The Biochar Solution

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HOW THE DIRT BELOW OUR FEET CAN SAVE US FROM EXTINCTION This comprehensive and well-informed review of current initiatives and technologies is a tour-de-force. It is hard to imagine a technical subject-compounded of organic chemistry, archaeology, rural economics, climate science, and microbiology-presented with greater drama or clarity. -Peter Bane, publisher, Permaculture Activist Conventional agriculture pollutes our water, is a major contributor to climate change and has degraded soil carbon by as much as 80 percent in most of the world's breadbaskets. Created by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen, biochar has the unique ability to withhold carbon from the atmosphere while simultaneously building soil fertility. Author Albert Bates traces the evolution of this extraordinary substance from the ancient dark earths of the Amazon to current practices. The Biochar Solution combines a detailed analysis of our global climate and food predicament with techniques for the production and use of biochar and practical carbon farming. The reintroduction of this time-tested agricultural practice can help: Bring new life to desert landscapes Filter and purify drinking water Derive efficient energy from biomass waste materials Increase world food reserves while drastically reducing reliance on fossil fuels Bring greenhouse gas emissions to below zero. Stepping back from the brink of irreversible climate change will require deep and lasting social changes and significant industrial emissions reductions. Carbon farming practices could form an important part of a new agricultural paradigm, one that places priority on ecological restoration, protecting biodiversity, healing the atmosphere and oceans, and once again becoming a garden planet. Bates has woven together a highly engaging interdisciplinary answer to climate change ... a lively page-turner that blends clear-headed analysis with nuts-and-bolts advice ... enough danger to wake us up, but enough opportunity to emerge feeling hopeful. - Tracy L. Barnett, journalist and founder/editor of TheEsperanzaProject.org Albert Bates teaches permaculture and appropriate technology and has written several books on energy and the environment including The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook .