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The Secrets of El Dorado and the Magic of Terra Preta
The Secrets of El Dorado and the Magic of Terra Preta
Documentary Film Below
altMany soil scientists insist an ancient Amerindian agrarian society will soon make a huge impact on the modern world. They say once the intricacies and formulation of the society’s “terra preta” (dark earth) is unlocked, the benefits will help stop environmental degradation and bring fertility to depleted soils. Developing and developed nations will benefit.
Orellana
The story goes that in 1542, while exploring the Amazon Basin near Ecuador in search of El Dorado, Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana began checking the area around one of the Amazon’s largest rivers, the Rio Negro. While he never found the legendary City of Gold, upon his return to Spain, Orellana reported the jungle area held an ancient civilization - a farming people, many villages and even massive, walled cities.
Later explorers and missionaries were unable to confirm Orellana’s reports. They said the cities weren’t there and only hunter-gatherer tribes roamed the jungles. Orellana’s claims were dismissed as myth.
Scientists who later considered Orellana’s claims agreed with the negative assessments. The key problem, they said, was large societies need much food, something Amazonia’s poor soils are simply incapable of producing. And without agriculture, large groups of people are unable to escape a nomadic existence, much less build cities.
The Secret of El Dorado is 45 minute documentary examining this ancient Amazon Civilizations and the Terra Preta
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Give to Replanting the Rainforests
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Creating Sustainably Managed Permanent Rainforests Habitats Hectare by Hectare
Please use the Chip In Widget at the right to make your contribution!
Your contribution to Earth Day Birthday and the Replanting the Rainforest Program can truly make a difference no matter the size of your donation. Your donations support the Willie Smits Reforestion Project at Saboja Listeria in Borneo or the Playa El Rey Reforestation Project in Costa Rica.
Our project is slated to break ground, (provided the funding is in place), in late June that includes selective reforestation of a severely deforested area while conserving its rich biodiversity as well as health and education projects for the local communities.
We are accepting donations on-line through the donation widget in the right hand column right here on the web site.
You can make a difference just by giving $10. You can multiply your impact by asking 10 more people to give $10. Please consider sending this message to those that you know care for our planet.
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$1,000- Will be pooled with other contributors to rehabilitate a specific Hectare of Rainforest
$2,500- Will permanently rehabilitate one acre of rainforest habitat.
$5,000- Will permanently rehabilitate one hectare of rainforest habitat.
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Carbon Sequestration and Storage in Soils Could Solve Global Warming
Soils contain more than twice as much carbon as the atmosphere according to estimates (Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations, FAO). Increasing the amount of carbon naturally stored in soils could provide the short-term bridge to reduce the impacts of increasing carbon emissions until low-carbon and sustainable technologies can be implemented. A group called Soil Carbon, based in Australia, makes the case for soil carbon storage in a presentation available in English, German, Spanish, Italian, Mexican and Portuguese. The Soil Carbon report includes impressive photographs, such as those above, demonstrating the difference between well-managed and poorly managed soils.
The Soil Carbon report
makes a good read in a powerpoint format rich in pictures, and is an
easy introduction to a complex topic for the interested layman. The
more scientifically oriented, and truly committed, will want to review
the FAO report, Carbon Sequestration in Dryland Soils which goes much more in depth in the science and facts behind soil carbon.
The FAO report sheds some doubt on the optimism in the figures presented by Soil Carbon. For example, Soil Carbon calculates the potential for CO2 sequestration in soil by starting from the assumption that soil organic matter can be increased 1% of the total weight of the soils to a depth of 1 meter. By this calculation, Soil Carbon claims a potential increase of 47 tons of carbon per hectare. As reasonable as a simple “1 % increase” may sound, it appears not to be scientifically valid.
Carbon Sequestration
According to the FAO (FAO report, page 28): the carbon content of dryland soils is estimated to be 4 tons/hectare. Carbon content ranges between 7 tons and 24 tons in normal (non-depleted) soils, depending on the climate zone and vegetation. Studies show that non-degraded savannahs can have up to 18 tons C/hectare (top 20 cm). Based on this, one can conclude that an increased carbon sequestration of 18 - 4 = 14 tons/hectare is the most optimistic potential achievement, well under the 47 tons/hectare that Soil Carbon suggests is achievable. Nonetheless, the FAO report point out that increasing the carbon content by only 1.5 tons/hectare on 2 billion hectares of degraded lands could balance out predicted increases in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere due to annual emissions increases. (FAO report, page 6) This would buy time while fossil-fuel free technologies are developed.
