The Biochar Solution

Conventional agriculture threatens its own sustainability by eroding soils, polluting water and altering climate. What if, instead, our agriculture could help stabilize, or even reverse these trends?

The Biochar Solution explores the dual function of biochar as both a carbon negative energy source and a potent soil-builder. Created by burning biomass in the absence of oxygen, this material has the unique ability to hold carbon back from the atmosphere while simultaneously enhancing soil fertility. Author Albert Bates traces the evolution of this extraordinary substance from the ancient black soils of the Amazon to its reappearance as a modern carbon sequestration strategy.

Combining practical techniques for making biochar with an overview of sustainable carbon farming, The Biochar Solution describes the potential of a new agricultural revolution to save the planet from climate catastrophe while increasing world food reserves and making energy from biomass wastes. Biochar, unpoliced, also has a darker potential that could push us past the brink of dangerous climate change. Or, it could be the most important discovery in human history. Biochar and carbon farming can:

• Replenish depleted soils
• Reduce fossil fuels inputs to our food system
• Quickly and safely take net CO2 emissions well below zero
• Dramatically reduce mortality from smoke inhalation from cooking fires
• Reforest deserts
• Filter drinking water
• Earn more money for farmers
• Enhance food security, and
• Build carbon-negative homes, communities, and nations.

Albert Bates was a delegate to the Copenhagen climate conference, trying to point the world back towards a stable atmosphere using soils and trees. His books include Climate in Crisis and The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook. Working with the Global Ecovillage Network he has taught appropriate technology, natural building and permaculture to students from more than 60 nations