Climatefarming in northern Senegal

Definition Climatefarming en francais

Definition Climate Farming

Climate farming uses agricultural means to keep carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses from escaping into the atmosphere. Like organic farming, climate farming maintains biodiversity and ecological balance on productive, argicultural land. But climate farmers like Hans-Peter Schmidt go a step further and covert leftover organic mass into biochar, a solid carbon compound that can improve soil quality. Biochar production also creates a kind of gas that can then be burned to help generate power. A climate farm could grow food, generate power, and help keep carbon out of the air.

Climatefarming – Pour une agriculture durable

von Hans-Peter Schmidt

Le climatefarming est souvent décrit comme une méthode agricole au moyen de laquelle du CO2 est prélevé de l’atmosphère et stocké de façon stable dans le sol sous forme de carbone. Ceci pourrait permettre de freiner le changement climatique. Mais le climatefarming, c’est également un concept écologique durable pour l’agriculture du future, qui produira aussi bien des denrées alimentaires que de l’énergie et de l’air propre, encouragera la biodiversité et protégera le paysage.

Au travers de leurs feuilles, les plantes prélèvent du dioxyde de carbone contenu dans l’air et le transforment à l’aide de la lumière, de substances minérales et de l’eau en molécules carboniques. Lorsque la plante meurt ou pourrit, ou si elle est mangée et digérée, les molécules longues de carbone sont de nouveau scindées. Ce processus libère de l’énergie et donc du carbone qui, composé à plus de 99% de CO2, s’évapore dans l’atmosphère. (en savoir plus ...)

Google News: deforestation

Climatefarmingprojekt Öfen für Afrika

Mittwoch, 21. Juli 2010

Saving and Recycling Water in the Garden (Google / Suite101)

Saving and Recycling Water in the Garden (Google / Suite101): How to Save Water in a Drought: Some Tips for Gardeners http://desertwaterwisegardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/how-to-save-water-in-a-drought-some-tips-for-gardeners#ixzz0uJprdkF2 How to Save Water in a Drought: Some Tips for Gardeners by Jennifer Young Read more … Continue reading "

Auf dem eigenen Mist gewachsen - Biologische Siedlungsabfälle in Humus umgewandelt / Referent des Bundesumweltministeriums in Zempow - Märkische Allgemeine - Nachrichten für das Land Brandenburg

Organic municipal waste converted into humus / Speaker of the Federal Environment Ministry in Zempow http://bit.ly/csMeMb


Auf dem eigenen Mist gewachsen - Biologische Siedlungsabfälle in Humus umgewandelt / Referent des Bundesumweltministeriums in Zempow - Märkische Allgemeine - Nachrichten für das Land Brandenburg

VORTRAG: Auf dem eigenen Mist gewachsen

Biologische Siedlungsabfälle in Humus umgewandelt / Referent des Bundesumweltministeriums in Zempow

ZEMPOW - Selbstversorgung. Abwasserloses Grundstück. Ausufernder Humusgehalt im Boden. Um diese Stichwörter rankte sich am Freitag üppiges Wachstum. Doch wer an Luftschlösser dachte oder diesen Traum wie eine Seifenblase zerplatzen sah, wurde eines Besseren belehrt.

Haiko Pieplow, promovierter Agrarwissenschaftler und Bodenkundler, und als Referent für Umwelt und Wirtschaft am Bundesumweltministerium in Berlin tätig, stellte seine Erkenntnisse über Terra Preta (fruchtbare Schwarzerde) jüngst in Zempow vor. Im Umlandhaus Buchfinkenhorst des Dorfes sprach er vor mehr als 40 Besuchern, die mit ihm auf die „Reise“ durch die Weiten des Amazonasgebietes in Brasilien gingen.

Diese Vorfahren im Amazonas verfügten über „ein ausgefeiltes Abfallmanagement“, erklärte Haiko Pieplow und zeigte zum Beweis auf überdimensionierte Krüge. Diese dienten als Fermentierungsgefäße, um organische Substanz abzubauen. Das alles liegt bereits 500 bis 700 Jahre zurück. Doch das Erbe ist noch heute sichtbar, denn der wertvolle Boden ist nicht nur stabil sondern kann auch nachwachsen. Als Wissenschaftler diesem Phänomen im Wortsinn auf den Grund gingen, entdeckten sie einen extrem hohen Gehalt an Holzkohle. Diese gilt als Schlüssel zum Erfolg, denn „Holzkohle enthält einen hohen Anteil an Kohlenstoff und wird nicht aus dem Boden ausgewaschen“, so Pieplow. Ganz im Gegensatz zu herkömmlichem organischen Mist oder Mulch.

