Francisco Orellana was right

[Rokcet Scientist]

There was an 'El Dorado' in the Amazon basin! It wasn't a figment of Orellana's imagination. And there were millions of people, indians, living there, in an agricultural society, with hundreds of villages, towns, and cities, for at least one-and-a-half millennium. People who all perished within decades of Orellana's trip down the Amazon (1541). Of contagious diseases introduced by the Europeans: small pox, measles, influenza, etc. that the indians had no immunity against. And their settlements of course dilapidated fast and were grown over by nature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1eYn76bO4E
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Orellana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado

But how could the notoriously poor Amazon basin soil have sustained millions of people? It can't today. So how did the people of El Dorado do it?

The answer, recently discovered, is "Terra Preta", 'black soil'. The people of El Dorado made fertile soil, terra preta, by mixing the poor, yellow soil with organic waste and charcoal. Once deposited this mix is almost 900% more fertile than the Amazon basin's standard yellow soil! And what's even better: terra preta grows! By itself! If half of a layer of 1 meter of terra preta is removed, there will again be a full meter of terra preta on that spot after letting it 'rest' for 20 years! Terra preta is self-replicating!

This is great news! It means that the useless 'slash and burn' of Amazon tropical rainforest, which permanently destroys it and does not provide useful, fertile soil for more than 1 or 2 years, can be replaced with a 2,000 year old technology that can provide fertile soil for centuries! So that no more rainforest will need to be 'slashed and burned'.

They are now researching exactly what biochemical dynamics cause terra preta's 'behavior' with a view to applying it wholesale. And not just in the Amazon basin, but possibly in all third world countries with poor soil!!!

[kbs2244]

What was old is now new.

"They can't be smarter than us! We are later than them."

[Tiompan]

The charcoal used in "terra prata " is not just any old charcoal it undergoes a different process . I have tried to find it for years
, for the garden , but no luck .There was one link many years ago on usenet and even a tv prog in the UK about it .

George

[Minimalist]

R/S if you haven't read Mann's 1491 you really should. I think you'd enjoy it.

[erich]

Terra Preta (TP) soils and their potential as one of the largest wedges for replacing fossil carbon energy should be a giant boon for Archaeology. The lost practice of a precolumbian culture being a saviour of western industrial society. This work funded by NASA will put some very hard numbers to the exact extent of the Kayapo TP culture.
(How many millions were they??)

NASA’s Space Archaeology; $364K Terra Preta Program
http://archaeologyexcavations.blogspot. ... llite.html


Recent NATURE STUDY;
Sustainable biochar to mitigate global climate change
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v1 ... s1053.html

Not talked about in this otherwise comprehensive study are the climate and whole ecological implications of new , higher value, applications of chars.

First,
the in situ remediation of a vast variety of toxic agents in soils and sediments.
Biochar Sorption of Contaminants;
http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/events/ ... nment.html

Dr. Lima's work; Specialized Characterization Methods for Biochar http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/events/ ... ation.html
And at USDA;
The Ultimate Trash To Treasure: *ARS Research Turns Poultry Waste into Toxin-grabbing Char
http://www.ars.usda.gov/IS/AR/archive/j ... ar0705.htm

Second,
the uses as a feed ration for livestock to reduce GHG emissions and increase disease resistance.

Third,
Recent work by C. Steiner showing a 52% reduction of NH3 loss when char is used as a composting accelerator. This will have profound value added consequences for the commercial composting industry by reduction of their GHG emissions and the sale of compost as a nitrogen fertilizer.


Biochar Soils.....Husbandry of whole new Orders & Kingdoms of life

Biotic Carbon, the carbon transformed by life, should never be combusted, oxidized and destroyed. It deserves more respect, reverence even, and understanding to use it back to the soil where 2/3 of excess atmospheric carbon originally came from.

We all know we are carbon-centered life, we seldom think about the complex web of recycled bio-carbon which is the true center of life. A cradle to cradle, mutually co-evolved biosphere reaching into every crack and crevice on Earth.

It's hard for most to revere microbes and fungus, but from our toes to our gums (onward), their balanced ecology is our health. The greater earth and soils are just as dependent, at much longer time scales. Our farming for over 10,000 years has been responsible for 2/3rds of our excess greenhouse gases. This soil carbon, converted to carbon dioxide, Methane & Nitrous oxide began a slow stable warming that now accelerates with burning of fossil fuel. Agriculture allowed our cultural accent and Agriculture will now prevent our descent.

Wise Land management; Organic farming and afforestation can build back our soil carbon,
Biochar allows the soil food web to build much more recalcitrant organic carbon, ( living biomass & Glomalins) in addition to the carbon in the biochar.

Every 1 ton of Biomass yields 1/3 ton Charcoal for soil Sequestration (= to 1 Ton CO2e) + Bio-Gas & Bio-oil fuels = to 1MWh exported electricity, so is a totally virtuous, carbon negative energy cycle.

Biochar viewed as soil Infrastructure; The old saw;
"Feed the Soil Not the Plants" becomes;
"Feed, Cloth and House the Soil, utilities included !".
Free Carbon Condominiums with carboxyl group fats in the pantry and hydroxyl alcohol in the mini bar.
Build it and the Wee-Beasties will come.
Microbes like to sit down when they eat.
By setting this table we expand husbandry to whole new orders & Kingdoms of life.
( These oxidised surface charges; carbonyl. hydroxyl, carboxylic acids, and lactones or quinones, have as well a role as signaling substances towards bacteria, fungi and plants.)

