My wife and I recently traveled to Texas, to a little town that is the glazed brick capital of the U.S., Elgin. Elgin is a wonderful little town that hosts an annual festival called Hogeye Fest. The people are great and friendly, the atmosphere is beautiful and historic, the events are family friendly and showcase local talent. We were hosted by the founders of the first Eco-therapy facility in Texas, Casa De Miel. Their location, in the watershed of the Colorado River was part of our not-for-profit organization's (ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc.'s) long term commitment to the Austin area. Two years ago we were made aware of the need for using biochar in this area by massive floods which inundated the area. Sadly, even though they were called "historic" and "500-year floods", they returned last fall and some are beginning to wonder if these massive flood events are going to be part of a "new normal" for Central Texas. Upon our arrival, on our second trip in the Fall, we were told that they had not had any rain to speak of in Austin, for three months. We drove a round trip of over two thousand miles on our first visit and Nancy and I together added six states to our list of places we have been together.
Our route led through Wisconsin and out of this state at the Southwest corner, into Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and on our return we also saw parts of Arkansas, a different route through Missouri and finally, part of Illinois we had not bee through together before, back through a portion of Iowa we had not seen on the way down and finally, back into Wisconsin and home again. Over 2500 miles and the vast majority of the trip was new to both of us. Spending six days together in the car made me appreciate what a great travel companion Nancy is and it also gave us both great insight into the size of our nation as well as the depth and breadth of poverty that plagues virtually every area of our country. There are of course many beautiful vistas and some, relatively unspoiled parts, but where there has been development in the past, the terrible price of depression and the ultimate effects of extractive policies and practices is quite clear. Seeing our nation threadbare and rent asunder by the plundering invaders frequently made me feel sick.
I brought my entire kit and most of my caboodle for char making on the first trip last February. during that trip we were able to teach about a dozen people, who have more than 250 acres in their care, how to make and use biochar. All of the students we get on these trips have a strong interest in ecological integrity. The most recent classes, in the Fall, were able to teach more than thirty farmers who collectively manage over 1,000 acres! These were mostly market gardeners who seek the moisture retention properties of the biochar. Especially in lands where evaporation is high and rainfall is low, overcoming doughty conditions and reducing the costs associated with irrigation are paramount for them. When I teach people about biochar, typically near the end of the event, I hold out some biochar, cupped in my palm. I tell people, "This is the new black gold." Frequently, I see by their response that they don't quite understand. However, when they are from Texas, they not only understand, but heartily agree.
During our first trip, we saw homes that should be condemned that still serve as housing. We saw whole cities that once blossomed now reduced to ghost towns. We saw whole regions that have been emptied of their economic activity and that are being left to decay. We saw a town named Hope that seemed to have none left; it looked as if the only hope it ever had left with a young man who hailed from there who became President. We saw another called Preemption which looked from the highway, their main drag, like it may have been better off never having been settled in the first place. We traversed mile after mile in Oklahoma that looked like it would have been beautiful, fecund and rich had it only been left alone and in every part of the trip, existing in pockets in every state that looked like scrapyards rather than home towns, bombed out communities after a war. To say that the citizens of these places are not being served by our current systems of government, education, energy, transportation or the economy would be an understatement. The impoverished are being systematically beaten down. The hand that is crushing them, or the gilded heels of the boots are so large that the edge cannot be seen. The weight of oppression that bears down on them has the force of the unstoppable force against the proverbial immovable object. One city we stopped in for an overnight was barely able to capitalize on the passers-by on the local highway and when we went out to a restaurant for dinner, after washing my hands, they smelled so nasty that I was afraid to eat with them. It was as if the entire aquifer from which they were drawing their water had been contaminated by fungal spores. The people were great, the infrastructure was horrid. Unimaginable potential exists in the people, but they have a negative resource base. Everything of value has been extracted and nothing goes back. The ultra-wealthy have trouble parting with the spoils of their class war.
