We emit 37 gigatons of CO2 every year. If we turned our agricultural waste alone into #biochar, we could bring that number down by one or two gigatons. If we poured our roads with biochar and started turning waste streams like seaweed and municipal waste into biochar as well, we could get that number up to 50 or 60 gigatons of stored carbon annually. And that kind of net gain would get us back down to a safe level of 350 ppm of atmospheric CO2—in time scales of decades. Albert Bates is the author of several books on climate solutions, including Burn: Using Fire to Cool the Earth and The Biochar Solution. He is also a former environmental rights lawyer, mushroom farmer, brick mason and horse trainer. Albert cofounded the Global Ecovillage Network in 1995 and continues to serve as the organization’s representative in UN climate talks. He is also an advocate for the preservation of indigenous cultures and a leader in the movement to drawdown carbon with biochar. Today, Albert joins Christophe and Alexsandra to share his unique path from the courtroom to the ecovillage, describing how he came to study terra preta soils and get involved in the biochar movement. He discusses the pore structure of charcoal in the rich soil of the Amazon and explains why biochar remains in the soil for thousands of years. Listen in for Albert’s insight around the waste streams that could serve as biochar source material and learn about the ecovillages and cities that serve as proof of concept for using biochar to draw carbon out of our atmosphere and oceans!
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