Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Terra Preta PDF full book. Access full book title Terra Preta by Ute Scheub. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Ute Scheub Publisher: Greystone Books ISBN: 1771641118 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 208
Book Description
Terra preta is the Portuguese name of a type of soil which is thought to have almost miraculous properties. The newspapers are flooded with reports about “black gold,” scientists believe that two of the greatest problems facing the world – climate change and the hunger crisis — can be solved by it. The beauty of it is that everyone can do something about it because since 2005 the secret of producing this black soil has been revealed — and it is a secret that seemed to have been lost forever with the downfall of the once thriving Indian culture of the Amazon basin. The recipe is astonishingly simple as all you need are kitchen or garden wastes, charcoal and earthworms, so it can be produced on every balcony or on the smallest of garden plots. The trio of authors Scheub, Pieplow and Schmidt, set off on a treasure hunt and condensed all the knowledge about the world’s most fertile soil into a convenient guidebook. In addition to a sound instruction manual on producing terra preta and organic charcoal (biochar), the handbook covers fundamental principles from climate farming to closed-loop economy. It makes a passionate plea against synthetic fertilizers and genetic technology and offers indispensable advice to all those who feel strongly about healthy food.
Author: Ute Scheub Publisher: Greystone Books ISBN: 1771641118 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 208
Book Description
Terra preta is the Portuguese name of a type of soil which is thought to have almost miraculous properties. The newspapers are flooded with reports about “black gold,” scientists believe that two of the greatest problems facing the world – climate change and the hunger crisis — can be solved by it. The beauty of it is that everyone can do something about it because since 2005 the secret of producing this black soil has been revealed — and it is a secret that seemed to have been lost forever with the downfall of the once thriving Indian culture of the Amazon basin. The recipe is astonishingly simple as all you need are kitchen or garden wastes, charcoal and earthworms, so it can be produced on every balcony or on the smallest of garden plots. The trio of authors Scheub, Pieplow and Schmidt, set off on a treasure hunt and condensed all the knowledge about the world’s most fertile soil into a convenient guidebook. In addition to a sound instruction manual on producing terra preta and organic charcoal (biochar), the handbook covers fundamental principles from climate farming to closed-loop economy. It makes a passionate plea against synthetic fertilizers and genetic technology and offers indispensable advice to all those who feel strongly about healthy food.
Author: William I. Woods Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1402090315 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 512
Book Description
Amazonian soils are almost universally thought of as extremely forbidding. However, it is now clear that complex societies with large, sedentary populations were present for over a millennium before European contact. Associated with these are tracts of anomalously fertile, dark soils termed ‘terra preta’ or dark earths. These soils are presently an important agricultural resource within Amazonia and provide a model for developing long-term future sustainability of food production in tropical environments. The late Dutch soil scientist Wim Sombroek (1934-2003) was instrumental in bringing the significance of these soils to the attention of the world over four decades ago. Wim saw not only the possibilities of improving the lives of small holders throughout the world with simple carbon based soil technologies, but was an early proponent of the positive synergies also achieved in regards to carbon sequestration and global climatic change abatement. Wim’s vision was to form a multidisciplinary group whose members maintained the ideal of open collaboration toward the attainment of shared goals. Always encouraged and often shaped by Wim, this free association of international scholars termed the “Terra Preta Nova” Group came together in 2001 and has flourished. This effort has been defined by enormous productivity. Wim who is never far from any of our minds and hearts, would have loved to share the great experience of seeing the fruits of his vision as demonstrated in this volume.
Author: Johannes Lehmann Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1402025971 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 505
Book Description
Dark Earths are a testament to vanished civilizations of the Amazon Basin, but may also answer how large societies could sustain intensive agriculture in an environment of infertile soils. This book examines their origin, properties, and management. Questions remain: were they intentionally produced or a by-product of habitation. Additional new and multidisciplinary perspectives by leading experts may pave the way for the next revolution in soil management in the humid tropics.
Author: Robert Tindall Publisher: North Atlantic Books ISBN: 1623171180 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 257
Book Description
A fascinating description of how utilizing the biochar embedded in terra preta, the recently rediscovered sacred soil of the pre-Columbian peoples of the Amazon rainforest, can cut our dependency on petrochemicals, restore the health of our soils, remove carbon from our overheating atmosphere, and restore the planet to pre-industrial levels of atmospheric carbon by 2050. The authors show that the rediscovery of terra preta is an opportunity to move beyond the West’s tradition of plunder and genocide of the native civilizations of the Americas by offering an invitation to embrace the deeper mystery of the indigenous methods of inquiry and to participate in an animate cosmos that gave rise to such a powerful soil technology. Sacred Soil, in recognizing the need for biocultural regeneration, takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the phenomenon of biochar soils, utilizing mythopoeic, historical, anthropological, and scientific perspectives to embrace the deep past, the vexed present, and the prospectus for our future. Coming at this crucial juncture in human history, the potential resting in biochar is also an open doorway into the indigenous ways of knowing that enabled the pre-Columbian Amazonian high civilizations to support a population of millions while leaving their lands more fertile than when they arose.
