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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Don Bowen KI6DIU <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Earth charity
  • Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:54:16 -0800

At 1/31/2008, you wrote:
The best I can deduce is that dead
plant roots contain a lot of carbon and as long as they stay under the
ground, then that carbon stays out of the atmosphere.

As long as the carbon stays below the level of oxygen in the soil. Microbes eat the carbon and emit CO2. There is a balance between CO2 production by decay and carbon production by plant growth. That balance has been working for several billion years. Some of the excess carbon trapped in layers where there is no oxygen have been turned into well known substances such as peat, coal, diamonds, natural gas, oil, etc. Over the last 150 years or so we have been returning much of that trapped carbon back into the atmosphere with ever increasing disastrous results.

For an excellent book on the mechanisms or soil, see the soil science book sold by Acres USA. The title completely escapes me and my copy is where everything else is, in storage. There is a lot of misinformation out there pushed by people with an agenda and many more people willing to accept that information because it is an easy way out.

Don Bowen Awl Knotted Up KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com




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