CNN Biochar can Save the Planet

Biochar - Agrichar - Terra Preta

Presentation of the potential of biochar to improve the fertility of poor soils, and to sequester carbon.

The Secret of El Dorado

In 1542, the Spanish Conquistador, Francisco de Orellana ventured along the Rio Negro, one of the Amazon Basin's great rivers. Hunting a hidden city of gold, his expedition found a network of farms, villages and even huge walled cities. At least that is what he told an eager audience on his return to Spain.

James Lovelock on Biochar: Let the Earth remove CO2 for us

Dr.James Lovelock: "I said in my recent book that perhaps the only tool we had to bring carbon dioxide back to pre-industrial levels was to let the Biosphere pump it from the air for us. It currently removes 550bn tons a year, about 18 times more than we emit, but 99.9% of the carbon captured this way goes back to the air as CO2 when things are eaten. What we have to do is turn a portion of all the waste of agriculture into charcoal and bury it.

Consider grain like wheat or rice; most of the plant mass is in the stems, stalks and roots and we only eat the seeds. So instead of just ploughing in the stalks or turning them into cardboard, make it into charcoal and bury it or sink it in the ocean. We don't need plantations or crops planted for biochar, what we need is a charcoal maker on every farm so the farmer can turn his waste into carbon. Charcoal making might even work instead of landfill for waste paper and plastic."

Incidentally, in making charcoal this way, there is a by-product of biofuel that the farmer can sell. If we are to make this idea work it is vital that it pays for itself and requires no subsidy. Subsidies almost always breed scams and this is true of most forms of renewable energy now proposed and used. No one would invest in plantations to make charcoal without a subsidy, but if we can show the farmers they can turn their waste to profit they will do it freely and help us and Gaia too.

Source http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/24/biochar-earth-c02