Terra Preta - The parent thread which started it all

[maikeru]

How big a potential problem is this?

 

How about 1,000 Gigatons of carbon? (500 Gt from Siberia + 500 Gt from other areas around the world)

 

http://www.livescience.com/environment/060615_permafrost_carbon.html

 

I say let's terra preta that extra carbon and put it to work in better ways than cooking us.

 

Update on terra preta herb garden: the weather's gotten colder here, and my plants are growing more sluggishly--but they're not going dormant like the trees and garden outside. I harvested all my sweet & lemon basil, because they didn't like the cold nights (it's been 40 F in that side room), although I still have purple (opal) basil still growing. Most of the plants are healthy, except for my garlic plants, which have developed a strange black-spot fungal infection. I have a suspicion that it came with the store-bought garlic cloves.

 

In the near future (maybe a month or two), I'll try terra preta novo with some bushes and small trees, such as berries, coffee, and tea. (Ah, my little vices... I found a site that sells the seeds for these. This terra preta experiment has turned me into an indoor gardener.) Also, as I mentioned in an earlier post about the addition of fertilizer, I have to agree with Danny Day that terra preta, when freshly produced, does need some fertilizer to jumpstart it:

 

http://www.eprida.com/hydro/yahoo2004.htm

 

He mentions soaking the wood charcoal in fertilizer for a few days. I've done it later by a few additions of MiracleGro and now I don't fertilize much anymore, whether with organic or inorganic. There seem to be sizable numbers of different kinds and colors of fungi living in the soil as well as films of blue-green algae. These I don't mind. I hope they're doing their part to make the soil all it can be.

 

I'll have to see how the soil does a year or two from now.

[erich]

Wow........I had missed that on Dr. Days site.............My efforts to say the same things in my postings realy fall short compared to this:

 

" a global Manhattan project of

climate change.

 

 

What can you do? Read up on terra preta (some of the published works

made a part of the above patent application), look at references in

the Eprida website or convince yourself by testing. Grow your favorite

plant in two pots, one with 1/3 wood charcoal (soak this in fertilizer

for several days), 1/3 sand and 1/3 available soil. Plant the other

with your normal method for potting plants. Fertilize and watch them

grow. Watch it for three seasons and note the differences. (Many have

noted their best results in the second year as microbial populations

increase) Alternately, use a microbe/fungi inoculation to speed the

response.

 

Then tell everyone you know.Even if we can't stop avoid the climate

shift we will begun to build an awareness of a solution. If we broaden

the understanding that we can produce carbon negative fuels, scrub

fossil fuel exhaust of pollutants and C02, reverse the effect of

mining our soil, depleting soil carbon, trace minerals and losing

agricultural productivity then we will effect many generations to

come. In our lifetime, a 2000-year-old secret is being reborn and its

timeliness could never have been more appropriate. It now up to this

generation to embrace a plan to work with nature to restore lost soil

carbon and rebuild the incredible life at work in our soils. Working

together, we can achieve the possible."

 

Great find maikeru

 

OT: The other big Methane tippers are the frozen hydrites under the continental shelves

[Michaelangelica]

 

Update on terra preta herb garden: the weather's gotten colder here, and my plants are growing more sluggishly--but they're not going dormant like the trees and garden outside. I harvested all my sweet & lemon basil, because they didn't like the cold nights (coffee, and tea.l

 

I'll have to see how the soil does a year or two from now.

Today was Basil Day. Tried to buy Thai basil (my daughter's favourite) but ended up with a punnet of sweet basil. As my soil in sunny spots is RS (Ph 9) i managed 18 pots of basil big 6-8" pots. The secret recipe potting mix was

One handful chicken manure

One handful horse manure (Very fine and composted mainly sawdust)

One handful seaweed

One handful 'Kitty Litter' ( Attapugite The nearest I can get to clay)

Two handfuls of BBQ charcoal pounded up. (Some not so fine I think it helps drainage)

 

Then "El cheapo Potting Mix"' ($2-3 a bag) on the top to plant the basil seedlings in.

