Thank you all for your contributions, will try to incooperative the ideas to
save the situation. Peter.------------------------------ On Mon, May 21, 2012
13:49 PDT Steven Edholm wrote:  >You might check out ecosan and some of their
systems. They have detailed information on sanitation alternatives in the
context of viewing the excrement as a resource. If your situation permits,
separating the Urine as much as possible will make the latrines significantly
easier to handle and less smelly. Urine contains the great majority of useful
plant nutrients that leave the body including nitrogen. The excessive moisture
in the Urine will make Aerobic conditions very difficult to obtain unless there
is access to a large amount of fine organic matter like sawdust etc... With the
Urine out of the picture, it will be much easier to achieve a proper moisture
level using a lesser amount of biomass, or using wood ashes. I can't imagine
charcoal wouldn't be beneficial in
  that it absorbs odor and moisture. A very promising Ecosan system uses wood
ashes to coat and dehydrate the feces, while the urine is separated off and used
as fertilizer. Maybe the situation will not permit of this level of detail or
infrastructure, but it might be worth reviewing their publications or contacting
them for ideas. > >Some paths to follow: >
>http://www.google.com/search?q=ecosan+emergency+latrines&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t\
&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a > >On May 21, 2012, at 11:41
AM, peter ongele wrote: > >>  >> We have had flood displaced families camp, pit
latrins smell badly, can charcoal dust kill the smell, any idea? >>  >

Thank you all for your contributions, will try to incooperative the ideas to
save the situation. Peter.------------------------------ On Mon, May 21, 2012
13:49 PDT Steven Edholm wrote:  >You might check out ecosan and some of their
systems. They have detailed information on sanitation alternatives in the
context of viewing the excrement as a resource. If your situation permits,
separating the Urine as much as possible will make the latrines significantly
easier to handle and less smelly. Urine contains the great majority of useful
plant nutrients that leave the body including nitrogen. The excessive moisture
in the Urine will make Aerobic conditions very difficult to obtain unless there
is access to a large amount of fine organic matter like sawdust etc... With the
Urine out of the picture, it will be much easier to achieve a proper moisture
level using a lesser amount of biomass, or using wood ashes. I can't imagine
charcoal wouldn't be beneficial in
  that it absorbs odor and moisture. A very promising Ecosan system uses wood
ashes to coat and dehydrate the feces, while the urine is separated off and used
as fertilizer. Maybe the situation will not permit of this level of detail or
infrastructure, but it might be worth reviewing their publications or contacting
them for ideas. > >Some paths to follow: >
>http://www.google.com/search?q=ecosan+emergency+latrines&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t\
&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a > >On May 21, 2012, at 11:41
AM, peter ongele wrote: > >>  >> We have had flood displaced families camp, pit
latrins smell badly, can charcoal dust kill the smell, any idea? >>  >

 

Maybe the alternative to that 'noisy, smelly biochar plant in you backyard' is for your children or grandchildren to have to cower in their backyard listening to the approach of the noisy, smelly, starving marauders hunting for something - anything - to kill and eat.......

 

...we really are up against it........now.

 

Dick Quinnell

Dear John

You absolutely do not know that we or others on the planet will be facing mass starvation within twenty years. This kind of apocalyptic scaremongering is required apparently for geoengineering advocacy but on this list we try to contribute on the basis of new data and/or reasoned views. It is a fantasy scenario that you paint and this just makes geoengineering advocates look like UFO believers. Furthermore claims of this kind will if they gain wider currency only produce fatalism and not positive action to address growing carbon emissions of the kind you more helpfully go on to talk about later in this post. 

Kind regards

Michael 

Professor Michael Northcott

New College

Edinburgh

EH1 2LX

UK

On 24 May 2012, at 21:06, John Nissen <jn@...> wrote:

Hi Dick,

You're right that we're up against it - but it will be you and I who will be cowering.  It is the Arctic sea ice disappearance and an escalation of Arctic methane emissions that will bring on climate disruption and widespread starvation within a decade or two, unless measures are taken quickly to cool the Arctic.  See AMEG [1].  Please comment on the AMEG blog [2].  We are preparing a letter that you can send off to the Environment Audit Committee - guardians of UK climate change policy - assuming you may feel like protesting at the way that the Arctic problems have been brushed under the carpet by advisory organisations such as the Hadley Centre.  They are putting us all in danger by their danger denial!

While we sort out the Arctic, we should start a tax on fossil fuel plus fugitive methane, to put carbon back in the ground using methods like biochar.  Methane has a global warming effect 105x that of CO2 over 20 years, weight for weight, or 38x, molecule for molecule (and thus carbon atom for carbon atom) [3].  There need to be commensurate fines for methane leaks to match the tax on carbon from the fossil fuel which will be emitted as CO2.  Isn't that logical?

