Blog - carbon dioxide

Have we moved into 'the human epoch' ?

Have we moved into ‘the human epoch’ ?

by Lewis, 1 May, 2016, 4 comments

As a species, we humans have only been present on the Earth for a ‘blink of the eye’ in geological terms. The Earth is approximately some 4.6 billion years old. Geologists have divided up these years into a number of geological periods or epochs - from the Pre-cambrian (from the formation of the earth until about 540 million years ago) to the most recent - the Holocene, which started at the end of the last Ice Age - about 12,000 years ago. Modern Humans emerged out of Africa probably some 200,000 years ago, and since that time they have increased massively in number. At the end of the C18th , there were probably about one billion people; now there are over seven billion. We have changed the Earth in many ways. Read more...

“Connected woodlands”

“Connected woodlands”

by Lewis, 20 March, 2015, 1 comments

In the early 1970’s, Professor Barry Commoner (Washington University) said that ‘the first law of ecology’ could be stated as “Everything is connected to everything else”. That is, there is one ecosystem for all living organisms and what affects one – affects all. He was much concerned with the interactions of organisms, and the concept of sustainability. Traditionally, connectedness in ecology is concerned with how one organism affects another, or how an organism affects the environment or how a change in an environmental factor affects the organisms in the ecosystem. Read more...

Biochar and biofuels

Biochar and biofuels

by Lewis, 20 April, 2013, 1 comments

Broadly speaking, Biochar is charcoal that is not used for heating, barbecues or blacksmithing. It is charcoal that is (often) used for soil improvement and carbon sequestration. Charcoal is created by pyrolysis – that is, the incomplete burning of wood or biomass when oxygen /air is restricted. Typically, full-time charcoal producers have a large, steel kiln* about three metres in diameter and over a metre in height. This is loaded up with wood, mostly hardwoods such as oak, which have a very slow burn. The kiln is then sealed with a large lid. To make charcoal, the burn must be slow and incomplete so that the wood dries out and its structure and capacity for burning remains. This process – converting wood to charcoal – takes some 14-16 hours and produces ready-to-use lumps of charcoal. To watch the process of charcoal making, visit woodlands TV. Read more...

Invasion of the land : mosses, bryophytes and climate change.

Invasion of the land : mosses, bryophytes and climate change.

by Chris, 12 March, 2012, 3 comments

Throughout the twentieth century, stations like that at Manua Loa have monitored the level of carbon dioxide in the air. It is clear that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have risen from about from about 300 ppm in the 1960’s to nearly 400 ppm by 2010. However, if we look back some 480 million years (to the Ordivician Period) the level of carbon dioxide was some sixteen times higher than the present level and the average global temperature was about 25 oC, that is, about 10 oC higher than today’s average. So how and why has global temperature fallen ? Read more...

Biochar at the Centre for Alternative Technology: business opportunity for small woodland owners or climate change solution

Biochar at the Centre for Alternative Technology: business opportunity for small woodland owners or climate change solution

by Chris Colley, 31 March, 2011, 12 comments

Biochar may be used to mitigate climate change brought on by global warming, by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locking the carbon into the soil, if James Lovelock (originator of the seductive Gaia hypothesis) is to be believed. Others say the numbers just don’t work. Biochar is also put forward as a very effective soil improver, which can reduce fertiliser use, reduce pollution, increase crop yields, and as an approach to agriculture may be traced back to the terras preta (black soils) of the Amazonian rainforest. Read more...

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