permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Global Warming as 21st Century Religion
Date:   Thu, 27 Jun 2013 13:40:31 -0500
From:   David Yarrow <dyarrow5@gmail.com>

john hamaker was one of the first to sketch this complex carbon cycle
that interlinks soil and climate.  john didn't get it all right, but he
began to piece together huge chunks of the planetary biosphere.  we now
much better understand that ice ages, climate, minerals, microbes, soil,
water, weather, temperature, and wind are all an inter-related,
interactive, unitary system -- a huge thermodynamic engine -- largely
driven by the carbon cycle, which is, after all, a heat pump, turning
short wave light into lower frequency infrared heat.


two pivotal pieces of the planetary puzzle john didn't comprehend was:
1)  effects is melting polar & glacial ice caps to shut down the global
refrigeration cycle, and 2)  effects of water as a heat sink, thermal
flywheel and circulation system.

but the key thing john sketched out nicely is how soil microbes and
trace minerals are linked to global climate and biosphere balance.  i
put the case more bluntly than john: it was microbes in sea and soil who
-- by their collective breathing out -- first created the earth's first
atmosphere, and have sustained that relatively stable atmosphere for
millions of millennia so that larger, more complex life forms could
evolve and appear in the planet.  it is these least of all life forms
that generated and still sustain the fundamental features of the
planet's atmosphere.

we know today microbes in the sea are not doing well.  among the vivid
warning signs of the collapse of marine microbial communities are red
tides in estuaries, dead zones on continental shelfs, bleaching coral
colonies.

but does anyone read reports about the ongoing sterilization and
destruction of the microbial life in soils?  is there ever any news
about how the living soil food web matrix has become inert dirt --
sterile, lifeless, low carbon?  and thence becoming chocolate streams
and rivers carrying that dead debris as silt to the sea?

ecosystems in sea and soil are in collapse.
we are now entering a state of planetary emergency.
this is a fact of life more certain than jim hansen's computer 
simulations, or the koch brothers' coal trains.

i certainly hope BD people wake up and recognize the peril our planet is 
falling into.
BD has a key insight that is needed to turn this crisis around:
how to work with the land as a living organism,
and how to support soil as a living community of invisible life forms.
soil is alive.
and may save our human asses.
and our grandchildren's lives.

because it will take at least two generations
to restore fundamental equilibrium to the global thermal engine.
at least two generations of serious commitment and steady effort.
so far, humans haven't stopped the disrupting, much less restoring,
fundamental planetary balances like the carbon cycle.

remember: carbon is not the problem.
we are the problem.
human beings blindly create our local & global troubles.
we have to change
how we inhabit the earth.
it's not just a new technology or fertilizer,
it's a lifestyle and state of mind.

rudolf steiner used both sides of his mind:
scientist and mystic,
reason and intuition.

david

> Just look back at John Hammaker's thesis from the late 1970s/early
> 80s:  exponential CO2 increases leads to global warming which sets off
> a chain reaction leading to global cooling; inter-linked with cycles
> of inter-glacial periods.
>
> The bottomline behind Hammaker's emphasis on rock dusts was
> replenishment of soil fertility and the immense (rock "dust") surface
> area effect on soil microbiology (which proliferate to inhabit all
> surfaces by laws of nature) impacting soil bio-fertility impacting
> reforestation and re-vegetation to offset CO2.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Global Warming as 21st Century Religion
Date:   Thu, 27 Jun 2013 21:42:30 -0500
From:   David Yarrow <dyarrow5@gmail.com>

> Do you mean that atmospheric CO2 can change sunlight into infrared heat?

short, simple answer is it's the carbon.
every atoms absorbs and releases energy in certain wavebands.
in the range of visible light, this is that element's unique "spectral
signature." carbon is black because it absorbs almost everything and 
radiates nothing, except a few spectral invisible bands, one of which is 
infrared.

when you look in a biochar burn barrel at night, and see that cherry red 
glow of a charcoal fire, you are sensing this low frequency, infrared 
radiance of carbon in an excited state.

simply stated, carbon absorbs visible light, radiates invisible heat.

carbon burns hottest, and thus burns last in a pile of assorted
elements.  thus, a carbon arc is so hot and bright, it is used on
lighting and welding.  and stave a fire for oxygen, it will burn almost
everything except carbon and heavy minerals.

this principle of action applies to other facets of carbon's character.
thus, charcoal has a high ionic attraction to act as a filter for
water by grabbing & holding ions and electrons out of solution.

another principle poorly understand, studied and factored into
scientific equations is the energy of organization.  carbon atoms have a 
certain characteristic energy, but carbon atoms in biological systems is 
carefully structured into complex architectural forms.  this energy of 
organization is what i allude to by the phrase "let freedom ring!"  a 
ring of carbon such as sugar captures added quantities (quantum) and
frequencies (waves) of energy.

thermodynamics, with its idea of entrophy, is based on studying "free
energy" such as wandering electrons or cosmic microwaves.  but in
organic, biological systems, carbon and other elements create complex
atomic, electronic, geometric, macro-molecular, cellular, and
inter-cellular layers of structure.  this energy of structure is not
"free", but "bound" and "bounded" into excited, reacted states.  it's
like the difference between dropping a ball of the world trade center
versus firing a ball up to the top with a cannon or missile.  free fall
versus impelled motion.

anyway, in elemental system structures like biological organisms, carbon 
creates structure.  its 4-arm, tetrahedral bonding geometry makes it the 
seed of structure and symmetry in biological life forms.  but also in 
physical elements, such as the bit of carbon added to iron to transform 
it in sharp steel.

the esoteric, gnostic answer is that even each element has a soul -- a
unique essence of spirit, nature and character.  carbon and oxygen are
associated with fire.  be careful with them when performing geotherapy
on an abused, off-balance planetary ecosystem.

david yarrow


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Global Warming as 21st Century Religion
Date:   Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:42:39 -0500
From:   David Yarrow <dyarrow5@gmail.com>

> This is excellent thinking and writing and could stimulate important
> discussion, without the anthropogenic global warming detractors you
> usually find.

yes, well, i've tracked that CO2 curve since 1976.  the apollo 13
message "houston, we have a problem" is an appropriate sound bite for
our era, noting that houston is also the oil city in texas, headquarters 
of hydrocarbon industry.  in one of only two states with an "X" in its 
name.  a 4-arm cross is not only for crucifixion, but also an obstacle 
blocking our path.

on feb. 1, 1990, i recognized oceans were in thermal overload, and the
planet was upshifting into extreme mode to sustain stability.  climate
change would be the #1 issue of the 21st century.  self-enclosed systems 
begin to oscillate, and go into "ringing" states of resonance when 
overloaded with energy.  like the jet stream writhing and whipping up 
and down in the upper atmosphere -- sometimes even wrapping around itself.

while i am not prone to debates or proselytizing, i enjoy a good,
illuminating discussion about our current planetary situation and
opportunities for effective action.  we need to use ALL of our
intelligence to understand and act in this current crisis of stability
and survival.

my 31 statement on all this physical, political & spiritual turmoil is
embodied in the statement:
"Let Freedom Ring!"
however, my writing to illuminate this multi-layer metaphor is still in
its infancy:
www.dyarrow.org/LetFreedomRing <http://www.dyarrow.org/LetFreedomRing>

creating new photo webpages of the test plots:
www.dyarrow.org/KAW/Hoyland/TestPlot.htm
<http://www.dyarrow.org/KAW/Hoyland/TestPlot.htm>

david yarrow