BTW, CCS gets a tax rebate of course, which will make it worthwhile commercially.

Cheers,

John

[1] www.ameg.me

[2] a-m-e-g.blogspot.com

[3] 105 times molecular weight CH4 (12 + 4), divided by molecular weight of CO2 (12 + 16 + 16) = 38

---

On 24/05/2012 16:42, rjquinnell@... wrote:

 

Maybe the alternative to that 'noisy, smelly biochar plant in you backyard' is for your children or grandchildren to have to cower in their backyard listening to the approach of the noisy, smelly, starving marauders hunting for something - anything - to kill and eat.......

 

...we really are up against it........now.

 

Dick Quinnell

~~~ can charcoal dust kill the smell, any idea?~~~

Peter,  I think you should also look into EM (effective microorganisms) A spray
of EM would reduce odors and make things healthier to be around very quickly. 
It will be something to add to your life tools for many occupations related to
the earth systems we deal with daily and even in occurances such as a flood.  I
would want to spray my yard and living quarters with it, to get surface bacteria
into beneficial activity again.   I am not sure if it is too late to make some
in your case but it can be purchased as well...
Geralyn D.

Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately we are at red financially, and no
external support. ------------------------------ On Fri, May 25, 2012 12:02 PDT
nikolaus foidl wrote:  >Dear Peter! > >Bacillus subtilis can be bought as a
powder and eliminates smells and odors >in short time, i used it in a scrimp
washing pond and they did a very good >job. Add a bit of glucose and they thrive
like hell. > best regards Nikolaus > >On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 7:15 PM, Geralyn D
<palmtreepathos@...> wrote: > >> ** >> >> >> >> ~~~ can charcoal dust kill
the smell, any idea?~~~ >> >> Peter, I think you should also look into EM
(effective microorganisms) A >> spray of EM would reduce odors and make things
healthier to be around very >> quickly. It will be something to add to your life
tools for many >> occupations related to the earth systems we deal with daily
and even in >> occurances such as a flood. I would want to spray my yard and
living >> quarters with it,
  to get surface bacteria into beneficial activity again. I >> am not sure if it
is too late to make some in your case but it can be >> purchased as well... >>
Geralyn D. >> >>  >>

We've filled pits with charcoal+biomass+soil 4 future use on farms.We stil
strungle to food,cloths, utensils from frnds.------------------------------ On
Fri, May 25, 2012 12:02 PDT nikolaus foidl wrote:  >Dear Peter! > >Bacillus
subtilis can be bought as a powder and eliminates smells and odors >in short
time, i used it in a scrimp washing pond and they did a very good >job. Add a
bit of glucose and they thrive like hell. > best regards Nikolaus > >On Fri, May
25, 2012 at 7:15 PM, Geralyn D <palmtreepathos@...> wrote: > >> ** >> >>
>> >> ~~~ can charcoal dust kill the smell, any idea?~~~ >> >> Peter, I think
you should also look into EM (effective microorganisms) A >> spray of EM would
reduce odors and make things healthier to be around very >> quickly. It will be
something to add to your life tools for many >> occupations related to the earth
systems we deal with daily and even in >> occurances such as a flood. I would
want to spray my yard and
  living >> quarters with it, to get surface bacteria into beneficial activity
again. I >> am not sure if it is too late to make some in your case but it can
be >> purchased as well... >> Geralyn D. >> >>  >>

We've filled pits with charcoal+biomass+soil 4 future use on farms.We stil
strungle to food,cloths, utensils from frnds.------------------------------ On
Fri, May 25, 2012 12:02 PDT nikolaus foidl wrote:  >Dear Peter! > >Bacillus
subtilis can be bought as a powder and eliminates smells and odors >in short
time, i used it in a scrimp washing pond and they did a very good >job. Add a
bit of glucose and they thrive like hell. > best regards Nikolaus > >On Fri, May
25, 2012 at 7:15 PM, Geralyn D <palmtreepathos@...> wrote: > >> ** >> >>
>> >> ~~~ can charcoal dust kill the smell, any idea?~~~ >> >> Peter, I think
you should also look into EM (effective microorganisms) A >> spray of EM would
reduce odors and make things healthier to be around very >> quickly. It will be
something to add to your life tools for many >> occupations related to the earth
systems we deal with daily and even in >> occurances such as a flood. I would
want to spray my yard and
  living >> quarters with it, to get surface bacteria into beneficial activity
again. I >> am not sure if it is too late to make some in your case but it can
be >> purchased as well... >> Geralyn D. >> >>  >>

Su

Some things you say ring true but ....

...1. You are talking mostly about local regulation.

...2. A high carbon tax can be about changing the way we live so we do better
things than pollute the world.

...3. I'm watching breaking news carefully to see if John Nissen and AMEC are
correct. Just google "methane climate" and if you have the background knowledge,
you will be very very worried about the future of most of the human poulation.

...4. Removing taxes from labour or even a flat rate labour subsidy is not true
government expenditure - but if you don't agree would you accept Jim Hansen's