„Seit zehn Jahren beschäftigen sich Wissenschaftler in Deutschland mit dieser Thematik und bringen somit tragbare Lösungen für die dauerhafte Bodenfruchtbarkeit auf den Tisch“, erläuterte Pieplow im Vortrag. Gleichzeitig liefern die Experten den praktischen Beweis, dass auch abwasserlose Grundstücke möglich sind. Das Geheimnis vom schwarzen Gold in der Erde: Der hohe Anteil von Biokohle. Der Zusatz von effektiven Mikroorganismen, die in der Lage sind, organische Substanz langsam abzubauen. Der Zusatz von nährstoffreichen Reststoffen wie Gartenabfällen oder menschlichen Fäkalien. Diese drei Bestandteile führen zur fruchtbaren Schwarzerde.

Praktiker in Deutschland sind inzwischen auf den Zug von Terra Preta aufgesprungen. Sie vertreiben nach dem Baukastenprinzip einzelne Elemente zur Eigenproduktion dieses humusreichen Bodens. Marko Heckel stellte als Unternehmer diese Produkte jetzt in Zempow vor. „Gut 30 000 Nutzer gibt es inzwischen in Deutschland“, brachte er die Dimension auf den Punkt. So kann im Wortsinn das Obst oder Gemüse auf dem eigenen Mist wachsen, denn die anfallenden Fäkalien werden vollständig zu Terra Preta umgewandelt.

Wolf-Hasso Schoner, promovierter Chemiker aus Neuruppin, erläuterte am Rande des Vortrags seinen erfolgreichen Selbstversuch, Terra Preta herzustellen. „Innerhalb von drei Monaten setzten die Mikroorganismen die Fäkalien gemeinsam mit der Einstreu unter luftdichten Bedingungen zu hochwertigem Humus um“, so Wolf-Hasso Schoner. Eine Angelegenheit, die Gärprozesse bewirkt und daher nicht zum Himmel stinkt.

Weiterführende Informationen zum Thema unter www.triaterra.de (Von Christamaria Ruch)

Montag, 5. Juli 2010

GOOD STOVES

GOOD STOVES

GOOD STOVES

[info]saibhaskar
16,00,000 PEOPLE ARE KILLED GLOBALLY EVERY YEAR DUE TO INDOOR AIR POLLUTION.

The United Nations estimates that 2 billion people a day are still cooking with open fires. There is a requirement of at least 1 billion good stoves on earth. Respiratory disease is the fifth-leading cause of death in the developing world, and 1.6 million people per year die from breathing wood smoke. Within India alone about 5 lakh people die due to indoor air pollution from cook stoves. Majority of the affected people are women and children.

This is a six years journey into the lives of people killing themselves and young siblings by still using primitive stoves for meeting their daily cooking needs. We are probing the surface of moon and exploring the universe many light years away, but still we could not provide the good stoves for millions on this Earth. Although at least one billion good stoves are required on earth there is very little done to mitigate the impacts. There are not many professionals trained on the Good Stoves technology. We require trained professionals to do research and design good stoves. There are not many educational institutions conducting professional courses on Stoves. Similarly as policy, very few governments have taken the cause seriously. The youth is not inspired and aspired to take up the challenge of designing / production and facilitation of Good Stoves, because there is less awareness on this aspect. For the press silent death of people is no news, they are interested to cover the news of few thousands dying in bomb blasts rather covering millions dying due to indoor air pollution every year.

There are three aspects at present on earth – Energy, Environment and Economy or 3E’s. Even the recent COP15 held at Copenhagen is a failure of consensus around these three aspects. With in next 30 to 40 years, human beings would witness many important aspects like – oil peak, coal peak, population peak, food security crisis, extinction of many species, mass exodus of populations affected by sea level increase, etc. Many countries have developed due to easy access to energy, leading to bubble economies at the cost of environment. With growing colossal energy demands, rural biomass has become a commodity in the form of biomass for electricity, bio-fuels, charcoal and also as biomass. These demands from urban areas and industrial sectors lead to degradation of the soils in the rural areas as biomass is exported and diminishing the return of biomass to soil.

The ‘STOVE’ is one of the most basic needs of all human beings. One cannot imagine a family without a stove. There are many homeless families, but rarely any family without a stove. In majority of the cases, people are using very low cost and inefficient stoves. The peaceful death of people is never an major issue for the governments. Although the challenge is so huge, there is not a single college or institute which has a long term course to teach on making good stoves. There is no mention in any of the school books or many environmental books the term ‘stove’. One billion Good Stoves is one of the biggest challenges on earth. There is not much honor to humanity if we fail to provide a good stove to the common man.

