Biochar, done to minimize any release of GHG gasses, requires an oven, so it is a techno-fix. And it requires tilling the soil, but only once. As I understand it, there is much need for more R&D, but the potential for this seems worthy. However, growing crops just to burn them is a market-driven scheme and will have a net deficit to our world. Biochar, if done small-scale for local use, and using only agricultural waste, could play a small role in sequestering carbon, but I doubt it would ever amount to even one wedge. If you get behind this, here is a starting point for donating.
International
Insist that there be language in the treaty to be signed this December at the international climate meeting in Denmark that:
• Agrees to a goal of stopping the CO2 level before it hits 400 ppm, then reducing GHG emissions to a CO2 equivalent of 350 ppm by 2080. Emphasize that this agreement cannot be diluted with “market” solutions.
• Requires nations to research and develop small-scale biochar for local use instead of carbon capture and storage technology.
In Your Country
Pressure your elected officials to adopt:
• The aforementioned biochar research and development plan. In the US Farm Bills of 2007 & 2008, Biochar research received funding. That is a start.
Lifestyle Changes that Affect this Wedge
• Talk to people about this, get them on board and vocal!
Long-term Solutions to Accelerated Global Warming
At right, below "What is a Wedge?," are links to three proposed solutions to our climate emergency, the top being my low-tech and conservation-oriented plan, the next being a tech-heavy plan of a prominent scientist/politician, and the third being the inept Obama Energy Plan. If technology-dependent plans are adopted, by the time it becomes painfully obvious that they won't work, that will be too late. I feel that solutions relying heavily on technology will allow our excessively consumptive ways to carry on, and therefore are doomed to failure because we cannot continue forever on a path of endless growth on a finite planet. Most of the posts on this site explain my ideas in further detail. I think the best solution is right here: Relocalization, not Militarization.
For New Visitors to this Blog
As this is a blog that displays posts reverse-chronologically, if you are interested in starting with my first post, see the Blog Archive at right and start with Climate Change Basics. If you wish to make a comment that disagrees with the causes, or trivializes the severity, of accelerated global warming, then this is not the cyber site for you. Such comments will not be posted. To post your actions, click here.
For New Visitors to this Blog
As this is a blog that displays posts reverse-chronologically, if you are interested in starting with my first post, see the Blog Archive at right and start with Climate Change Basics. If you wish to make a comment that disagrees with the causes, or trivializes the severity, of accelerated global warming, then this is not the cyber site for you. Such comments will not be posted. To post your actions, click here.
11 February 2009
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