Hi All, You can’t do Citizen Science without getting your hands dirty… So bring your gloves down to the South Seattle Community College Delridge Campus. This coming Saturday May 1st, it is time to mow and turn-in our biochar test plot’s winter cover crop. We will also be amending the 16 treatment blocks with lime. [...]

Hi folks, This week the Seattle Biochar Working group is pleased to be hosting Biochar researcher and consulting engineer Dr. Hugh McLaughlin. Hugh will be helping us hold another Seattle High School biochar and clean stove workshop. Hugh is also a volunteer consulting engineer on the biochar producing, Adam-retort project  http://www.biocoal.org/3.html ,which we will be [...]

Posted by: “Richard Haard” richrd@nas.com rchaard Sat Apr 3, 2010 10:34 pm (PDT) An ongoing interest of mine is the property of biochar to adsorb and deactivate organic molecules such as pesticides and naturally occurring inhibitors. This study shows also that Dairy Manure derived biochar has additional property of binding lead (Pb) found in contaminated soil. This property [...]

OLYMPIA – Governor Chris Gregoire and the Washington State Department of Commerce today announced recipients of grants and loans from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that include two of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Forest Biomass Initiative pilot projects. Of the $16.5 million total awarded today in grants and loans, Borgford [...]

HI CHARISTAS, PYRONEERS AND SKEPTICS ALIKE, I AM DEVOTING A LARGE SECTION OF SEACHAR’S FRONT PAGE TO  THE ONGOING “DEBATE” OVER BIOCHAR AS A TOOL FOR CARBON CYCLE MANAGEMENT. I HAVE REPORTED ON THIS BEFORE AND BELIEVE IN THE NEED FOR REAL DEBATE. UNFORTUNATELY THE MOST WELL KNOWN CRITICS OF BIOCHAR CONTINUE TO REFUSE TO [...]

Ecoroof Portland, Day 1 by Linda Velazquez March 23, 2010 Since the 1990s, Portland, Oregon, has worked hard to earn its reputation as a sustainable building pioneer.  Very socially conscious, it’s also a very young city in terms of energy and spirit.  As the host of Ecoroof Portland 2010, the City of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) [...]

http://www.springerlink.com/content/n073641q14661246/ Published in “Plant and Soil”, Springer Netherlands ISSN     0032-079X (Print) 1573-5036 (Online) Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Julie Major1, Marco Rondon2, 3, Diego Molina2, 4, Susan J. Riha5 and Johannes Lehmann1 (1)        Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA (2)        Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), A.A. 6713 [...]

We need your help! Its spring and time for another work party at the garden.  We are holding off on soil sampling until the vetch has grown a bit, but will be using recycled sisal covered with chips to mulch our paths and planting strawberries. Join the SeaChar plot crew: Sat. March 20th 10am – [...]

Reforestation, its benefits and responsibilities are for everyone.  This article is one in a series that is written for the average person so that he or she can easily learn a role.  An informed public is more likely to become active.  Deforestation must be overcome through reforestation and that is something that can be accomplished [...]

E Wash scientists study biochar for energy By KEVIN MCCULLEN TRI-CITY HERALD RICHLAND, Wash. — Scientists in Eastern Washington are at the forefront of research into an ancient practice that shows promise as a clean fuel source, a way to improve soil condition and to capture carbon that otherwise would be released into the atmosphere. [...]