 

I planted the basil about an 1" lower than they were planted in the punnet.

This helps them stay upright;

making sure they did not touch the raw chook/horse fertiliser/manure

Then a dusting of more fine charcoal

(A nurseryman's secret -you can always cover/plant square steamed plants as much/deep as you like).

In a week or so i will give them a dose of "Miracle grow"

Maybe some Osmocote later if they are good/well-behaved plants.

 

I am hoping my Lemon Basil will self seed from last year. Although it did go to seed very quickly. I am looking out for LIME BASIL delicious!

 

I thought as I was doing all this that it does not matter if Terra preta gardening works or not.

Like religion, faith and belief is all that matters. Everything else follows from that.

This afternoon I sequestered 3.5 K of carbon. This has to be a good thing regardless of the results?

 

...

PS

Coffee grows well indoors but you won't get berries unless you put it in a hot spot outside.

It is a very attractive plant

[maikeru]

double posting. Could someone delete this for me?

[maikeru]

Today was Basil Day. Tried to buy Thai basil (my daughter's favourite) but ended up with a punnet of sweet basil. As my soil in sunny spots is RS (Ph 9) i managed 18 pots of basil big 6-8" pots. The secret recipe potting mix was

One handful chicken manure

One handful horse manure (Very fine and composted mainly sawdust)

One handful seaweed

One handful 'Kitty Litter' ( Attapugite The nearest I can get to clay)

Two handfuls of BBQ charcoal pounded up. (Some not so fine I think it helps drainage)

 

Then "El cheapo Potting Mix"' ($2-3 a bag) on the top to plant the basil seedlings in.

 

I planted the basil about an 1" lower than they were planted in the punnet.

This helps them stay upright;

making sure they did not touch the raw chook/horse fertiliser/manure

Then a dusting of more fine charcoal

(A nurseryman's secret -you can always cover/plant square steamed plants as much/deep as you like).

In a week or so i will give them a dose of "Miracle grow"

Maybe some Osmocote later if they are good/well-behaved plants.

 

I am hoping my Lemon Basil will self seed from last year. Although it did go to seed very quickly. I am looking out for LIME BASIL delicious!

 

Sounds like a good terra preta mix and it should have a healthy microbial community ready to go. The seaweed will also give the soil and plants the trace elements they need. I could've put in some manure, but I skipped it in my recipe because it was primarily indoors. I've read about lime basil but don't have any... Maybe I'll make a grand order of many new herbs to add to the garden.

 

I thought as I was doing all this that it does not matter if Terra preta gardening works or not.

Like religion, faith and belief is all that matters. Everything else follows from that.

This afternoon I sequestered 3.5 K of carbon. This has to be a good thing regardless of the results?

 

Well, I would hope it works. :shrug: BTW, I have been watching some oregano cuttings I put into the terra preta mix, and they are doing well. Mmm, oregano...

 

PS

Coffee grows well indoors but you won't get berries unless you put it in a hot spot outside.

It is a very attractive plant

 

In the side room, it gets to be about 30 C or more during the summer (lots of windows and no heating or cooling in there), which is one of the reasons I chose it for growing the indoor garden. The plants loved the heat as long as they were well-watered. I'm sure the coffee won't mind. I just need it to survive the winter in that room. :hihi: We have terribly hot summers (40 C usually during July and August) and cold winters (-5 to 0 C) in my part of Utah.

