The Ithaka Journal

Talking to machines started with binary code. Later, coded computer languages like Basic and Pascal were interpreted by the computer so that the machine could understand. Python and Java got closer to human language but were still code. Today, we speak and the machine writes the code itself. Sixty years of programming history show that this is not the disruption it appears to be — but its consequences reach far beyond software, it opens the scientific method to the many.

Does it make a difference for the climate if I compensate my annual 10 tonnes of CO₂ emissions by purchasing 5 tonnes of biochar and applying them to one hectare of our vineyards? Or better yet, should I offset all 80 tonnes produced by the whole family — including the grandparents? That would amount to 40 tonnes of biochar. Every year! At current prices, that would amount to more than €40,000 annually — or €2 million over 50 years.  

This one’s worth watching: Jeff Bezos, speaking on stage at a New York Times event, explains how pleased he is about the deregulation ushered in by the new U.S. administration—and how, despite all previous regulatory efforts, life on Earth today is better than in any prior era of human history.

Initially only used in agriculture, the range of uses for biochar now covers a wide range of different fields, giving this plant-based raw material the chance to make the most of its positive properties. Wherever biochar is specifically used even for industrial purposes, the carbon taken from the atmosphere in the form of CO2 can be stored for long periods or at least used to replace fossil carbon sources.

A simple but ingenious invention finally allows each farmer and gardener, everywhere in the world, to produce for themselves a sufficient quantity of high quality biochar. With reasonable investment and some know-how of the charmaker’s craft, farmers can produce in one afternoon a cubic meter of high quality biochar. This democratization of biochar production will be a key strategy to closing the agricultural production loop for small farmers.

Biochar, a highly porous material produced from plant waste, is mostly used in agriculture as a soil conditioner, in livestock farming as a feed supplement, and in metalworking as a reducing agent. It can also be used for cleaning "grey water", as an absorber in sports clothing, in batteries and many other uses (see 55 Uses of Biochar). The latest developments at the Ithaka Institute are now focusing on its use as a building material. Why? As well as having excellent insulating properties, improving air quality, being able to soak up moisture and protect from radiation, biochar also allows buildings to be turned into carbon sinks....

In a vineyard field experiment it was demonstrated that Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast can be adsorbed from the soil by the roots of Vitis vinifera subs. vinifera and transported via vine to the stems and surface of the grapes. To exclude any extrinsic yeast contamination, the ripening grapes were sterilized and wrapped in plastic bags. Eleven active dried yeasts from different companies were then spread onto the vineyard soil. At four different time points, grape samples were taken under sterile conditions, crushed, and fermented without further inoculation. The yeasts in the fermented musts were characterized by PCR fingerprinting...

The effect a wine cellar's climate has on the quality and complexity of a wine has up to now been greatly underestimated. Only now are we beginning to realise that decisive factors for a good wine are not just temperature, but also humidity. As a result, the Delinat Institute has developed a new form of plaster made of biochar and clay, with which an optimal cellar climate for the production of natural wines can be achieved.

90% of the biochar produced in Europe is used in livestock farming. Whether mixed with feed, added to litter or used in the treatment of slurry, the positive effect of biochar very quickly becomes apparent. The health - and consequently the well-being - of the livestock improve within just a short space of time. As regards nasty smells and nutrient losses, the use of biochar could even herald a new age of livestock farming, closing agricultural cycles of organic matter.

Many thousands of clay houses crumbled during the recent earthquakes in Nepal. But that did not happen because of insufficient strength of the clay as a building material, but rather because basic construction rules were disregarded. Gernot Minke, an international expert on clay building, explains in this interview how to build clay houses that resist earthquakes even better than many concrete buildings. He also describes what construction errors should be avoided to make sure your house will keep you safe when the earth starts to shake again in Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan or anywhere in the world.

Pack your fruits and vegetables in a biochar box, double their shelf life then compost the boxes with the leftovers and make Terra Preta in your backyard. Biochar paper and cardboard might become the most influential invention to mitigate climate change while reducing organic residues sent to landfills.

Biochar is one of the oldest soil amendments in the history of agriculture. However, with the advent of modern agro-chemistry, the agronomic value of biochar got rapidly into oblivion. Only lately, when biochar got into focus as climate mitigation strategy, it’s function as soil amendment and nutrient carrier was rediscovered. All the more its fascinating to see that at the onset of modern agricultural chemistry in the 19th century, the use of charcoal was still and already known as key method to restore carbon to soil as well as for plant and soil nutrient cycling.

The poultry industry is struggling more and more with livestock disease. Often this can be traced back to microbial pathogens and ammonia in the litter. The addition of highly porous biochar can serve to reduce toxic ammonia pollution in the coops and regulate the moisture level of the litter. The biting coop odour and foot pad dermatitis in the poultry can be prevented within just a few days. If biochar is included in the feed, toxins can be deactivated already in the digestive system. The intestinal flora is positively activated, and the vitality of the animals improves rapidly and markedly.

The secret of Terra Preta lies not solely in its use of biochar, but rather in a societal system that has internalized the importance of closed nutrient cycles in nature. Only by means of conscious recycling of all accumulating waste matter could the otherwise nutrient poor tropical soils allow for population densities which exceed present-day Bangladesh, the Netherlands or Japan.

The current imbalance in the world's carbon and nitrogen cycle is not just the main cause of climate change, but also a direct threat to ecosystems through eutrophication, desertification and a decline in biodiversity. Re-balancing through regularly recycling organic material with its carbon, nitrogen and phosphor content is needed. Biochar has the potential to play a key role, as it not only converts the carbon found in a wide range of biomasses into a stable form, but also binds volatile nutrients from biomass residues, thereby recycling them for agricultural use. Though still "early days" for biochar, the prospects for its use...

Glyphosate is the main active substance used in most commercial herbicides. It poisons not only plants, but also animals and humans. When testing for glyphosate contamination in an urban population, a German university found significant contamination in all urine samples with levels 5 to 20 times above the legal limit for drinking water.

In 2011, several new field-scale experiments with biochar in vineyards were set up by the Delinat Institute. In addition to the institute's own site in Valais (Switzerland), long-term field experiments were also undertaken in three representative vineyards in France, Spain and Italy. The primary aim was to investigate the influence of biochar on vine growth and grape quality under various climatic and soil conditions. An analysis of preliminary results reveals a mixed picture and underlines the importance of biological and mineral activation of biochar.