevant news stories.
Hopefully this reply from the Foundation on Economic Trends, to one of my postings will get some traction. My thought was this new agricultural technology called marker-assisted selection, or MAS offers a sophisticated method to greatly accelerate classical breeding could be the key to the local large scale development of Terra Preta agriculture.
Dear Erich, Mr. Rifkin is out of the office today. I have sent some of your materials to our research team and will look into them further. I will be sure that Mr. Rifkin sees your message and the supporting attachments. Thank you for your message. Kind regards,
Drew ~~~~~ Andrew H. Johnston Chief of Staff Foundation on Economic Trends
From: Shengar@aol.com [mailto:Shengar@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 04, 2006 4:20 PM
To: jrifkin@foet.org; letters@washpost.com
Subject: Terra Preta Soils: A solution to Numerous Problems " Dear Mr. Rifkin: After seeing article on MAS in The Washington Post : I felt you may be interested in this MUCH larger systemic and holistic approach to sustainable agricultural development. MAS could be the key to the local large scale development of Terra Preta agriculture."
If pre Columbian Indians could produce these soils up to 6 feet deep over 20% of the Amazon basin it seems that our energy and agricultural industries could also product them at scale.
Harnessing the work of this vast number of microbes and fungi changes the whole equation of EROEI for food and Bio fuels. I see this as the only sustainable agricultural strategy if we no longer have cheap hydrocarbons for fertilizer. I would like to investigate if use of an M-Roots type fungus inoculants with a local compost, and Hydro-gels, would speed this super community of wee beasties in populating into their proper Soil horizon Carbon Condos. Here is a great article that high lights this pyrolysis process , ( http://www.eprida.com/hydro/ ) which could use existing infrastructure to provide Charcoal sustainable Agriculture , Syn-Fuels, and a variation of this process would also work as well for H2 , Charcoal-Fertilizer, while sequestering CO2 from Coal fired plants to build soils at large scales , be sure to read the See an initial analysis. of this technology to clean up Coal fired power plants.
Soil erosion, energy scarcity, excess greenhouse gas all answered through regenerative carbon management
Erich J. Knight
Erich J. Knight
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Shouldn't this thread be under the "Environment" heading in the forum? I read about terra preta soils on WorldChanging a few weeks ago. The claim is that we adopt this in the right places it can be carbon negative on a large scale. It will act as a sink for greenhouse gasses. Anyway, it sounds like a good farming practice that should be more widely adopted around the world.
I don't know if Jared Diamond (Whom I generally agree with.) or Jeremy Rifkin (Whom I mostly don't.) will really have to time to respond to you.
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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 diliver 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 Erich J. Knight
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I spoke with the author of a Terra Preta (TP) story in Solar Today, Ron Larson , http://www.solartoday.org/2006/nov_d...CornerND06.pdf he said he spoke with a major National Geographic editor, who is preparing a big article on TP. but Doesn't know when it will be out. Also: In E. O. Wilson's "The Future of Life" he opens the book with a letter to Thoreau updating him on our current understanding of the nature of the ecology of the soils at Walden Pond. " These arthropods are the giants of the microcosm (if you will allow me to continue what has turned into a short lecture). Creatures their size are present in dozens-hundreds, if an ant or termite colony is presents. But these are comparatively trivial numbers. If you focus down by a power of ten in size, enough to pick out animals barely visible to the naked eye, the numbers jump to thousands. Nematode and enchytraied pot worms, mites, springtails, pauropods, diplurans, symphylans, and tardigrades seethe in the underground. Scattered out on a white ground cloth, each crawling speck becomes a full-blown animal. Together they are far more striking and divers in appearance than snakes, mice, sparrows, and all the other vertebrates hereabouts combined. Their home is a labyrinth of miniature caves and walls of rotting vegetable debris cross-strung with ten yards of fungal threads. And they are just the surface of the fauna and flora at our feet. Keep going, keep magnifying until the eye penetrates microscopic water films on grains of sand, and there you will find ten billion bacteria in a thimbleful of soil and frass. You will have reached the energy base of the decomposer world as we understand it 150 years after you sojourn in Walden Woods." Certainly there remains much work to just characterize all the estimated 1000 species of microbes found in a pinch of soil, and Wilson concludes at the end of the prolog that "Now it is up to us to summon a more encompassing wisdom." I wonder what the soil biome was REALLY like before the cutting and charcoaling of the virgin east coast forest, my guess is that now we see a severely diminished community, and that only very recent Ag practices like no-till have helped to rebuild it. I found this study in this TP forum : http://forums.hypography.com/earth-s...-preta-26.htmlFirst-ever estimate of total bacteria on earth http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0998/et0998s8.html
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RE: Nature Article — the link given on the previous page,will not allow access without being a subscriber to Nature. I posted it Before Nature started requiring a subscribing membership, here is a link to the original pdf version. The pdf version is still accessible without a membership. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...df/442624a.pdf
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Here is my latest post to Rep. Bob Goodlatte (House Agriculture committee) after speaking to him at his Agriculture Conference in Staunton VA on Monday concerning issues for the up coming Farm bill.