scheme. A high tax on carbon emissions with the proceeds being sent out as
cheques to every citizen?

...5. Perhaps we should start calling a "carbon tax" a "pollution fine". I'm
sure you would wish the pollution you describe to be fined. What about the even
worse pollution that will really destroy the whole world as we know it?

... Geoff

--- In biochar@yahoogroups.com, Su Ba <kaufarmer@...> wrote:
>
> Dick, I do not know where you live, but I am in Hawaii. Our state officials
are bending over backward here to appease investors involved in anything to do
with energy or food. Bending over to the point that they tried to pass a law
saying that environmental impact statements and environmental assessments were
not needed. Without such controls, then the public has absolutely no say in such
development and have to deal with open loop geothermal plants going right next
to surrounding housing subdivisions, biofuel plants wanting to set up such that
trucks run 24 hours a day every 20 minutes through residential small towns,
.......and I can site numerous other cases. A biofuel plant, complete with
towering chimneys, numerous fuel tanks, massive pipe yard and truck yard almost
got built in the most idyllic farming community in south Hawaii and only failed
because of aggressive public outcry. Officials are still trying to sneek this
one through, claiming this
>  industrial plant is really just a farmng project.
>
> It is not that I am against development. I am fine with sane development.  But
investors look for the easy way out to maximize profits. They have no interest
in the better life for local residents.
>
> Will the food doomsday arrive? On our island the crisis is already here. Many
marginal families have already moved back to the mainland. But from what I see
from my position as a local food producer, the energetic concerned people are
already involved in learning how to have gardens, chickens, and sheep. Food will
not be a crisis for them. The families living off of government handouts seem to
be the vocal ones about food shortages but are too lazy to grow their own, even
when offered free seeds, free learning seminars, and free land to use.
>
> In my opinion, offering investors yet another way to make gross profits with
disregard to the living standard of the local people will not do anything about
a food crisis. The amount of biochar that could be produced in the next decade
would mean little, as I see it. In addition, study showed that the biochar from
one proposed plant here would have far exceeded what Hawaii could use, thus most
of the char would have been shipped to the mainland......on ships burning oil,
of course. So much for reducing CO2 emissions. As long as investors reaped their
profits, they don't care if they put more CO2 into the air by running ships.
>
> One more point, investors do not clean up after themselves. Plans in Hawaii
often call for strip mining large tree plantations and vast tracks of non-state
reserves forests. Large industrial style plants will be used. The track record
here in Hawaii is that investors abandon sites once profits are reaped, leaving
the mess and eyesores behind. Just take a Hawaiian vacation and view the lovely
sites of rusting production plants, abandoned large trucks and machinery,
derelict windmills, changed natural water systems that have dried up he
productive farmland, stripped forest land that is now rocky dry marginal
pastures.
>

John,

I watched your excellent performance at the Climate Audit Committee

The session promoted me to write this:

"Climate officials and climate provisionals"
http://www.brusselsblog.co.uk/climate-officials-and-climate-provisionals/

I think AMEG should confront the Committee on Climate Change.  It took me a year
or more to get them
to answer the questions that Lord Turner promised to answer at an APPCCG
meeting. See http://cccq.org.uk.
I will email their replies to you.

Geoff Beacon
--
   Geoff Beacon
   geoffbeacon@...

 

All,

 

If you are not making your own rice husk biochar you may be interested in importing some.

 

HOANG TUAN ANH, hta.mtsvietnam@... ,sends the following message from Vietnam:

 

“We producing rice husk charcoal in large quality want to find buyer. Our product can be formed in every shape as we make it as powder.

 

Please let us know if you want to have sample. Our EXW price fix at USD 450/ton. main port Haiphong”

 

It’s not clear whether this company is a broker or producer.

 

 

Tom

 

 

 

TODAY(Beta) • Powered by Yahoo! Jennifer Lopez's steamy video with beau Privacy Policy

thanks for your research work, andrew. �and bless you for aiding the severely challenged kenyan farmers. �i look forward to reading much more on your website about effective use of biochar in soil in the coming months and years.

�

on your website, is that a glacier on my. kilmanjaro?

for a green & peaceful planet,

David Yarrow

dyarrow5@...

785-260-6272

www.dyarrow.org

www.carbon-negative.us

www.nutrient-dense.info

www.ancientforests.us

www.seaagri.com

www.onondagavesica.info

On Jun 9, 2012, at 11:41 AM, Andrew Crane-Droesch wrote:

�

Dear All,

I'd like to share a draft of my working paper (joint with Abigail Clare) on the impact of biochar on maize yields and farm-level profitability in Western Kenya.� In sum, biochar adoption increased yields and profitability substantially.� The paper is available on my (still-modest) website:

http://andrewcd.berkeley.edu

Abstract: Soil degradation threatens agricultural productivity throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa, and strategies to restore or maintain soil fertility are a critical component of broader approaches toward agricultural development in the region. Soil amendment with biochar, the product of incomplete combustion of plant biomass, has been the object of increasing scientific attention as a means of durably improving soil fertility while sequestering carbon in soil. We report the results of an observational study on the impact of biochar on maize yields, farm-level fertilizer expenditure, and farm profitability in Western Kenya. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we estimate that biochar increased crop yields between 20 and 40%, while reducing fertilizer expenditure and increasing farm-level profitability by 25%. In addition, we find suggestive evidence that biochar's benefit extends beyond the first season after application, with substantial increases in maize yield and profitability over time. While we find strong yield and profitability increases among early adopters, biochar's potential for impact at scale remains to be demonstrated.

Best,
Andrew

--
Andrew Crane-Droesch

Energy and Resources Group
UC Berkeley
+1 215 435 2644
andrewcd@...
skype: andrew.crane-droesch
http://andrewcd.berkeley.edu

Y'all might be interested in the Combined Heat and Biochar/Stove Camp being held
over Labor Day weekend (and two days beyond for those who can stay) at the
EcoVillage Training Center at The Farm in Summertown, TN (an hour and a quarter 
SSE of Nashville).
http://www.farmworkshops.org/?p=137
In the interest of full disclosure I am one of the instructors.
I attended the 2011 CHAB/Stove Camp in Belchertown, MA:
http://www.smallfarm.org/main/our_farm/special_events/
The 2012 CHAB/Stove Camp at the New England Small Farm Institute in Belchertown,
MA is August 6-10. I will be instructing there for a couple days.
http://drtlud.com/2012/04/30/chab-camp-2012-at-nesfi/

This article on biochar appeared on the front page of the Garden Section of the
Sunday SF Chronicle. Nice.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2012/06/17/HOKS1NGPE6.DTL

Around the world, people are growing food in cities!
Learn more and register now at www.urbanagsummit.org 

Contact Info:

  From August 15th -August 18th 2012,
Biochar Ontario is a Promotional Partner in the first Urban Agriculture Summit in Toronto!

The 2012 Urban Agriculture Summit will bring together a diversity of people that are making it happen - design professionals, community groups, social housing advocates, tenants and developers, educators, planners, homeowners, urban growers and others - to share what is working, and to discover what is possible.

The Summit will be action-oriented: attendees will learn new tools to advance urban agriculture in their own communities.
 Together participants will explore urban agriculture's current role and future potential in 21st century city-building.

See: http://www.facebook.com/UrbanAgSummit

Tweet to UrbanAg Summit: 

https://twitter.com/urbanagsummit

Regards,

 Lloyd Helferty, Engineering Technologist
Principal, Biochar Consulting (Canada)
www.biochar-consulting.ca
48 Suncrest Blvd, Thornhill, ON, Canada
905-707-8754
CELL: 647-886-8754
Skype: lloyd.helferty
Steering Committee coordinator
Canadian Biochar Initiative (CBI)
President, Co-founder & CBI Liaison, Biochar-Ontario
Manager, Biochar Offsets Group:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2446475
Advisory Committee Member, IBI
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1404717
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42237506675
http://groups.google.com/group/biochar-ontario
http://www.meetup.com/biocharontario/
http://www.biocharontario.ca
www.biochar.ca
A nation that destroys its soil, destroys itself.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

DON'T MISS the 1st Urban Agriculture Summit Bringing together leaders in design, planning, development and integration for city-based food production Toronto, ON August 15 - 18, 2012 Featuring inspiring experts: Will Allen, Founder & CEO of Growing Power and author of ‘The Good Food Revolution’ Paul Lightfoot, CEO of BrightFarms hydroponic greenhouse farms and supply chain expert Joe Lobko, Principal of duToit Allsopp Hillier, interdisciplinary architect, landscape architect and urban designer PLUS over 75 session presenters who are leaders in the fields of community and commercial development, policy, research, and design. Only $199 (non profit) / $349 (for profit) for a full delegate pass. Includes plenaries, sessions, trade show, networking receptions, and meals. REGISTER NOW The Urban Agriculture Summit will also feature: Professional development courses and training / skills workshops, several of which are approved for continuing education / professional development hours. And half-day tours and full-day tours of exceptional and inspiring urban agriculture projects and producers across the Greater Toronto Area. Coming from out of town? Affordable rooms are available at Ryerson University Residence from $59 - book your room early to avoid disappointment. Don't delay ... space and registration is limited. Register today!