PARADIGM SHIFT Before the white man came we

PARADIGM SHIFT “Before the white man came, we never had to weed our gardens. ” 108 -year-old Chuska woman native American, California click to continue

Confronting Our Climate Change Challenge The Biochar Strategy introduction to an emerging technology PARADIGM HOW TO SHIFT Reduce Burning Fossil Fuels Produce Renewable Energy Sequester Carbon negative neutral? X BONUS: Create Sustainable Soil Fertility Reduce Water Pollution BONUS: Grow Nutrient Dense Foods click to continue

Confronting Our Climate Change Challenge Biochar Strategy The Biochar NEW VOCABULARY for the paradigm shift Reduce Burning Fossil Fuels Produce Renewable Pyrolysis Energy negative Sequester Carbon Negative Increase Soil Fertility Full Spectrum Reduce Pollution Soil. Water Food Web Grow Nutrient Dense Foods click to continue

Dr. Arden Anderson Keynote Speaker 3 day training program Organic Beyond Organix™ superior food nutrition How to grow Nutrient Dense food NOFA Conference early December 2008, eastern MA August 8 -12, 2008 20 certified growers for 2009 marketing UMASS Amherst Health Nutrition Bodies Food Soil The Real Food Campaign Dan Kittredge Remineralize the Earth 150 South Street, Northampton, MA 978 -257 -2627 dkittredege@remineralize. org www. remineralize. org Nutrient Dense click to continue

Soil Minerals Carbon State of Emergency Strategy for Survival in a climate of change How do we put fertility in our soils? … to grow food to feed our communities? … when the price of oil is over $100 a barrel? How do we keep fertility in our soils? … long term, sustainable fertility? … not another annual addiction? … all 90 elements in a balanced blend? How do we put Carbon in our soils? … out of Earth’s atmosphere? … to reverse global warming? click to continue

Soil Minerals Carbon Cycle where are the micro-organisms? micro-organisms … that the atmosphere? created Earth’s atmosphere …created in the atmosphere? … in Carbon Cycle? PARADIGM SHIFT In 2007, Australian researchers In the 80 s, the first scientific field tool documented that biochar addedintosoil to evaluate biological activity reduces NO measured conversion ofby O 2 over into 50% CO 2 x emissions NOx of is soil 350 samples times more potent sealed in athan vial CO 2 click to continue

Photosynthesis Soil Minerals photon how plants produce Oxygen is the source of sweetness S Carbon green plants turn sunshine into sugar storing energy in chemical molecules Carbohydrate S 2 S photon e- H+ electron hydrogen proton ion S 1 photon hydrogen proton ion H+ e- electron e- S 3 e S 4 H O O S 0 O O O H H +H water H S 4 Asecond electrons Last, Aphoton third one This of photon hydrogen photon is sunlight ais 5 -step is 4 iscaptured protons is is captured cycle released captured AA fourth photon captured releasing one hydrogen thatas begins create areleasing proton an with electric two water current molecules… releasing anhydrogen electron as an electron and one oxygen molecule used by the cell and a proton isand toreleased make carbohydrate hydrogen proton ion proton hydrogen ion H+ + H oxygen - electron click to continue O O O H

Soil Minerals how plants produce Oxygen is Carbon the source. Fixation of sweetness S Carbon Photosynthesis Small Intestine Heart e- H+ S 1 TREE S Liver Gall Bladder S S S 2 FIRE Five Photosynthesis e- is a Hydrogen fuel cycle: sunlight is the spark H+ water is the fuel Element Law PARADIGM SHIFT e- Spleen Stomach S 3 SOIL of 0 O O H Kidneys Bladder oxygen METAL S O O 4 Lungs Colon H WATER S 0 e- H water O Oriental Philosophy & Medicine H+ H+ click to continue H +H O O H H

Soil Minerals Carbon hotosynthesis Chlorophyll Carbon Fixation Chlorophyll—the green pigment in plants— intercepts sunlight to release hydrogen from water as an electric cascade of electrons and protons. Photosynthesis uses this electric charge to remove CO 2 from the air CO 2 combines with water to create carbohydrates CO 2 + H 2 O = sugar e. Sweetness is only made by plants H+ Photosynthesis is carbon-fixation —one of Earth’s 3 main carbon-fixing paths Plants connect simple sugars into complex sugars Cellulose is complex sugars linked in long spiral chains to form fibers Plants spin and weave cellulose fibers to build their bodies with cellulose threads —microscopic homes for living plant cells click to continue

Soil Minerals Carbon Cycles Carbon At night, without sunlight, plants burn sugar and breathe out up to half of each day’s CO 2. — Respiration Chlorophyll Respiration When a plant dies, carbon fixation stops. — conversion of sunshine, CO 2 & H 2 O into carbohydrates and cellulose stops. The plant body slowly decays into soil Its carbon fiber skeleton returns to the air as CO 2 & H 2 O 20% of the CO 2 plants remove from the air is secreted as sugar by roots into soil. These least of all life feast on this sweet treat. Thus, solar sweetness becomes food for microbes. In return, microbes feed plants water, minerals, enzymes & hormones an underground economy of nutrient exchange: The Soil Food Web click to continue

Soil Minerals Carbon Sinks Some carbon stays in soil as dark, spongy organic matter—humus. Organic farms must have 4˗ 5% soil organic matter Soil is a carbon sink —holding carbon out of the atmosphere. When a forest is cut, no new carbon is fixed. Carbon is quickly digested by microbes and oxidized into CO 2 & H 2 O Without annual additions, organic matter decays in a few years Carbon returns to the air as CO 2 plus H 2 O Conventional organic matter is short-term carbon storage: storage — a few years, maybe two decades When plants are burned, Carbon and minerals oxidize into CO 2, H 2 O & ash Ash is soluble, quickly dissolves in water, and leaches out of soil click to continue

Soil Minerals Carbon Sequestration Pyrolysis — burning with low or nolong-term? oxygen How can we store carbon For centuries? Cellulose burned with minimal oxygen — smoldered For millennia? — reduces organic matter to char instead of oxidation to this? ash. How does nature do Charcoal is left in the burner — Biochar Pyrolysis This reduced carbon isn’t easily broken down by chemistry or digested by microbes and thus remains in the soil Carbon is removed from the air stored safely for centuries & millennia — a long-term carbon sink — sequestered Scientists estimate soil can store as much carbon as is released yearly burning fossil fuels click to continue

Carbon Negative In the Amazon, replacing slash & burn by slash & char can end rainforest destruction and create sustainable agriculture our question is: Can this work in our “temperate” zone? click to end