2011/2/15 Michel Bauwens <[email protected]>:
sam, there is also an issue of population growth,
slash and burn was okay in a non-industrial society with few people, but with a population explosion, and in the context of additional problems from industrial pollution, it increasingly becomes problematic,
Michel
Agree, although this is not so much about slash and burn as the traditional indigenous culture approach which I understand was a soil restoration method that was practiced in moderation. Plus it was practiced in conjunction with either cultivation or a period of system renewal where further burning was not practiced. This is discussed extensively in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1491:_New_Revelations_of_the_Americas_Before_Co... there were deep relationships between how indigenous people terra-formed their environments, and the ecologies that emerged in North and South America. There is evidence of a change in ecologies even from the first visits of Europeans to the subsequent visits 100 years later, when it is speculated massive amounts of Native Americans died off by being exposed to European diseases. Still, there could be issues with more people doing it, I can see that point. Yet, there is also a problem with the fact that there is currently very little total worldwide human soil restoration of any kind vs the rate of soil depletion as I understand it. We are backing ourselves into some corners as a species.
2011/2/14 Samuel Rose <[email protected]>
2011/2/8 Michel Bauwens <[email protected]>:
http://www.gaiafoundation.org/content/highlights-2010-and-path-ahead
Dear Carolina,
I wonder if you had any comment on this? Is this a good thing?
Michel
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An aside: I thought it was interesting that Gaia Foundation lists http://www.gaiafoundation.org/content/biochar as a "False Solution".
Christoph Steiner has some serious research work into biochar and terra preta/terra mulata http://biochar.bioenergylists.org/?q=taxonomy/term/118 and the archaeology of biochar in Amazonia.
Janice Thies's work is also worth reading on this subject http://css.cals.cornell.edu/cals/css/people/faculty.cfm?netId=jet25
Turns out that biochar at least *was* part of the cultural heritage of indigenous peoples of Amazonia (and North America). It was even part of the very ecology itself (natural ecologies evolved and adapted to human fire activities on both continents. We can still see this today in species like the Jack Pine native to my home here in Michigan http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_22664-60337--,00.html which adapted to a landscape where indigenous peoples regularly started fires).
The contrasting argument is that the ecology of biomass in those times likely was able to easily afford regular burning, where now massive deforestation has reduced the global capacity. Still, I think the ecologies of Amazonia totally change without indigenous people and fire transforming the landscapes. It is part of the real heritage of the place from what I understand.
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-- -- Sam Rose Future Forward Institute and Forward Foundation Tel:+1(517) 639-1552 Cel: +1-(517)-974-6451 skype: samuelrose email: [email protected] http://forwardfound.org http://futureforwardinstitute.org http://hollymeadcapital.com http://p2pfoundation.net http://socialmediaclassroom.com "The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition." - Carl Sagan