I also got to button hole Bruce Knight,USDA under secretary for marketing and regulation, Arlen Landcaster, Chief of The National Resource & Conservation Service (USDA), and John Bricker, Virginia State Consevationist
Dear Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Bricker and Mr. Goldberg,
Thanks for hearing my concerns about regulations to support validation og Carbon Credits for the Sequestration of Charcoal i the soils at your Ag Conference Monday.
This soil technology could be the perfect Republican environmental plank. A truly conservative position to take on the stewardship of the planet , a real form of "Creation Care".
After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming (AGW) I believe this technology
can manage Carbon for the greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales. It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies.
Below is my review of these efforts in the Academic and private sectors, please forward this to all the experts you know, if you think it merits their time and support.
Sen. Byrd and Sen. Rockefeller of W VA and Rep. Udall had very positive responses to Terra Preta soils technology proposals presented to them.
Thanks for your attention
Erich J. Knight
Shenandoah Gardens
E-mail: shengar at aol.com
(540) 289-9750
Could you please consider looking for a champion for this orphaned Terra Preta Carbon Soil Technology.
The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held by the IPCC that the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal. Below are the first concrete steps in that direction;
Tackling Climate Change in the U.S.
Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Biomass by 2030
by Ralph P. Overend, Ph.D. and Anelia Milbrandt
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
The organization 25x25 (see 25x'25 - Home) released it's (first-ever, 55-page )"Action Plan" ; see http://www.25x25.org/storage/25x25/d...ActionPlan.pdf On page 31, as one of four foci for recommended RD&D, the plan lists: "The development of biochar, animal agriculture residues and other non-fossil fuel based fertilizers, toward the end of integrating energy production with enhanced soil quality and carbon sequestration." and on p 32, recommended as part of an expanded database aspect of infrastructure: "Information on the application of carbon as fertilizer and existing carbon credit trading systems." I feel 25x25 is now the premier US advocacy organization for all forms of renewable energy, but way out in front on biomass topics.
There are 24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his agriculture , I forgot the % that is waste, but when you add all the other cellulose waste which is now dumped to rot or digested or combusted and ultimately returned to the atmosphere as GHG, the balanced number is around 24 Billion tons. So we have plenty of bio-mass.
Even with all the big corporations coming to the GHG negotiation table, like Exxon, Alcoa, .etc, we still need to keep watch as they try to influence how carbon management is legislated in the USA. Carbon must have a fair price, that fair price and the changes in the view of how the soil carbon cycle now can be used as a massive sink verses it now being viewed as a wash, will be of particular value to farmers and a global cool breath of fresh air for us all.
TerraPreta has the potential to solve AGHG emissions WITHOUT having to change basic human behavior. We can keep burning fossil fuels till the cows come home and not worry about Global warming. Using an integrated, local, cellulose to charcoal process , most all GHG from burning Fossil fuels can be cheaply converted to soil food via Ammonia Scrubbing technology; CO2 to Ammonium Bicarbonate, NOx to nitrogen and putting the end product Charcoal in the soil reduces the soil GHG emissions of CH4 & N2O by 30%! http://www.eprida.com/hydro/powerplant.htmMore Coal & Oil...........MORE Soil
It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail list , Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox), Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus), chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day of G. I. T. , Dr. Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks and probably many others who's back round I don't know have joined.
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I thought the current news and links on Terra Preta (TP)soils and closed-loop pyrolysis of Biomass would interest you.
This technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.Terra Preta Soils a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility Too. Thanks, Erich SCIAM Article May 15 07;
After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming (AGW) I believe this technology can manage Carbon for the greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales. It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies. Could you please consider looking for a champion for this orphaned Terra Preta Carbon Soil Technology. The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held by the IPCC that the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal. Below are the first concrete steps in that direction; S.1884 – The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007 A Summary of Biochar Provisions in S.1884: Carbon-Negative Biomass Energy and Soil Quality Initiative for the 2007 Farm Bill http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html (...PLEASE!!..........Contact your Senators & Repps in Support of S.1884........NOW!!...) Tackling Climate Change in the U.S. Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Biomass by 2030by Ralph P. Overend, Ph.D. and Anelia Milbrandt
National Renewable Energy Laboratory The organization 25x25 (see 25x'25 - Home) released it's (first-ever, 55-page )"Action Plan" ; see; http://www.25x25.org/storage/25x25/documents/IP%20Documents/ActionPlanFinalWEB_04-19-07.pdf
On page 29 , as one of four foci for recommended RD&D, the plan lists: "The development of biochar, animal agriculture residues and other non-fossil fuel based fertilizers, toward the end of integrating energy production with enhanced soil quality and carbon sequestration."
and on p 32, recommended as part of an expanded database aspect of infrastructure: "Information on the application of carbon as fertilizer and existing carbon credit trading systems."