I don't want this to degrade into a diatribe about poverty and dissolution in America. For the most part, the trip was wonderful, especially the ultimate destination, about twenty-five miles East of Austin. Our hosts are wonderful, their ranch is phenomenal. As not-for-profits go, this place is as good as they can get. Their organization is building community on so many levels and so attentive to their mission that they cannot help but spread healing and recovery to every part of the community they touch. The water was tasty and the weather was great. The only complaint we had during our first trip is that for nine days, we never saw the disc of the Sun. Overcast followed us from Green Bay to Texas and back again, only giving us a brief reprieve from the misty gloom on our last travel day. In addition to making it difficult to get and retain our bearings, it moderated temperatures and provided enough scary road conditions to keep most of the locals off the roads in the colder parts of the drive. Once at the ranch, we were happy to remain grounded on the Earth and to make friends on-site. During our time staying put, we got to know a little about the native wildlife, the menagerie of critters who make their home on the ranch and spent time getting to know our hosts and meeting some of the locals as well. To be so close to a major metropolis and so close to nature was truly a blessing. Everyone we met in our travels seemed to be supremely down to Earth.
We spent several hours talking to the folks who run the ranch about their unique property and a few of the resources on-site and several more hours presenting information about the making and use of biochar with about a dozen local folks who are interested in being better stewards of the properties they own nearby. Part of the message that is contained in our biochar classes is about mimicking nature in our human culture, appreciating one another, reaching out, establishing networks and connections and the diversity we bring to a variety of problems and challenges. Each of these can, in turn, help activate one another and help solve problems or achieve solutions. Just as nature works cooperatively to solve problems, we too need to enlist an intact healthy community in the resolutions of our own, human, difficulties and challenges. As we got to the end of our stay, finishing up the class, our hosts invited us back to present this valuable information again. I'm sure that we will be back many more times, to help spread the word about biochar and re-inspire the folks who came out to these first classes.
When we got home, there was an e-mail waiting from another friend we have not met yet who wants to host a biochar class in Detroit later this Spring. We are anxious to be part of the small organic farm Renaissance that is taking place in that great city. The outreach I do for the classes is limited because I'm not on-site in the location. I like to make contacts in the local organic growers community, reach out to educational and philanthropic foundations and to reach out to local cooperatives and businesses, however when the outreach is just a phone call or e-mail, it is completely different than if I show up in-person and can look them in the eye. There are so many hustlers, players and charlatans, trying to get something that when someone comes who wants to give something back, they often do not know how to react. Seeing more of the community, as I did on my second trip in October exponentially increased both my contact list and effectiveness in setting up future relationships. In some very real ways, I am having to become an unwitting salesman. Interestingly though, over the ten years I have been teaching people this stuff, many have now heard at least something about biochar and that is a very good thing. It seems that the more people know, the more the material sells itself!
We are also requested in the Pacific Northwest this coming Spring to do similar classes and an intensive char-making process for a friend. His acreage is being managed in a principled way far beyond the requirements of "organic certification". I am sure that many more contacts will be made in the coming months/years and that the need for and availability of classes will continue to increase everywhere as people learn more about the benefits that can be had from sequestering carbon for geologic time. I still contend that I can teach anyone interested in this process how to be fully competent to do this in about three to four hours and that if that person is willing to put time into perfecting the approaches to the process as I have, they could become teachers as well. I foresee the need for hundreds, if not thousands of people like me, spreading knowledge about this ancient process far and wide.
We do need to be hyper vigilant about our data. One researcher told me that if we get serious about sequestering atmospheric carbon with biochar, fifteen, gigatons of carbon could be added to agricultural soils in the U.S. alone. I checked his math and he's wrong. His decimal point must have gotten shifted in his calculations or he is using improper application rates. The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) recommends application rates of one metric tome per acre, that puts the amount of potential sequesterable carbon from char at 0.235 gigatons. Even if this material had three times as much organically sequestered carbon living on the surfaces and in the pores of the material, as the char itself represents, we could sequester about one gigaton. Still an improvement, but that alone will not stop global climate destabilization.