Author: Christoph Steiner Publisher: Cuvillier Verlag ISBN: 3867274444 Category : Soil chemistry Languages : en Pages : 189
Book Description
The extraordinary fertility of manmade Terra Preta soils in the Brazilian Amazon provided the incentive to study the effects of soil charcoal amendments on soil fertility, nutrient cycling, and soil biology. The existence of Terra Preta suggests that tropical soils, which are notorious for being infertile, can be greatly improved. The agricultural produces charcoal out of fallow vegetation instead of converting it to carbon dioxide through burning. Slash and char improves soil quality by transferring organic carbon into recalcitrant soil organic matter pools. This newly described agricultural practice has important implications for the earth's carbon budget and sustainability in tropical agriculture.
Author: Mingxin Guo Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 0891189645 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 528
Book Description
Agricultural and Environmental Applications of Biochar: Advances and Barriers: Over the past decade, biochar has been intensively studied by agricultural and environmental scientists and applied as a soil quality enhancer and environmental ameliorator in various trials worldwide. This book, with 21 chapters by 57 accomplished international researchers, reports on the recent advances of biochar research and the global status of biochar application. Scientific findings, uncertainties, and barriers to practice of biochar amendment for sustaining soil fertility, improving crop production, promoting animal performance, remediating water and land, and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions are synthesized. The book presents a whole picture of biochar in its production, characterization, application, and development. Agricultural and Environmental Applications of Biochar: Advances and Barrier highlights the mechanisms and processes of biochar amendment for achieving stunning agricultural and environmental benefits. Composition and characteristics of biochar, its interactions with contaminants and soil constituents, and its transformation in the environment are illustrated to enlighten the achievements of biochar amendment in improving soil physical, chemical, and biological quality and animal health, reducing soil greenhouse gas emissions, and decontaminating stormwater and mine sites. Additional emphasis is given to the pyrogenic carbon in Terra Preta soils and Japanese Andosols, the pyrolysis technology for converting agricultural byproducts to biochar, and the existing economic and technical barriers to wide application of biochar in Australia, China, New Zealand, North America, and Europe. Readers will appreciate the comprehensive review on the up-to-date biochar research and application and gain critical guidance in best biochar generation and utilization.
Author: Tom Heap Publisher: Random House ISBN: 1473532795 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 173
Book Description
We got ourselves into this. Here's how we can get ourselves out. We know the problem: the amount of biodiversity loss, the scale of waste and pollution, the amount of greenhouse gas we pump into the air... it's unsustainable. We have to do something. And we are resourceful, adaptable and smart. We have already devised many ways to reduce climate change - some now proven, others encouraging and craving uptake. Each one is a solution to get behind. In 39 Ways to Save the Planet, Tom Heap reveals some of the real-world solutions to climate change that are happening around the world, right now. From tiny rice seeds and fossil fuel free steel to grazing elk and carbon-capturing seagrass meadows, each chapter reveals the energy and optimism in those tackling the fundamental problem of our age. Accompanying a major BBC Radio 4 series in collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society, 39 Ways to Save the Planet is a fascinating exploration of our attempt to build a better future, one solution at a time. A roadmap to global action on climate change, it will encourage you to add your own solutions to the list.
Author: William M. Denevan Publisher: ISBN: 9780199257690 Category : Agriculture Languages : en Pages : 434
Book Description
Cultivated Landscapes of Native Amazonia and the Andes examines Indian agriculture in South America. The focus is on field types and field technologies, including agricultural landforms such as terraces, canals, and drained fields, which have persisted for hundreds of years. What emerges is a picture of mostly successful indigenous farming practices in difficult environments--rain forests, savannahs, swamps, rugged mountains, and deserts.
Author: D. S. Hammond Publisher: CABI ISBN: 9781845930929 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 552
Book Description
The Guiana Shield is an ancient geological formation located in the northern part of South America, covering an area of one million square kilometres. Despite its hostile environment, it is home to many unusual and highly specialized plants and animals, which constitute a rich area of biodiversity. Chapters in this book include hydrology, nutrient cycling, forest phenology, insect-plant interactions, forest microclimate, plant distributions, forest dynamics and conservation and management of flora and fauna. It provides a comprehensive and detailed review of the ecology, biology and natural history of the forests of the area.
Author: Ute Scheub
Author: Ute Scheub
Author: William I. Woods
Author: Johannes Lehmann
Author: Bruno Glaser
Author: Robert Tindall
Author: Christoph Steiner
Author: Mingxin Guo
Author: Tom Heap
Author: William M. Denevan
Author: D. S. Hammond