 

OT: The other big Methane tippers are the frozen hydrites under the continental shelves

 

Forgot about those. :hihi:

[erich]

A letter to Nature:

 

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7108/full/443144b.html

 

Correspondence

Nature 443, 144 (14 September 2006) | doi:10.1038/443144b; Published online 13 September 2006

 

Biochar trials aim to enrich soil for smallholders

William I. Woods1, Newton P. S. Falcão2 and Wenceslau G. Teixeira3

 

Department of Geography, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA

INPA/CPCA/Solos e Nutrição de Plantas, Av. André Araujo, Noo 3936, Bairro Petrópolis, CEP. 69011-970, Caixa Postal 478, Manaus - AM, Brazil

Embrapa Amazônia Ocidental, Rod. AM 010 - Km 29, CEP. 69011-970, Manaus - AM, Brazil

 

Sir:

Your recent News Feature "Black is the new green" (Nature 442, 624–626; 200610.1038/442624a) accurately summarized the origin, discussions and goals of the Terra Preta Nova group at the recent World Congress of Soil Science in Philadelphia.

 

However, one might be left with the impression that the biochar initiative is solely directed towards agribusiness applications. From the start, this has certainly not been the case. Indeed, innovative biochar field trials involving a variety of crops are currently being conducted in Amazonia by researchers in Embrapa, the Brazilian agricultural research corporation, and INPA, Brazil's national institute of Amazonian research. These trials are specifically designed for implementation by smallholders, who comprise most of the world's farmers. At the same time, the Brazilian researchers are seeking answers to the questions raised in Philadelphia about the native terra preta of Amazonia, even as US and European researchers are taking the concept in new directions.

[Michaelangelica]

A letter to Nature:

 

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7108/full/443144b.html

 

Correspondence

Nature 443, 144 (14 September 2006) | doi:10.1038/443144b; Published online 13 September 2006

 

Biochar trials aim to enrich soil for smallholders

William I. Woods1, Newton P. S. Falcão2 and Wenceslau G. Teixeira3

 

Department of Geography, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA

INPA/CPCA/Solos e Nutrição de Plantas, Av. André Araujo, Noo 3936, Bairro Petrópolis, CEP. 69011-970, Caixa Postal 478, Manaus - AM, Brazil

Embrapa Amazônia Ocidental, Rod. AM 010 - Km 29, CEP. 69011-970, Manaus - AM, Brazil

 

Sir:

Your recent News Feature "Black is the new green" (Nature 442, 624–626; 200610.1038/442624a) accurately summarized the origin, discussions and goals of the Terra Preta Nova group at the recent World Congress of Soil Science in Philadelphia.

.

Thanks Erich

I can't afford to subscribe to Nature but found this on the next page of the link you gave. (I was recently told by an Australian science discussion group that biofuels from cellulose was impossible.)

Most of our NSW and Tasmanian Old Growth Forests are now sent to Japan by the wood-chip-shipload to make origami (or maybe bio fuel?)

Correspondence

 

Nature 443, 144 (14 September 2006) | doi:10.1038/443144c; Published online 13 September 2006

Biochar and biofuels for a brighter future

 

M. H. B. Hayes1

 

1. Chemical and Environmental Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

 

Sir:

 

Your excellent News Feature "Black is the new green" (Nature 442, 624–626; 200610.1038/442624a) refers to President Bush's announcement that $150 million is to be put into converting cellulosic precursors to ethanol — a very modest amount, considering the plight of petrochemicals.

I would like to mention here some progress already being made in producing biofuels and platform chemicals from cellulose and hemicellulose precursors.

 

Almost quantitative yields of levulinic acid — an excellent platform chemical that gives rise to fuel additives, polymers and plastics, and numerous essential chemicals — are obtained from these precursors in the Biofine process (the work of Stephen Fitzpatrick of Biofine Renewables LLC in Waltham, Massachusetts). A 300-tonne-a-day Biofine plant is nearing final commissioning at Caserta, Italy. Similarly, commercial yields of fermentable levoglucosan from cellulose, and furfural from the pentoses in hemicelluloses, have been obtained in pilot studies using the Convertech process, led by Ken Scott of Scott Convertech in Christchurch, New Zealand.

 

The biomass to fuel such processes will revolutionize agriculture. It will also give rise to sustainable chemical industries, as oil reserves become depleted and oil prices are pushed up by demand, depletion and political dictates.

The biorefinery waste is a char.

