http://composing.org/hu2506summer HU2506 | Summer 2008 | Science & The Public Sphere: The Example of Biochar | Terra Preta Nova Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:22:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "The regenerative qualities identified in prehistoric, anthropogenic Amazonian dark earths suggest that notoriously infertile tropical soils can be greatly improved. Soil enhancement practices by ancient Amerindians allowed them to intensively cultivate the land, without needing to continually clear new fields from forest. As increasing populations place ever greater pressure on ... http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/10/03/biochar-mtu-2/ Contextualizing 880% The number that tends to attract attention, inspire both optimism and skepticism, and send us all to our libraries, labs, and greenhouses is the preliminary data provided by Christoph Steiner: That research is reported in Amazonian Dark Earths: Explorations in Space and Time (2004; p. 191) and more recently, in Slash ... http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/10/03/october-2008-update/ A group of MTU students is currently exploring the feasibility of establishing the Biochar @ MTU Project as an Enterprise team or affiliating it with existing campus projects and initiatives. The impetus and commitment remain that the project is a reciprocal project with the local community, with shared access to ... http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/09/20/september-2008-update/ Today's Chronicle of Higher Education article "Campus Planners Discuss Challenges in Attaining Sustainability" poses a series of questions, including, "do colleges have a role or even an obligation to try out unusual energy technologies and track their performance?" http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/09/20/yes/ James E. Hansen, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and colleagues mention biochar in a report, "Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?": Carbon sequestration in soil also has significant potential. Biochar, produced in pyrolysis of residues from crops, forestry, and animal wastes, can be used to restore soil fertility while ... http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/09/13/target-atmospheric-co2-where-should-humanity-aim/ The September 2008 issue of National Geographic has an article on soil that contains an extended discussion of biochar -- beginning on page 7 [of 9]: Sombroek had wondered if modern farmers might create their own terra preta—terra preta nova, as he dubbed it. Much as the green revolution dramatically improved ... http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/09/06/national-geographic-our-good-earth-the-future-rests-on-the-soil-beneath-our-feet/ We've lost some of our site images, but here are representative images of our process in creating biochar via pyrolysis--a form of incineration that chemically decomposes organic materials by heat in the absence of oxygen. The process is attracting the attention of community members, soil scientists, organic gardeners, and environmental engineers, ... http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/08/24/creating-biochar-session-images/ http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/08/13/biochar-project-presentation-to-the-community/ From the Boston Globe: "Researchers trying to replicate the fertility of terra preta have concluded that its secret is in the charcoal. Work by soil scientists like Laird, Johannes Lehmann of Cornell, and Mingxin Guo of Delaware State University suggests that the benefits of supplementing soil with charcoal - which they ... http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/08/11/the-future-of-dirt-better-soil-could-accomplish-some-surprising-things-researchers-find-but-improving-it-is-no-small-task/    In addition to the garden and small-farm applications we've been considering for biochar, one of the scientific appeals of biochar is its potential to help mitigate global warming by sequestering carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. A new book -- Slash and Char as Alternative to Slash ... http://composing.org/hu2506summer/2008/08/07/biochar-mitigating-climate-change/