I feel 25x25 is now the premier US advocacy organization for all forms of renewable energy, but way out in front on biomass topics.
There are 24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his agriculture and waste stream, all that farm & cellulose waste which is now dumped to rot or digested or combusted and ultimately returned to the atmosphere as GHG should be returned to the Soil.
Even with all the big corporations coming to the GHG negotiation table, like Exxon, Alcoa, .etc, we still need to keep watch as the Democrats/Enviromentalist try to influence how carbon management is legislated in the USA. Carbon must have a fair price, that fair price and the changes in the view of how the soil carbon cycle now can be used as a massive sink verses it now being viewed as a wash, will be of particular value to farmers and a global cool breath of fresh air for us all. It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail list , Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox), Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus), chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day of EPRIDA , Dr. Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks and probably many others who's back round I don't know have joined.
ConocoPhillips Establishes $22.5 Million Pyrolysis Program at Iowa State 04/10/07 Glomalin, the recently discovered soil protien, may be the secret to to TP soils productivity;
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I thought the current news and links on Terra Preta (TP)soils and closed-loop pyrolysis of Biomass would interest you.
This technology represents the most comprehensive, low cost, and productive approach to long term stewardship and sustainability.Terra Preta Soils a process for Carbon Negative Bio fuels, massive Carbon sequestration, 1/3 Lower CH4 & N2O soil emissions, and 3X Fertility Too. Thanks, Erich SCIAM Article May 15 07;
After many years of reviewing solutions to anthropogenic global warming (AGW) I believe this technology can manage Carbon for the greatest collective benefit at the lowest economic price, on vast scales. It just needs to be seen by ethical globally minded companies. Could you please consider looking for a champion for this orphaned Terra Preta Carbon Soil Technology. The main hurtle now is to change the current perspective held by the IPCC that the soil carbon cycle is a wash, to one in which soil can be used as a massive and ubiquitous Carbon sink via Charcoal. Below are the first concrete steps in that direction; S.1884 – The Salazar Harvesting Energy Act of 2007 A Summary of Biochar Provisions in S.1884: Carbon-Negative Biomass Energy and Soil Quality Initiative for the 2007 Farm Bill http://www.biochar-international.org/newinformationevents/newlegislation.html (...PLEASE!!..........Contact your Senators & Repps in Support of S.1884........NOW!!...) Tackling Climate Change in the U.S. Potential Carbon Emissions Reductions from Biomass by 2030by Ralph P. Overend, Ph.D. and Anelia Milbrandt
National Renewable Energy Laboratory The organization 25x25 (see 25x'25 - Home) released it's (first-ever, 55-page )"Action Plan" ; see; http://www.25x25.org/storage/25x25/documents/IP%20Documents/ActionPlanFinalWEB_04-19-07.pdf
On page 29 , as one of four foci for recommended RD&D, the plan lists: "The development of biochar, animal agriculture residues and other non-fossil fuel based fertilizers, toward the end of integrating energy production with enhanced soil quality and carbon sequestration."
and on p 32, recommended as part of an expanded database aspect of infrastructure: "Information on the application of carbon as fertilizer and existing carbon credit trading systems."
I feel 25x25 is now the premier US advocacy organization for all forms of renewable energy, but way out in front on biomass topics.
There are 24 billion tons of carbon controlled by man in his agriculture and waste stream, all that farm & cellulose waste which is now dumped to rot or digested or combusted and ultimately returned to the atmosphere as GHG should be returned to the Soil.
Even with all the big corporations coming to the GHG negotiation table, like Exxon, Alcoa, .etc, we still need to keep watch as the Democrats/Enviromentalist try to influence how carbon management is legislated in the USA. Carbon must have a fair price, that fair price and the changes in the view of how the soil carbon cycle now can be used as a massive sink verses it now being viewed as a wash, will be of particular value to farmers and a global cool breath of fresh air for us all. It has been immensely gratifying to see all the major players join the mail list , Cornell folks, T. Beer of Kings Ford Charcoal (Clorox), Novozyne the M-Roots guys(fungus), chemical engineers, Dr. Danny Day of EPRIDA , Dr. Antal of U. of H., Virginia Tech folks and probably many others who's back round I don't know have joined.
ConocoPhillips Establishes $22.5 Million Pyrolysis Program at Iowa State 04/10/07 Glomalin, the recently discovered soil protien, may be the secret to to TP soils productivity;
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I'm not convinced that CO2 consumption is responsible for global warming. Hippies.
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