Biochar - the future of sustainable agriculture: Lauren Hale at TEDxUCR

Lauren Hale graduated with a Bachelors of Science from North Carolina State University in 2007. During her time there she studied the use of bacteria to degrade pollutants such as gasoline additives and chlorinated solvents. In 2009 she began a Ph.D. program at the University of California, Riverside where she currently researches the suitability of biochar to deliver plant growth-promoting bacteria into agricultural soils. When she completes her Ph.D. she hopes to continue to work with biochar and beneficial microorganisms and microbial generated enzymes of environmental significance.
About TEDx:
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[@JohnPoteet]

This is a good presentation. Up here in Chico I have a small plot where a gravel road was topped with biochar mixed with compost and now we grow vegetables in it. Biochar is that good. Yes, the gravel is still there.

[@jasoncook2294]

Ok now: Do this with the biochar, it seems like a great and wonderful idea. Please combine it with growing hemp and building with hempcrete because as the hempcrete hardens it also sequesters HUGE amounts of carbon from the cellulose inside the walls. Its also stronger and lighter then concrete and doest take 25 years to grow like timber.

[@kazuomikun]

thanks for the talk, gonna try this definitely and keep track of the experimental results

[@antoniomarcosmiranda9660]

Very good Lauren. Thanks

[@vibrant151]

Biochar - an ingredient in the future of sustainable agriculture.

[@michelle778]

sustainable is not enough. we need regenerative agriculture

[@petawatson5120]

sustainable agriculture doesn't require inputs like this - it requires more naturally based regenerative land management.

[@athulabar1]

Excellent presentation!

[@jug5469]

It’s almost like somebody had an interest in this video not getting shared

[@dmppandya]

Good Talking ABout Biochar Very true and future all about climate change and here we have available Carbon Negative soooo Go for Biochar ..... Green Future Waiting for Us when we use Biochar Superb Amazing And Amazing Presentation Thank You Lauren Hale

[@APOKOLYPES]

tera preta... biochar was the solution of the past, spanish anglos killed the origional civilization builders and now anglo descendants rediscovering what they destroyed

[@fusion9619]

There are no spanish anglos. "Anglo" is from the name of a tribe that migrated into England, from the area of Denmark and Germany, over a thousand years ago.

[@bajarad]

Great presentation!

[@nadiahknisa3603]

I want to talk at TEDtalk. So inspiring for me and your presentation is good.

[@vmwindustries]

Poor woman has the sound technologists mess everything up! Lol, horrible, but she took it live, like a champion! Kept pushing through! Good on her!

[@chippychezcurlz1]

very informative and educational video Ms. Lauren Hale... more biochar topics please.. What is Teripreta? please elaborate

[@MsMajota]

Terra preta is how the indigenous people Brasil call the biochared soil where they practice their agricultural practices for thousands of years. Highly nutritious and productive soil. The soil in the Amazon forest is acidic and low in nutrients. The terra preta are a result of applying Biochar to the soil.

[@robreiken]

I live in Australia & have searched around for biochar still to no avail to find it in any nurseries etc.

[@calebread6966]

Make your own

[@TheSchmidt62]

Actually, amending with Biochar would initially take out nutrients unless it is charged first. What is the net Carbon sequestration for creating the Biochar? Pyrolysis requires heat.

[@kazuomikun]

Where can I find the plans or DIY guide to make the pyrolisis kiln (biochar kiln)?

[@davanlawford457]

Vladimir Fallas youtube search

[@tonysaladino1062]

How large an area are you interested in amending? scale makes a big difference in the type of set up you would want.

[@kazuomikun]

@@tonysaladino1062 thanks Tony, I made the double drum kiln back then in Costa Rica. My sister is currently building one in stainless with a standard design that she got from some American promoters of biochar ;)

[@NguyenTruong-dv9jo]

I am curious about the weight of biochar added into the small bucket ? does anyone know that ?

[@tonysaladino1062]

1% by weight.

[@fusion9619]

Hmm... It seems like a catch-22, but I need more information to be sure. Showing us the chemical reactions would've been nice.

[@jefffoster7365]

Can someone explain what fuel is being used to burn material at “high heat and low oxygen” levels? Sounds to me like a very high consumption of fossil fuel is required. If you want to feed the world and sequester large volumes of carbon in the soil without burning, listen to Gabe Brown, Joel Salatin and others and look at the numbers they’re creating in carbon content of their soils with multi species grazing.

