Video - Greenpeace - How cattle ranching is destroying the Amazon rainforest

BioChar and the wonders of the soil.

Look after the soil, keep it chemical free, and it will look after you.



Thanks to Replanting the Rainforest and EcoInteractive for the heads up on this fascinating video and the following excerpts.

"What is Biochar? Biochar is charcoal that is created by heating biomass (plants) under low oxygen conditions, which sequesters the plants’ carbon, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. When Biochar is used to amend soil, the resulting Terra Preta sequesters more carbon, increasing its own volume. The activity of friendly microorganisms, called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, increases as well. The fungi spread beyond the original carbon, fix additional carbon, stabilize the soil and assist in nutrient uptake by plants. Biochar also improves soil fertility, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers. It conserves water, prevents erosion and acts as a natural carbon filter for water by removing chemicals from runoff.

Biochar is inert and remains in the soil for thousands of years. It cannot be cut down, burned down, nor is it susceptible to erosion. It is self-renewing.

Biochar could be a solution for:

• Hunger and Food Insecurity
• Deforestation and Biodiversity Loss
• Excess Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere
• Methane and Nitrous Oxide emissions from soil
• Renewable Energy"

BT Cotton kills the soil

Recent research by Navdanya, the research organization set up by world renowned scientist Vandana Shiva, has shown that BT Cotton, Mon 810 produced by Monsanto, destroys the ecology of the soil by killing vital microorganisms necessary for the transfer of nutrients from the soil to the plant. Read more at the Navdanya site:


Bt Cotton: weaving a web of infertility

here is an excerpt;
"Navdanya's study was conducted in Bt cotton growing areas of Vidharbha, comparing the microbial biomass in the soil of Bt cotton fields with that of fields that grew other crops or other types of cotton. The survey found statistically significant drops in 2 microbes and 3 beneficial enzymes. These results are significant as it provides scientific evidence that Bt Cotton is making the soil infertile by decreasing microbial activity, and thus essentially killing the very soil that the crop is grown in. Additionally this proves that industrial agriculture creates a relentless cycle of despair as industrial agricultural products deteriorate soil fertility that then necessitates intensified fertilizer and agricultural application, which ultimately results in increased farmer's costs and soaring debts. It is interesting to note that the study was conducted in a region which has shown an alarmingly high rate of farmer suicides, a shocking 20,000 in the past 5 years. Finally, the fact that Bt cotton crops decreases microbial activity in the soil portends a future of sterile soil that may result in massive desertification and loss of arable land in the future in a time where food security is evermore essential."

image Source: The Hindu, Nov 13th, 2003