Albert K. Bates

The Biochar Solution (eBook, ePUB)

Carbon Farming and Climate Change

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

How the dirt below our feet can save us from extinction.

Conventional agriculture destroys our soils, pollutes our water and is a major contributor to climate change. What if our agricultural practices could stabilize, or even reverse these trends?

The Biochar Solution explores the dual function of biochar as a carbon-negative energy source and a potent soil-builder. Created by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen, this material has the unique ability to hold carbon back from the atmosphere while simultaneously enhancing soil fertility. Author Albert Bates traces the evolution of this extraordinary substance from the ancient black soils of the Amazon to its reappearance as a modern carbon sequestration strategy.

Combining practical techniques for the production and use of biochar with an overview of the development and future of carbon farming, The Biochar Solution describes how a new agricultural revolution can reduce net greenhouse gas emissions to below zero while increasing world food reserves and creating energy from biomass wastes. Biochar and carbon farming can:

• Reduce fossil fuels inputs into our food system
• Bring new life to desert landscapes
• Filter and purify drinking water
• Help build carbon-negative homes, communities and nations.

Biochar is not without dangers if unregulated, and it is not a panacea, but if it fulfills its promise of taking us back from the brink of irreversible climate change, it may well be the most important discovery in human history.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: New Society Publishers
• Seitenzahl: 208
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Oktober 2010
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781550924596
• Artikelnr.: 38323122

Autorenporträt

Albert Bates was a delegate to the Copenhagen climate conference, trying to point the world back towards a stable atmosphere using soils and trees. His books include Climate in Crisis and The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook. Working with the Global Ecovillage Network he has taught appropriate technology, natural building and permaculture to students from more than sixty nations.

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Dr. Vandana Shiva
Introduction
BOOK I: Losing the Recipe
Chapter 1: The Roots of a Predicament
Chapter 2: Sombroek's Vision
Chapter 3: Conquistadors
Chapter 4: El Dorado
Chapter 5: The Great White Way
Chapter 6: The View from the Bluff
Chapter 7: Confederados
Chapter 8: Hartt's Breakthrough
Chapter 9: City Z
BOOK II: Agriculture and Climate
Chapter 10: Making Sand
Chapter 11: The Moldboard
Chapter 12: Changing the Paradigm
Chapter 13: The Amazon and the Ice Age
Chapter 14: Predicting Climate's Meander
BOOK III: Capturing Carbon
Chapter 15: Carbon Farming
Chapter 16: Understanding Soil
Chapter 17: The Soil Food Web
Chapter 18: The Role of Ruminants
Chapter 19: Compost
Chapter 20: Tea Craft and Designer Biochar
Chapter 21: From Biochar to Terra Preta
Chapter 22: Making Charcoal
Chapter 23: Stove Wars
BOOK IV: Gardening the Earth
Chapter 24: Milpas
Chapter 25: Chinampas
Chapter 26: Trees
Chapter 27: The Power of Youth
Chapter 28: Greening the Desert
Chapter 29: Sahara Forest
Chapter 30: Drey's Challenge
BOOK V: At the Turning Point
Chapter 31: The Biochar Critique
Chapter 32: Carbon Trading
Chapter 33: The International Biochar Initiative
Chapter 34: Permaculture Marines
Chapter 35: Carbon-Negative Communities
Notes
Index
About the Author