Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Terraforming - 1 - agricultural lands

I began this blog to open discussion on the need to progressively terraform the earth. And core to that proposition is the modification of global agricultural practice to achieve that end. It is easy to establish the objective of sequestering CO2 when the linkage to global warming is in your face, valid or not. For the first time in human history a long term weather prediction seems to be holding up.

We have discovered now useful corn carbonization in particular is going to be for pure carbon sequestration. What is just as important, this form of sequestration will also support and restore long term fertility to the soils. I do not know if this will be the whole story, but it certainly switches agriculture from an extractor of nutrients and carbon through clearing practices into a force for nutrient and carbon sequestration.

The next zone of improvement that needs implemention is the true application of agricultural protocols to woodlands in general. It has always been a long cycle economic problem that society has chosen to ignore. It seemed easier to let nature take its course regardless of the degradation visited on the land by the owners. We have spoke earlier of the need to create a long term partnership with local agencies and landowners that is mandated by legislation and funded on a very long term basis to create mutual wealth. It takes political will, yet is likely the best economic solution for all stakeholders and we can expect that the carbon content will be optimized inside of 1oo years.

Fundamentally all the lands under direct human agricultural use where sufficient moisture is available can be brought under these two specific protocols with a major improvement in fertility and carbon uptake. And they should be.


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