Geoecology Energy Organisation [GEO] is working with communities in different parts of the world. Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy is the founder and CEO of GEO [http://www.e-geo.org] has designed 40 Good Stoves in the last 6 years [http://www.goodstove.com GOOD STOVE] There are two series of stoves AVAN (Earth) Series - These series of stoves are designed especially for poor people. They are low cost, efficient and can be easily constructed by people on their own using locally available raw material. MAGH (Cloud) Series - These series of stoves are designed especially for people who can pay and buy a good stove which is made of metal and other material. The above two series of stoves are based on Scientific Principles and latest technology. Magh series stoves based on Top-lit Updraft technology, generate Biochar as byproduct. Biochar + amendments to the soil improve the fertility of soils and also for reclaiming the degraded soils. GEO is one of the very few organizations in India to do research on Good Stoves and Biochar production and application. [http://www.biocharindia.com Biochar India]

This is an initiative of GEO to mitigate climate change through community adaptation. The belief is that each person on earth can strive for a good earth apart from having a sustainable livelihood. In Andhra Pradesh alone there is a need of 10 million Good stoves. GEO aims to facilitate at least 1 million stoves in the next 5 years to communities around the world through partnerships. All the stove designs are declared as ‘Open Knowledge (OK)’ http://www.okgeo.org for the common good. 'OK' means to adopt the design as it is / change the design and adapt / use different material to get the same result. GEO believes that at least technologies relevant to common man, environment and ecology should be in the domain of Open Knowledge.

Presently GEO is facilitating ‘Good Stoves and Biochar Communities’ Project near Jangaon with the support of GoodPlanet, France. This is a research based project involving community. GEO through its 300+ websites disseminating knowledge and technologies relevant to environment and development aspects and reaching more than 1000 people around the world every day.

Recently GEO has successfully conducted a workshop in Bangladesh for BARCIK and 7 other NGOs on Good Stoves and Biochar, in which more than 40 people participated including Government officials.

One day about 6 years back, I was in a village trying to understand the rural energy aspect in Mahabubnagar District. The distinct observation was that the court yards of many houses were filled with dry wood. They were appearing like small mounds. This fuelwood was for meeting the cooking requirements. It is harvested from the village commons or from near by degraded scrub land or from their own fields. People spend up to 4 days per month for this resource. Considering the present value of labour, it amounts to not less than Rs. 400. Sometimes it is costly to cook on biomass stoves, than people cooking on subsidized LPG gas stoves. Intentionally visited about 50 kitchens to see their stoves in use. This is the day to remember in my life, because about 50% stoves were three stone stoves and the rest were made up of clay and were looking rudimentary and primitive. The stoves and the kitchens did not reflect the changes that happened in the lives of people since last 50 years, like, living in RCC houses, eating habits changed, communications accessed, some of the children are attending english schools, televisions and dish antennas existing, having 2 wheelers, ploughing by using tractors, etc. Kitchen is the last place for any guest visiting it, it was never a pride. It is smoky, pitch dark walls and a small space allocated inside or outside the house. Initially, I decided to create awareness on the indoor air pollution. Put up an LCD projector and have shown pictures of their stoves, although people were very much interested to see the slide show, but women objected when it came to see their own stove, requested not to show. They hate their own kitchen, it is never a pride. Explained people about the impact of indoor air pollution and multiplier affects. The people were very much interested to adopt efficient stoves, but were helpless as they don't have access to any technology. About 10 years back the Government has constructed smoke out stoves (chimney stoves), but never trained them on how to construct / maintain. Within few years, the stoves disintegrated / chimneys filled with sooth and became choking / grates burnt down and the stoves disappeared. For the government records they still exist, like the count of Biogas plants? The stove designs were standardized by the Ministry in Delhi, not designed considering the local aspects of utility. The stoves were freely distributed, so not many questions from the user regarding, its life, utility, maintenance, etc.

This exposure impacted my sensitivity on this aspect. Started searching for stove designs, but, the challenge is to create stove for meeting the local community needs, there is no single global stove. As much the diversity of food crops, cultures, traditions, cooking methods, resources as many stoves evolved globally. This was a critical aspect in facilitating stoves and attaining sustainability in a region. In olden days some people argued that little smoke is good for protecting their thatched huts from insect attacks. But huts were porous too to exit the smoke. Government is providing RCC houses under the housing schemes, which makes their life more miserable.

GOOD STOVES is an initiative to reach the most needy communities through research, design and development of good stoves and with intentions of dissemination of this knowledge for the common good. All the knowledge and work of GEO on Good Stoves, Biochar, Biochar production, etc, is declared as [http://www.okgeo.org Open Knowledge]. GEO aims to facilitate at least 1 million stoves in the next 5 years.

Biochar, terrapreta - Google News

soil carbon or biochar - Google News

"Biochartechnologies" via Joerg