This has a calorific value similar to that of bituminous coal, and our studies indicate that it has, like the Terra Preta de Indio chars, the potential to be an excellent soil ameliorant.

And looking at yet another innovation: the future will be bright if we base it on Carboleum, or 'oil from carbohydrate' — the brainchild of Austin Darragh at the University of Limerick — as we say farewell to petroleum.

 

Have I posted this before?

Interesting research study, these are the last two sentences.

See the article for details

http://crops.confex.com/crops/wc2006/techprogram/P16849.HTM

Overall, the use of biochar results in a net decrease in the integrated Global Warming Potential from the studied soils.

The rediscovered use of biochar increases crop and plant yield on very unfertile soils and constitutes a new tool to mitigate climate change.

O yes

I should mention this too; very important

the use of biochar resulted in a net reduction of net annual emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from soils as well

[Michaelangelica]

Funny (?) thing happened today.

Arthur, the aforementioned charcoal-maker, reported me to the NSW police as a potential Terrorist Bomb Maker.

(I haven't made gunpowder since I was 12).

It would be funny if it didn't demonstrate what a pathetic level our society has descended too.

Instead of 'Reds under the bed' I believe the new, politically incorrect, term is

"Tea Towels under the bed".

 

Mc Carthism is alive and well; only now it has Repressive Legislation.

 

If I disappear from the forums for two weeks you will know where I am.

 

I will send Arthur the latest on the Amnesty Free David Hicks Campaign and see what he makes of that!!

[redgreenblue]

Funny (?) thing happened today.

Arthur, the aforementioned charcoal-maker, reported me to the NSW police as a potential Terrorist Bomb Maker.

 

If you're in NSW, you might be able to check out the International Agrichar Initiative 2007 Conference... This is basically a conference for those interested in scaling up terra preta technology...

 

iaiconference.org/home.html

 

From the site:

 

April 29 - May 2, 2007

Terrigal, New South Wales, Australia

 

Join the International Agrichar Initiative for a conference on Agrichar Science, Production and Utilization, being held in coastal New South Wales, Australia. The International Agrichar Initiative is a new consortium of research and development interests devoted to the sustainability of the world’s soils, and to sustainable bioenergy production.

 

What is the International Agrichar Initiative?

 

The International Agrichar Initiative is an informal, newly-formed coalition of research, commercial and policy-oriented people and organizations devoted to the sustainability of the world’s soils, and to sustainable bio-energy production. Agrichar production and utilization can renew the world’s soils through the addition of organic carbon, which can help solve the pressing problem of global climate change. The Agrichar production process also converts agricultural waste into valuable bio-fuels.

 

History of the Agrichar Initiative

 

During the 18th World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS) in July 2006 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a group of scientists, business interests, policy experts and others met to discuss the research priorities and challenges of this important area. The result is the International Agrichar Initiative, a movement to pursue a more organized research, development and commercialization effort to further the promise of Agrichar. For information on the July 2006 meeting in Philadelphia and some current Agrichar-related projects and activities, click here.

 

What is the ‘Agrichar process’?

 

Agricultural feedstocks such as animal manure, rice hulls, peanut shells, corn stover or forest waste are pyrolized at low temperatures to produce a char product (“Agrichar” or “biochar”) and separate bio-energy streams, in the form of oils and/or gases. The biochar captures about 50% of the carbon in the feedstock, and can be used as a soil amendment to improve soil fertility, stability, and productivity, and to store carbon in the soils, as a means of mitigating global warming. The use of Agrichar in soils mimics the Terra Preta (“dark earth”) soils of the Amazon Basin, which have sequestered high quantities of carbon for thousands of years, and have dramatically improved soil fertility and sustainability without chemical inputs. The bio-energy produced, which accounts for the other 50% of feedstock carbon, can be used to fuel a variety of energy needs.

[Michaelangelica]

If you're in NSW, you might be able to check out the International Agrichar Initiative 2007 Conference... This is basically a conference for those interested in scaling up terra preta technology...

Thanks Muchly redgreenblue

I live close and have asked for details of the confrence.

