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  • From: Jwlehman@aol.com
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] OT carbon & charcoal
  • Date: Sun, 7 Dec 2008 09:45:52 EST

There is a very interesting short report in the Dec. issue of Avant Gardner on the use of charcoal added to soils to absorb carbon dioxide.

In the article are these statements: 

It could be the most important development in agriculture and horticulture of this century. Adding charcoal - charred organic material, not ashes - to soil remarkably improves both its productive capacity and it's ability to trap the greenhouse gases which are the cause of global warming.

A British scientist says that adding biochar to all the world's arable soils could theoretically enable them to hold carbon equivalent to all the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today.

"Biochar" is so promising that an International Biochar Initiative was established in England in September (www.biochar-international.org), and a [US] Senate amendment to the 2008 Farm Bill promotes extensive research on biochar's "value for soil enhancement and carbon sequestration." 
  

Jean English reports in MAINE ORGANIC FARMER AND GARDENER (Box 170, Unity, ME 04988), Sustainable Harvest International has demonstrated that "biochar can be made simply by piling any organic material, setting it on fire and covering it with soil to exclude air."

Due to copyright laws I'll not reprint the entire article here. The Avant Gardner is published by Hort. Data Processors, Bx. 489, New York, NY 10028.

Jerry



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