When we returned in the fall of 2019, we were armed only with our Power Point and a small retort I made from two stainless steel pots I found at the local second-hand store in Austin. We had ten times as many participants and our sponsoring groups did a great job spreading the word about the classes. We also had much more time on the ground to have personal follow ups with people in the community and that too led us to making excellent in-roads to help make future events even better. We even found a fellow willing to let us use his mixing and bagging facility if we want to do more with commercialized char sales. Several doors were opened into larger institutional fixtures in the Austin area. Groups that honor and respect science and know first hand the pressures being put on the landscapes there. Again, these were ll folks who honor the integrity of natural systems. We continue reaching out through our not-for-profit, ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. to bring techniques for ecological sanity to the Colorado River Watershed. I am sure that our outreach to this area will continue for many, many more years.
Our route led through Wisconsin and out of this state at the Southwest corner, into Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and on our return we also saw parts of Arkansas, a different route through Missouri and finally, part of Illinois we had not bee through together before, back through a portion of Iowa we had not seen on the way down and finally, back into Wisconsin and home again. Over 2500 miles and the vast majority of the trip was new to both of us. Spending six days together in the car made me appreciate what a great travel companion Nancy is and it also gave us both great insight into the size of our nation as well as the depth and breadth of poverty that plagues virtually every area of our country. There are of course many beautiful vistas and some, relatively unspoiled parts, but where there has been development in the past, the terrible price of depression and the ultimate effects of extractive policies and practices is quite clear. Seeing our nation threadbare and rent asunder by the plundering invaders frequently made me feel sick.
I brought my entire kit and most of my caboodle for char making on the first trip last February. during that trip we were able to teach about a dozen people, who have more than 250 acres in their care, how to make and use biochar. All of the students we get on these trips have a strong interest in ecological integrity. The most recent classes, in the Fall, were able to teach more than thirty farmers who collectively manage over 1,000 acres! These were mostly market gardeners who seek the moisture retention properties of the biochar. Especially in lands where evaporation is high and rainfall is low, overcoming doughty conditions and reducing the costs associated with irrigation are paramount for them. When I teach people about biochar, typically near the end of the event, I hold out some biochar, cupped in my palm. I tell people, "This is the new black gold." Frequently, I see by their response that they don't quite understand. However, when they are from Texas, they not only understand, but heartily agree.
 |
| Little by little...we create change! |
During our first trip, we saw homes that should be condemned that still serve as housing. We saw whole cities that once blossomed now reduced to ghost towns. We saw whole regions that have been emptied of their economic activity and that are being left to decay. We saw a town named Hope that seemed to have none left; it looked as if the only hope it ever had left with a young man who hailed from there who became President. We saw another called Preemption which looked from the highway, their main drag, like it may have been better off never having been settled in the first place. We traversed mile after mile in Oklahoma that looked like it would have been beautiful, fecund and rich had it only been left alone and in every part of the trip, existing in pockets in every state that looked like scrapyards rather than home towns, bombed out communities after a war. To say that the citizens of these places are not being served by our current systems of government, education, energy, transportation or the economy would be an understatement. The impoverished are being systematically beaten down. The hand that is crushing them, or the gilded heels of the boots are so large that the edge cannot be seen. The weight of oppression that bears down on them has the force of the unstoppable force against the proverbial immovable object. One city we stopped in for an overnight was barely able to capitalize on the passers-by on the local highway and when we went out to a restaurant for dinner, after washing my hands, they smelled so nasty that I was afraid to eat with them. It was as if the entire aquifer from which they were drawing their water had been contaminated by fungal spores. The people were great, the infrastructure was horrid. Unimaginable potential exists in the people, but they have a negative resource base. Everything of value has been extracted and nothing goes back. The ultra-wealthy have trouble parting with the spoils of their class war.
I don't want this to degrade into a diatribe about poverty and dissolution in America. For the most part, the trip was wonderful, especially the ultimate destination, about twenty-five miles East of Austin. Our hosts are wonderful, their ranch is phenomenal. As not-for-profits go, this place is as good as they can get. Their organization is building community on so many levels and so attentive to their mission that they cannot help but spread healing and recovery to every part of the community they touch. The water was tasty and the weather was great. The only complaint we had during our first trip is that for nine days, we never saw the disc of the Sun. Overcast followed us from Green Bay to Texas and back again, only giving us a brief reprieve from the misty gloom on our last travel day. In addition to making it difficult to get and retain our bearings, it moderated temperatures and provided enough scary road conditions to keep most of the locals off the roads in the colder parts of the drive. Once at the ranch, we were happy to remain grounded on the Earth and to make friends on-site. During our time staying put, we got to know a little about the native wildlife, the menagerie of critters who make their home on the ranch and spent time getting to know our hosts and meeting some of the locals as well. To be so close to a major metropolis and so close to nature was truly a blessing. Everyone we met in our travels seemed to be supremely down to Earth.
