Delivering biochar's triple win

Last year, there seemed to be an unwritten rule in enviro-circles: whenever two or more enviro-folks were gathered together in a place of meeting, talk must turn to biochar.

Accounts would be exchanged of articles half-read and half-digested...the pros would be arrayed against the cons...the words "local" and "sustainable" would be flagged up early and often. A common reaction was "Good idea, but...". The notion of biochar takes us back to ancient human civilisations in South America.

The ground remaining when rainforest is cleared isn't very fertile, despite the luxuriant herbage of the forests themselves. So about 2,500 years ago, people developed what Portuguese settlers later termed terra preta - black earth - created by ploughing carbon into the soil in the form of charcoal. With ever more hungry mouths on the planet, with soils degrading in many places and with climate change threatening to reduce yields in coming decades, there's renewed interest in the ancient technology, which has been championed by James Lovelock of Gaia fame among others.
Read More http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/richardblack/2010/08/last_year_you_could_hardly.html

Comments (2)

Putraparis

25 May 2012 at 06:42 | #

I received my Enviro sowehr filter a few days ago. Interesting to see so many glowing reviews here about this product. I wonder how many have actually tested it.I did. I used a Hach colorimeter to accomplish this.I first tested my unfiltered sink water and got 1.02 mg/l of total chlorine. Then I tested my 3-stage undersink filter water and got .01 mg/l of total chlorine. I finally tested the sowehr water with the Enviro filter installed and got .55 mg/l on the colorimeter. The test was done on the third day of use of the filter, and the sample was taken at room temperature after letting the sowehr run for a few minutes.This filter does appear to remove about half the chlorine (1.02 to .55 mg/l in my test), but I still have it's package which clearly states ..a year of natural CHLORINE-FREE sowehr water on the front.That is clearly not correct!! I intend to contact them about this.I've tested other sowehr filters and they all mislead..not one removes 100% of chlorine, and some none. For me, it seems the only solution would be a good whole house filter.Needless to say, no, I am still not getting that april fresh, clear mountain spring' feeling stepping out of the sowehr.jl{amazon:3}

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Madhuri

24 May 2012 at 08:51 | #

Shoot, who would have thgouht that it was that easy?

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