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Time Magazine - Carbon: The Biochar Solution PDF Print E-mail

December 04, 2008: Biochar featured in Time Magazine

Time Magazine article Biochar terra preta agricharTime Magazine's Lisa Abend wrote an article titled "Carbon: the Biochar Solution" about the potential of biochar to reduce the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. She also mentions the idea of introducing biochar amongst poor farmers at the tropical forest frontier, where it would generate co-benefits: 

And the benefits only begin there. When added to thin and acidic soil of the kind found in much of South America and Africa, char produces higher agricultural yields and lets farmers cut down on costly, petroleum-heavy fertilizers. Subsistence farmers seeking better soil have traditionally relied on slash-and-burn agriculture, which generates greenhouse gases and decimates forests. If instead those farmers slow-smoldered their agricultural waste to produce charcoal — in effect, slash-and-char agriculture — they could fertilize existing plots instead of clearing more land. This in turn would reduce emissions in the atmosphere, and so on in a virtuous circle of environmental renewal.

 Read the full article here.