 

Another article.

Most of the same but the penny is starting to drop

ie

The ultimate carbon capture technique

Commonly proposed carbon sequestration strategies face some major hurdles. Technical 'geosequestration' methods consist of pumping large amounts of CO2 deep underground.

But these techniques are still under development, and recent evidence suggests that CO2 leakage forms a major problem and could in fact worsen matters.

 

On the other hand, natural methods that store carbon in living ecosystems may be possible in the short term but require huge swathes of land and are only as stable the ecosystems themselves. These strategies would come down to planting biomass and leaving it untouched.

 

An ideal solution, in particular for tropical countries, would consist of combining the quick fix of biological methods with the absolute potential of technical ones, while deriving energy from doing so. Terra preta may offer exactly the basis for such a strategy, as a recent article in Nature reveals.

http://biopact.com/2006_08_18_archive.html

 

At the same site is some interesting info on growing a giant tropical grass for bio-fuel.

Don't know why sugar cane would not be just as good?

[Michaelangelica]

Some info on the Terra preta confrence about 30mins drive from me.

Dear Michael,

 

Thank you for your enquiry about the upcoming International Agrichar Initiative (IAI) conference to be held at Terrigal, NSW, Australia in 2007.

 

Research groups and industry alike are becoming more interested in pyrolytic chars and as a result more work is being done on the science surrounding this material.

The application of Agrichar is relevant to many different disciplines including; Soil Science, Climate change, Waste Management, BioEnergy (Green/Renewable Energy), Agricultural Sustainability, Anthropology, Materials Science, Cleaner Production, Environmental Science, Environmental Policy and Regional Development. We hope to attract presentations relating to Agrichar from a range of these areas.

 

We would like to encourage you also to support the conference through contributing a presentation, attending, sponsoring or simply by passing on the word to colleagues who may be interested.

 

For more information, please see attached a conference brochure, or visit http://www.iaiconference.org .

 

The conference will not only lead to greater understanding in this area but also allow for the networking necessary to achieve an integrated research approach through collaborations within the multidisciplinary International Agrichar Initiative group. It is hoped that the combined R&D efforts will result in the paradigm shift needed to bring this technology into the mainstream so that the benefits can be achieved on a large scale.

 

 

If you have any questions about the conference or Agrichar in general please feel free to contact me.

Regards,

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Michael[mailto:michaelangelica

Sent: Friday, 10 November 2006 4:39 AM

To: [email protected]

Subject: International Agrichar Initiative 2007 Conference International Agrichar Initiative 2007 Conference

[Michaelangelica]

Another link with nice graphic

http://biooutput.blogspot.com/2006/11/terra-preta-black-is-new-green.html

Carbon sequestration faces some major hurdles. Technical geosequestration methods could pump large amounts of CO2 deep underground but are still under development.

. . .

The difference between terra preta and ordinary soils is immense. A hectare of meter-deep terra preta can contain 250 tonnes of carbon,

. .

Biofuels are touted as 'carbon neutral', but biofuels and biochar together promise to be 'carbon negative'. Danny Day, the founder of a company called Eprida

..

 

Terra preta's full beauty appears in this closed loop. Unlike traditional sequestration rates that follow diminishing marginal returns-aquifers fill up, forests mature-practices based on terra preta see increasing returns. Terra preta doubles or even triples crop yields

More pretty pics here

http://www.eprida.com/eprida_flash.php4

Our Govt is rushing arround like a headless chook on Global Warming now (Discovered it last week)

Just thew 60M to a multi-national who really needs it!!??? To pump CO2 underground A totaly untried technology and potentially disasterous.

 

Meanwhile our farmers are in very bad drought (1 in 1,000 year) and adding carbon to the soil could help them hold 17% more water - if it ever rains again

Makes me cross.B)

Canberra invests $60m in carbon storage project

23-November-06 by AAP

 

The federal government will pay $60 million to help develop carbon capture and storage technology in Western Australia that could allow the massive $11 billion Gorgon Gas project to go ahead.