We spent several hours talking to the folks who run the ranch about their unique property and a few of the resources on-site and several more hours presenting information about the making and use of biochar with about a dozen local folks who are interested in being better stewards of the properties they own nearby. Part of the message that is contained in our biochar classes is about mimicking nature in our human culture, appreciating one another, reaching out, establishing networks and connections and the diversity we bring to a variety of problems and challenges. Each of these can, in turn, help activate one another and help solve problems or achieve solutions. Just as nature works cooperatively to solve problems, we too need to enlist an intact healthy community in the resolutions of our own, human, difficulties and challenges. As we got to the end of our stay, finishing up the class, our hosts invited us back to present this valuable information again. I'm sure that we will be back many more times, to help spread the word about biochar and re-inspire the folks who came out to these first classes.
When we got home, there was an e-mail waiting from another friend we have not met yet who wants to host a biochar class in Detroit later this Spring. We are anxious to be part of the small organic farm Renaissance that is taking place in that great city. The outreach I do for the classes is limited because I'm not on-site in the location. I like to make contacts in the local organic growers community, reach out to educational and philanthropic foundations and to reach out to local cooperatives and businesses, however when the outreach is just a phone call or e-mail, it is completely different than if I show up in-person and can look them in the eye. There are so many hustlers, players and charlatans, trying to get something that when someone comes who wants to give something back, they often do not know how to react. Seeing more of the community, as I did on my second trip in October exponentially increased both my contact list and effectiveness in setting up future relationships. In some very real ways, I am having to become an unwitting salesman. Interestingly though, over the ten years I have been teaching people this stuff, many have now heard at least something about biochar and that is a very good thing. It seems that the more people know, the more the material sells itself!
We are also requested in the Pacific Northwest this coming Spring to do similar classes and an intensive char-making process for a friend. His acreage is being managed in a principled way far beyond the requirements of "organic certification". I am sure that many more contacts will be made in the coming months/years and that the need for and availability of classes will continue to increase everywhere as people learn more about the benefits that can be had from sequestering carbon for geologic time. I still contend that I can teach anyone interested in this process how to be fully competent to do this in about three to four hours and that if that person is willing to put time into perfecting the approaches to the process as I have, they could become teachers as well. I foresee the need for hundreds, if not thousands of people like me, spreading knowledge about this ancient process far and wide.
We do need to be hyper vigilant about our data. One researcher told me that if we get serious about sequestering atmospheric carbon with biochar, fifteen, gigatons of carbon could be added to agricultural soils in the U.S. alone. I checked his math and he's wrong. His decimal point must have gotten shifted in his calculations or he is using improper application rates. The International Biochar Initiative (IBI) recommends application rates of one metric tome per acre, that puts the amount of potential sequesterable carbon from char at 0.235 gigatons. Even if this material had three times as much organically sequestered carbon living on the surfaces and in the pores of the material, as the char itself represents, we could sequester about one gigaton. Still an improvement, but that alone will not stop global climate destabilization.
When we returned in the fall of 2019, we were armed only with our Power Point and a small retort I made from two stainless steel pots I found at the local second-hand store in Austin. We had ten times as many participants and our sponsoring groups did a great job spreading the word about the classes. We also had much more time on the ground to have personal follow ups with people in the community and that too led us to making excellent in-roads to help make future events even better. We even found a fellow willing to let us use his mixing and bagging facility if we want to do more with commercialized char sales. Several doors were opened into larger institutional fixtures in the Austin area. Groups that honor and respect science and know first hand the pressures being put on the landscapes there. Again, these were ll folks who honor the integrity of natural systems. We continue reaching out through our not-for-profit, ECO-Tours of Wisconsin Inc. to bring techniques for ecological sanity to the Colorado River Watershed. I am sure that our outreach to this area will continue for many, many more years.
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