David,
I really hate to ask this but how does one make rock dust? Kind of
sounds like clay. Could I dig clay out of a pond and spray it on my
compost pile?
What's your thought on Hugelkultur?
Thanks,
Jeff
On 12/07/2013 11:15 PM, David Murphy wrote:
Joe, you might find it of interest to look up John D. Hamaker on the
net. He was an American Mechanical Engineer who turned his mind (and
subsequently devoted his life) to improving soil by the addition of
rock dust. He saw global warming as a precursor to the next ice
age. He saw an ice age as essential refurbishment of the earth's
resources. His argument has a lot of good solid logioc to it and
it's worth adding to your store of knowledge on the general topic.
If he's proven right, then we're in a lot of trouble ! If you want
to study it further I have a DVD I made from a tape he produced I
could let you have.
Rock dust is a storehouse of minerals, all of which are essential to
growth. First to plants and then to the animals which eat them -
including us humans. Rock dust is insoluble to water but not to
enzymes which are produced by soil benevolent bacteria - bacteria
which are present in soil with good OM and in compost. Many
readers of this string will be aware of it's benefits when used as
fertiliser.
Seeking to remedy climate change purported to be caused by
anthropomorphic global warming is an extraordinarily complex
question. And seeking to make a contribution by sequestering carbon
as charcoal is in itself another complex range of issues. The
charcoal must be first ligneos carbon - wood - and it is probably
almost as good to lock up some of that carbon in timber for building
houses or making furniture.
I'd promote the first step by making the sequestration of the carbon
as part of a broader program of building building soil organic matter
OM. This includes animate carbon as well as vegetative. At least
get it up to 5% to plough depth, say 10 inches (250mm) as a minimum,
aiming at 20%. That in itself locks away a lot of carbon, but of a
different nature, in that it's available to contribute to plant
growth, growth without the need for chemical or artificial fertilisers.
Every 1% increase in soil OM (world wide) would be a lockup of around
30 billion tonnes of carbon in a world which generates now (probably)
20 million tonnes annually. Just for the record, the biggest
emitter of CO2, bigger than every other agency combined - every
factory, airplane, car truck tractor etc and so on - is the soil of
the earth as it respires. So, the more land we put down under crop
to feed the increasing billions, the more CO2 we produce and put into
the atmosphere.
So, it's a race against a proven runner - so called mother Nature -
and she's a proven stayer.
On the other hand, some of the wise owls are now saying it's not CO2
at all, but PCB's causing the damage. Maybe they're right - who
knows _for sure ?_ Nobody I'm aware of despite what they say.
It's all conjecture, some of it soundly based, but still conjecture
relying on historical info compiled over a geological blink.
Using charcoal and zeolite together is a bit like wearing belt &
braces with self-supporting trousers. It certainly works !
The easy and less costly way is to just get the OM into the soil and
plant stuff to grow and suck up all the CO2 and N.
But whatever you do, don't stop the good work.
David Murphy.
_______________________________________________
Gasification mailing list
to Send a Message to the list, use the email address
[email protected]
to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/gasification_lists.bioenergylists.org
for more Gasifiers, News and Information see our web site:
http://gasifiers.bioenergylists.org/