 

Final approvals and decisions are yet to be made on Gorgon, but its operator, Chevron, proposes to inject carbon dioxide, removed from natural gas for export, into rock deep below Barrow Island off WA's Pilbara coast.

 

Carbon dioxide is routinely removed from natural gas during processing and is usually vented into the air.

 

Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said today Canberra would provide $60 million to fund a demonstration project liquefying the carbon dioxide so it could be injected 2.5km underground instead

I wonder how many politicians Chevron has in its pocket?

It only made $4B last year, so it really needs government help!!!!????B)

 

ChevronTexaco , amongst other corporations complicit in human rights abuses:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/business/sharepower/resources.html

http://www.amnestyusa.org/askamnesty/live/display.php?topic=53

 

 

The Gorgon Gas Development (with re-injection of Reservoir CO2) would produce around 3.3 million tonnes of CO2e per year, 8.1 million tonnes without re-injection. To place this in context, Australia’s 2000 Emission was 535.3 million tonnes. Western Australia’s 1995 emission was 49.3 million tonnes

.http://wa.democrats.org.au/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=116

 

Official returns reveal two $4000 donations to the West Australian branch of the Liberal Party from Chevron

http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/blog/archives/001299.html

 

Political Transparency and Accountability Profile (2006)

Chevron Corp.

CUSIP: 2838555

Symbol: CVX

Web Site Policy: http://www.Chevron.com

Background:

Chevron is the fifth-largest integrated energy company in the world. It operates in over 180

countries and is engaged in every aspect of the oil and natural gas industry.

1

It has a carefully

cultivated image as a responsive company.

Political Activity

2

Overview

Chevron is a major political giver. A CPA examination of its political spending in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 election cycles suggests conflicts with the company’s image. Some of its donations ended up at groups that were indicted for violating state campaign finance laws, were criticized for hiding the source of contributions, or gave to candidates with positions that contradicted key policies and practices that enhanced the company’s reputation.

According to available records, Chevron contributed more than $3.6 million in corporate funds

since the 2000 election cycle. However, a review by the CPA suggests that Chevron’s political spending may be significantly understated for several reasons.

One reason is that the figure does not include Chevron payments to trade associations or other tax-exempt organizations that are used for political purposes. Some of the groups have a history of substantial political involvement. Current law does not require disclosure of those payments.

Another reason is that incomplete disclosure or haphazard reporting at the state level makes it near impossible to identify all of Chevron’s political contributions made with corporate money.

Over the past few years, Chevron has contributed to conduits that give political money to various recipients.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:cVKzaGwXVaMJ:www.politicalaccountability.net/files/TAChevronTexaco-06.pdf+chevron+political+donations&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a

[Michaelangelica]

Resilient Form of Plant Carbon Gives New Meaning to Term ‘Older than Dirt’

 

A particularly resilient type of carbon from the first plants to regrow after the last ice age – and that same type of carbon from all the plants since – appears to have been accumulating for 11,000 years in the forests of British Columbia, Canada. It’s as if the carbon, which comes from the waxy material plants generate to protect their foliage from sun and weather, has been going into a bank account where only deposits are being made and virtually no withdrawals.

 

Modelers of the Earth’s carbon cycle, who’ve worked on the assumption that this type of carbon remains in the soils only 1,000 to 10,000 years before microorganisms return it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, will need to revise their thinking if findings reported in the Nov. 24 issue of Science are typical of other northern forests.

 

“Our results about the resilience of this particular kind of carbon suggest that the turnover time of this carbon pool may be 10,000 to 100,000 years,” says Rienk Smittenberg, a research associate with the University of Washington School of Oceanography and lead author of the paper. He did the work while at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research.

http://www.physorg.com/news83516285.html

[rmark]

Had a thought, another potential strong value of using Terra Preta as a soil amendment method is that it will stop the excessive use of fertilisers, and the oveloading of groundwater systems with nutrients. Possible it might reduce or remove the Dead Zones that occur in the seas near the mouths of rivers like the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Plus, it might make the use of biomass sewage treatment plants sensible, they could then harvest the reeds or whatever grass used and harvest it then combust the grass culms and return it to the land to increase fertility and soil quality and structure.