Soil
Carbon also targets exclusively the use of ruminant grazing as a soil
restoration method. This is only one of many methods, which must be
used in combinations depending on the local conditions. As much as the
beef lovers amongst us may cheer the finding that cattle are an
essential part of a healthy farming eco-system, the FAO points out that
there is a large amount of disagreement about the value of ruminants in
soil carbon cycling. That manure is the most efficient manner to
incorporate carbon into soils is undebated. But some studies point out
that feed must be grown on adjoining land, thereby depleting it, so the
carbon added to one piece of land is in effect merely displaced from
other land, rather than a net positive addition. The question of
methane production, a 23-times more potent greenhouse gas than carbon
dioxide, must also be considered. Somehow humorous in the multi-faceted
evaluations required to make good decisions is the statement in the FAO
report that when conducting carbon audits: “it is essential to remember
that the purpose of agriculture is to feed people.”
The most interesting facet of the FAO report for the non-scientist may be the discussions of using funding available from carbon offsetting to implement soil restoration projects and help farmers apply methods which benefit soil carbon levels. The additional income from carbon offsetting would help alleviate poverty, and the more productive farming possible after restoration of soils could break farmers out of the cycle of land depletion for mere survival. Although the development of accurate models to measure carbon offsets and the implementation of measures to reduce the risk of reversal of the gains present obstacles, the prospect of carbon sequestration in soils is a win-win for developed and developing nations.
Thank you for Supporting the Replanting the Rainforests Program
The
Replanting the Rainforests program was developed by the Eco
Preservation Society and is implemented in conjunction with Orangutan
Land Trust,and Plant a Tree Today Foundation, with additional
organization lining up for the program. We are presently running the
Earth Day Birthday Gift to Our Planet Campaign in support of the
program.
After a successful pilot program in 2009, we are rolling out a ten-year program to "Turn the Tide on Global Deforestation, with the kick off centered around Earth Day.
A Revolution in Social Media
The Replanting the Rainforests program represents a revolution in Social Media. With a social media network of more than 500,000 environmentally conscious individuals across the globe the Eco Preservation Society has developed a social media platform to link active reforestation projects with Conservationists, Biologists, Students, Interns, Volunteers, Eco Travelers and Sponsors.Not another Conservation Program
RTR is not a Conservation Program. Conservation is critical, but 80% of the planets native forests are gone and conservation is no longer enough.
Not another Tree Planting Program
This is not simply Tree Planting program. There are several other tree planting programs, but these programs are fatally flawed. These programs do not have control of the lands where the trees are planted and in most cases the trees are planted in areas that have a history of deforestation.
Sustainably Managed Permanent Rainforest Habitats TM
The Replanting the Rainforest Program creates Sustainably Managed Permanent Rainforest Habitats TM. Within these habitats both sustainable forestry and permagriculture techniques will be employed that will as close as possible mimic natural processes so as not to upset the continuity of the forest environment. The natural array of biodiversity is meticulously safeguarded, while at the same time we create the economic engine necessary to prevent the un-sustainable exploitation of the resource.
Our focus is to find under-producing agricultural lands, cattle ranches and degraded forests and restore them to more natural conditions. Our methods include analog forestry, wildlife habitat enhancement, biomass carbon negative energy production, biochar soil augmentation and edible forest gardens.
2010 Critical Need Projects
Project: Thailand - Khao Yai Park
Project: South Africa - Table Mountain National Park
Project: Borneo - Concession Reforestation Project
Project: Costa Rica - Manuel Antonio National Park / El Rey Beach National Reserve
Coming Soon
Project: India
Project: Sumatra
Project: Bali
Project: Belize
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Global Participation
All of this is made possible by global participants like you. By making a small contribution, you join together with others from around the planet to effect change on a grand scale. Remember that effecting change happens in big ways like the "Turning The Tide" project, but it also happens in the seemingly small everyday choices you make that add up in the same way.