This is what I try to get across to Farmers, as to how I feel about the act of returning carbon to the soil. An act of penitence and thankfulness for the civilization we have created. Farmers are the Soil Sink Bankers, once carbon has a price, they will be laughing all the way to it.
Unlike CCS which only reduces emissions, biochar systems draw down CO2 every energy cycle, closing a circle back to support the soil food web. The photosynthetic "capture" collectors are up and running, the "storage" sink is in operation just under our feet. Pyrolysis conversion plants are the only infrastructure we need to build out.

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, see below ) 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/j ... /38/6/2295


The Ag Soil Carbon standard is in final review by the AMS branch at USDA. Both Congressional Ag Committees have asked for expansion of Soil Carbon Standard to ISO status.
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/20 ... 131436.htm


Global Clean Stove Initutive:
Another significant aspect of low cost Biomass cook stoves, that produce char, is removal of BC aerosols and no respiratory disease emissions. At Scale, replacing "Three Stone" stoves the health benefits would equal eradication of Malaria & Aids combined.
The Biochar Fund :
Exceptional results from biochar experiment in Cameroon
The broad smiles of 1500 subsistence farmers say it all ( that, and the size of the Biochar corn root balls )
http://biocharfund.org/index.php?option ... &Itemid=75

State Dept. Release;
100 million clean-burning stoves in kitchens around the world.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2010/09/147494.htm

WorldStoves in Haiti ; http://www.charcoalproject.org/2010/05/ ... a-mission/

NSF Awards $1.6 million in grants;
BREAD: Biochar Inoculants for Enabling Smallholder Agriculture
http://iapnews.wordpress.com/2010/09/03 ... ch-grants/


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.

Thanks for your efforts.
Erich

Erich J. Knight
Chairman; Markets and Business Review Committee
2010 US BiocharConference, at Iowa State University, June 27-30
http://www.biorenew.iastate.edu/events/ ... rview.html

[kbs2244]

Wow!
Politics aside, that is a great post.
There is a lot of tech stuff to digest.
Thanks.
And welcome aboard.

[E.P. Grondine]

Very good news indeed.

We can add this to the benefits of documenting impacts to establish the impact rate, mapping long term climate trends, tourism, and others that I can not think of now. NASA radar/lidar techniques are playing a larger role in archaeology than many realize.

The depopulation of the Amazon Basin apparently occurred when the mosquito was introduced at European contact. Preciously, most of the Amazon's population had been lost 2,360 BCE in the Rio Cuarto impact.

Dr. Hoopes played an essential role in leading Amazon Basin studies.

[Minimalist]

Yes great first post. Erich. A question though, (and it may have been answered in some of the links) is there a cost estimate to produce a cubic yard ( or whatever measurement ) of terra preta.

[Rokcet Scientist]

is there a cost estimate to produce a cubic yard ( or whatever measurement ) of terra preta.

Do we have a choice?
The cost estimate for not producing Terra Preta on an industrial scale is death and starvation on an industrial scale.

[Minimalist]

Poverty-stricken nations may not see it that way. They may choose to continue slash-and-burn.

(And all the great soil in the universe is not going to help Africa where the Sahara continues to expand. They need water.)

[Rokcet Scientist]

Poverty-stricken nations may not see it that way. They may choose to continue slash-and-burn.

Yep, some adapt inadequately to changing circumstances. And will pay the evolutionary price.

(And all the great soil in the universe is not going to help Africa where the Sahara continues to expand. They need water.)

All the water in the Baikal Sea is not going to do 'm any good if they don't stop slash & burn first: where there is no flora there is no (water retention in the) soil. Only erosion (a.k.a. desertification). Water simply flows away and evaporates. That's why they won't ever have enough water if they don't stop slash & burn first. Slash & burn is causing their problems. In effect these people are creating their own hell.

[hardaker]

This is a fantastic post. I would like to add that straw bale gardens (+ some liquid manure, yum yum) are a wonderful alternative. Mobile raised gardens you can put on parking lots, empty lots, deserts, and in a couple seasons, you have great compost. Had great tomatoes this year.

[erich]

The Best Biochar book;
Albert Bates just released his new book, "The Biochar Solution", I can not say enough about it, a page turning thriller ,
The missing pieces of Anthropogenic Climate Change fall into perfect order.
Albert puts you in the canoes, fearing the next woman warrior attack or wondrous visions of cornucopic plenty.
Cutting edge Satellite research
Big, medium & small scale, here there and everywhere across the globe.
The Mantria Story; Inside out and Outside In.
Want more?, it is There, I’ve just tipped this Iceberg.
The foreword is by Vandana Shiva !
Editorial contributions from Elain Engham ( Mother of the soil food web school of soil science )

http://www.biocharsolution.com/2010/10/ ... -solution/


The Biochar Solution is available for free download at ;
http://www.thefarm.org/unity/TBSprereleaseSM.pdf

[Tiompan]

Thanks Erich , ever come across remineralistion ?

George

[Minimalist]

More.

http://www.archnews.co.uk/world-archaeo ... mazon.html

he pre-Columbian Indian societies that once lived in the Amazon rainforests may have been much larger and more advanced than researchers previously realized. Together with Brazilian colleagues, archaeologists from the University of Gothenburg have found the remains of approximately 90 settlements in an area South of the city of Santarém, in the Brazilian part of the Amazon.