paleorthid's Feed

New Gardening with Biochar FAQ

paleorthid — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:59:00 -0400

The argument for encouraging biochar use as a ubiquitous household practice is compelling: Improved garden soil will increase food production where it has the most impact on energy demand. Implementing charcoal manufacture at a household level draws in a supply of yard prunings and workbench scraps that otherwise would be lost to non-charcoal alternatives. Unfortunately, finding even the most basic information on how to implement biochar use as a personal sustainability practice is discouragingly time consuming. In response I have started up a FAQ Tagged by paleorthid under blogs, carbon, environment, agrichar, bio-char, garden, terra_preta,

No Miracles

paleorthid — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:56:00 -0400

Charcoal cannot replace the need for adding mineral nutrients. Tagged by paleorthid under agrichar, bio-char, carbon, environment, farm, fertility, nutrition, phosphorus, science, soil, carbon_credits,

The Charcoal Vision

paleorthid — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:11:00 -0400

Application of the charcoal to soils may be key to sustainability. Application of charcoal to soils is hypothesized to increase bioavailable water, build soil organic matter, enhance nutrient cycling, lower bulk density, act as a liming agent, and reduce leaching of pesticides and nutrients to surface and ground water. The half-life of C in soil charcoal is in excess of 1000 yr. Hence, soil-applied charcoal will make both a lasting contribution to soil quality and C in the charcoal will be removed from the atmosphere and sequestered for millennia. Tagged by paleorthid under agrichar, bio-char, carbon, innovation, biofuels, soil_science, terra_preta,

transect points: La Paz Loses Yakima Case

paleorthid — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:25:00 -0400

Locals are outraged that an elected official used La Paz County resources to pursue a solely personal vendetta against Yakima, a biosolids drier, abusing employees and losing over $10M in the process. A recall effort is mounting. Tagged by paleorthid under biosolids, business, ethics, government, news, politics, regulation, waste, yakima,

transect points: Sunnyside Wetland

paleorthid — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 07:15:00 -0400

One of my projects made the front page of the Yakima newspaper. Since the paper tends to paywall these things in short order, I thought the blog would make a handy archive. Tagged by paleorthid under consulting, farm, irrigation, land, news, regulation, wetland, yakima,

Transect points: Redox Cascade

paleorthid — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 07:12:00 -0400

Redox: soil pH's energetic dance partner. When pH changes, pE must also change in response. The reverse is true also. In soil, that response departs from simple mirroring. So much so that it can seem to be two separate dances. Soil pH and pE have different causes of change and different effective buffering agents. The term 'buffering' is replaced in a pE context - it is called poise. A stabilized soil pE system is referred to as a well poised system, differences in soil buffering versus soil poise account for the departure from 1:1 mirroring. Now for the exciting stuff. To many of us, what makes soil different than geologic material is that it is in an excited state, excited mostly by solar energy as facilitated by living processes. Unlike soil pH, soil pE is directly influenced by these energy fluxes. Tagged by paleorthid under bio-char, chemistry, pedology, wetland, soil_science,

Robert Brown & Jennifer Holmgren presentation slides (pdf)

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:42:00 -0500

Very informative Tagged by paleorthid under pyrolysis, bio-char, waste, energy, biofuel,

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from waste and biomass to energy plants -- Gutierrez et al. 23 (2): 133 -- Waste Management & Rese

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:39:00 -0500

Following the Kyoto protocol with respect to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases emissions, and EU energy policy and sustainability in waste management, there has been an increased interest in the reduction of emissions from waste disposal operations. From the point of view of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, waste incineration and waste co-combustion are very acceptable methods for waste disposal. In order to achieve very low N2O emissions from waste incineration, particularly for waste with higher nitrogen content (e.g. sewage sludge), two factors are important: temperature of incineration over 900°C and avoiding the selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) de-NOX method based on urea or ammonia treatments. The more modern selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for de-NOX give rise to negligible sources of N2O. Tagged by paleorthid under pyrolysis, bio-char, biofuel, waste, energy,