[Michaelangelica]

Had a thought, another potential strong value of using Terra Preta as a soil amendment method is that it will stop the excessive use of fertilisers, and the oveloading of groundwater systems with nutrients.

Over time it seems to reduce the need for as much fertiliser. (Maybe completely?? but we don't want to say that in case it frightens the multinationals- but the Amazon Indians think this- but I am sure they still use some organic waste to "feed" the soil)

I suspect charcoal may help stop the leaching of fertilisers from the soil too; but I don't know.

Possible it might reduce or remove the Dead Zones that occur in the seas near the mouths of rivers like the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico.

Don't know what they are.

 

Plus, it might make the use of biomass sewage treatment plants sensible, they could then harvest the reeds or whatever grass used and harvest it then combust the grass culms and return it to the land to increase fertility and soil quality and structure.

Our attitude to Sewage is very strange. Many have tried to use it here without a lot of success so it is mostly pumped into the ocean.(This is the second-driest continent on Earth)

Recently a country town, almost without drinking water, voted not to re-cycle sewage water. The mind boggles. If they only knew how many millions of bugs, worms,nematodes, fungi, slime-molds and other critters are in the soil that the water travels through to get to the dam!

 

I have just discovered a delightful Australian who-dun-it author Kerry Greenwood. and her wonderful sassy, cute, sexy, smart, very female, detective "Phryne Fisher".

Anyway in one of her books she talks about the Chinese market gardeners collecting the night soil in the Aust. 19C goldfields.

They used it as fertiliser for their vegetables which they then sold back to the people who gave them the free night-soil.

Europeans looked down on them and thought the Chinese were the dumb/inferior ones!

[rmark]

Dead Zones are areas of the coasts where rivers discharge. When loaded with excessive fertiliser and nutrients, algae and bacteria flourish and then die, this deprives the water of oxygen, and then everything that needs oxygen dies. This can happen due to eutrophication caused by people, or naturally in upwelling zones of the ocean such as the Benguela Current of the southwestern coast of Africa. Reduction in fertiliser loading of estuaries and deltas could have thus a dramatic effect on these Dead Zones.

Mark

[Michaelangelica]

Dead Zones are areas of the coasts where rivers discharge. Reduction in fertiliser loading of estuaries and deltas could have thus a dramatic effect on these Dead Zones.

Mark

We don't have big enough rivers for this to happen.

I remember being Gob-Smacked by the size of the Mississippi when I visited New Orleans. I had never see a river that big.

 

Some fertilisers are now being made to mimic natural processes like Osmocote which is released as the soil Temperature rises (when the plants are growing and will need the fertiliser most) and Azulon (Sp?) a German nitrogen fertiliser which breaks down with bacterial action.

Many modern fertilisers are too soluble and end up in water ways.

 

Of course a combination of organics and Terra preta/charcoal would help - you would think

 

I have jut read an interesting article in an excellent Australian Science Magazine Cosmos(OCT /NOV 2006) about inventors looking to nature for inspiration (e.g., Velcro).

A guy by the name of Dean Cameron has made a waste-water treatment system , Biolytix, which is designed to replace sewerage connections by mimicking the ecology of a river bank.

He noticed that if you put a pollutant in a river, two miles down river it had disappeared. People thought this was because the river oxygenated the water due to swirling currents, rapids rocks etc., . But he found that on the river banks a collection of beetles, mites, flies, fungi, protozoa and bacteria. These create what he calls the 'architecture of decomposition'. By replicating this natural system Biolytix reduces water consumption in a home by 50%

.

So if you want to stop pollution at the mouth of your river you need to start looking at the ecology of the river-banks all along the riverside! This is the part of the river that keeps it clean of pollutants. !!