The Hot Side of Biochar
The only truly important questions are whether we decide to stop catastrophic climate change and if there is time.
Twelve years ago, at our Biochar Stove Camp in Tennessee, Kathleen Draper and I started toying with the idea of a book on the non-agricultural side of biochar. We had a distinguished roster of instructors and guests. We went through the usual slides about the history and physical qualities of biochar, how it is made, and how it has been traditionally used to regenerate the life of soils, improve crop yields, resist pestilence and drought, and boost nutrient density. Of course, we also spoke about its potential to reverse climate change, demonstrated during both the Columbian Encounter in the 16th Century and the Mongol Invasion of Europe three centuries earlier.
Then we went on to explore the wilder side of biochar.
That discussion would eventually become a book for Chelsea Green Publishers — BURN: Using Fire to Cool the Earth — now in several languages and editions. The book focuses on the element carbon, how it originated in the nova of dying stars, how it forms the essential building block of…