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 12:25:00 -0500

Tagged by paleorthid under freeware, utilities, review,

transect points: The Smell of Healthy Soil

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:42:00 -0500

Actinobacteria are a hyphae-producing soil bacteria that, in appearance and behavior, have more in common with soil fungi. The spores of Actinobacteria have a distinctive, earthy smell we often associate with rainfall. The smell comes from a compound, geosmin, which translates to "earth smell". The human nose is exquisitely sensitive to geosmin, able to detect it at concentrations down to 10 parts per trillion. Tagged by paleorthid under soil, bacteria, smell, health,

Tetany Season Almost Upon Us

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:23:00 -0500

Tagged by paleorthid under tetany, soil, nutrient, animal, health,

Scoop: Kelpie Wilson: 2006 Top Green Tech Ideas

paleorthid — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 01:22:00 -0500

Tagged by paleorthid under terra_preta, bio-char, environment, energy,

transect points: Triclosan, Triclocarban Concern

paleorthid — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 04:39:00 -0500

The environmental persistence of these compounds, used as an antimicrobial agent in hand soap, is remarkable. More than a million pounds of these chemicals flow into the nation's sewers every year. Between 50 and 75% of this ends up land applied as sludge. Triclocarban has been determined by the FDA as having no verifiable benefit. Despite a lack of evidence that these compounds accomplish anything beneficial, usage rate is very high among consumers. Among the households I have surveyed, it approaches saturation. It makes little sense to land apply recalcitrant compounds that needlessly get rid of soil microbes. Fomenting the growth of resistant strains of disease organisms is only one concern. Soil functional capacity is largely mediated by living processes. It is the height of folly to jeopardize those functions for a useless consumer item. Tagged by paleorthid under biosolids, health, microbiology, science, soil,

Evolution Research - General Evolution News: Metagenomics: Investigating the invisible life in our environment

paleorthid — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:32:00 -0500

Data indicates microbes have more difficulty adapting than previously thought. Tagged by paleorthid under soil, biology, genome, rna, ecology, environment, fungi, bacteria, habitat, microbiology, research, science, soil_microbiology,

Opinion: How biofuels could cut carbon emissions, produce energy and restore dead land « Not exactly rocket science

paleorthid — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 01:25:00 -0500

plant diversity and low input biomass for biofuel Tagged by paleorthid under soil, environment, co2, biofuel, research, opinion, science, carbon_sequestration, conservation,

transect points: Soil Science has Changed

paleorthid — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 04:48:00 -0500

Edaphology is the study of soil (edaphic) effects. Until about 25 years ago, it was mostly synonymous with agricultural soil science as distinguished from pedology, the study of soil in its natural setting. Edaphology now encompasses the new field of environmental soil science, with its more formal emphasis on interdependent living processes in soil. Tagged by paleorthid under soil, science, history, ecology, edaphology, environment,

USB Flash Drive Reviews, Flash Drive Ratings

paleorthid — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 02:16:00 -0500

Review roundup. Rates reviews Tagged by paleorthid under review, USB, flash_drive,

Free GIS Data - GIS Data Depot

paleorthid — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:53:00 -0500

GIS Data Depot has DRG data available for free download and, for a price, will deliver data on DVD. Tagged by paleorthid under DRG, GIS, Maps, USGS,

Libre Map Project - Free Maps and GIS data

paleorthid — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:48:00 -0500

Download DRGs as TIFF and TFW (world files) for anywhere in the USA from Libre Map Project. This interface also allows interactive feature searching so you can decide which DRG you need. Tagged by paleorthid under DRG, GIS, Maps, USGS,

USGS - Digital Raster Graphics

paleorthid — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:46:00 -0500

USGS's site on DRG Tagged by paleorthid under DRG, GIS, Maps, USGS,