[@woodcoenergy6235]

I believe its the volatile gases given off during the Pyrolysis process that is combusted and so sustains the pyrolysis process. Once the initial 'ignition' period has the material to a temperature where volatiles are starting to be expelled from the material it becomes a self-sustaining process which is one of the main advantages.

[@onewhostudies6856]

CO2 was at 460 ppm in 2007 according to Billy Meier and the Plejarens. So, it' much worse than we realize.

[@dustystahn3855]

Who paid them to do the study and where and how did they do it?

[@tonysaladino1062]

There may be concentrations that high is certain areas, but the Mana Loa volcano measurements are just hitting 420 ppm and it is April 2022.

[@IIPapaMurphII]

Let me get this straight... Biochar will reduce CO2 released into the air, but we should burn material making Biochar (on a global scale) to reduce CO2? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

[@mosesyangnemenga5266]

Interesting question that if answered could add a new perspective on biochar. I have similar questions when it comes to compost production as it requires the removal of plant residues and grasses in order to make compost. That means, these crop residues would not decompose to add nutrient to the soil. Thus, defeating the purpose of which the compost would be produce.

[@briangulyas5286]

If left to decompose on its own plant material will mostly turn to gases.

[@BeautifuLakesStreamsBiologists]

First, this may just be me, but unnecessary new names for old materials like CHARCOAL are just annoying. Second, one of the benefits for rerecognizing the benefits of CHARCOAL will be that it can be better valued in the ecology of wetlands. It also supports our ecological ( the science, not the social phenomenon ) position that marshes need to burn! We are over a century behind on burning marshes to restore their health. Excavating most natural wetlands will reveal buried layers of charcoal which can now be recognized for their important ecological value ( yes, the science again ). Now before the emotionally driven start whining about the perception of atmospheric carbon, there is a way to restore marshes without directly burning. You will all have to come to terms with heavy equipment removing peat soils to simulate the burning process. Then charcoal can be placed to fill the function of the naturally occurring charcoal. For the carbon-sensitive, this still keeps carbon in soils since the peat soils would be removed and utilized in other soils that need augmentation. To those who are up in arms about peat moss, guess what, those marshes are also suppose to burn. None of this is as simple as your local environmental group likes to claim. If anyone needs a few hundred train loads of peat soil, I know a dying 10,000 acre marsh that could use your help! A century ago it was one of the most productive ecosystems in North America.

[@BeautifuLakesStreamsBiologists]

.... and yes we will be doing more research with charcoal in the wetlands we build, as seen here tiny.cc/ponds

[@maxdecphoenix]

+Natural Ponds Lakes & Streams by Spring Creek Aquatic Concepts just want to respond to your first point, language is critical to cultural-marxism.

[@dustystahn3855]

Who paid them to do the study and where and how did they do it?

[@tonysaladino1062]

It is simply annoying when people think that removing one form of carbon, peat and replacing it with another form of carbon, char is a valid undertaking. All ecological conditions are transient, some changes happen in very short time periods, some take many millennia. we do not "need" peat to be harvested for use in soil mixes, that carbon is sequestered in place until and unless the bog burns, releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere. char not only provides all the benefits of peat, but can be made locally anywhere there is dry woody material, thus eliminating transport costs.

[@downbntout]

I don't understand. When plant matter is burnt, doesn't so much go into the sky that could have nourished the soil life? Yes lightning ignites forest fires, but don't the materials belong on and in the ground and not in the sky?

[@Matrix2458]

You are right that fires with lots of smoke put pollutants in the air, but there are methods of creating biochar that create enough heat to reburn the smoke, which leaves a very clean burn with very little smoke. It does put off some co2, but we have to compare it to what the alternative would be, fungal decay of the wood. Fungus will take that energy and respirate it, which also turns the wood into co2 and pushes it into the atmosphere. In this case, all of the stored carbon is reverted back to co2, but with pyrolysis, some of it is reverted into co2, and some of it is trapped as carbon inside the charcoal, which will stay in the soil for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. The properties of the charcoal also increase carbon sequestration relations between plants and soil microbes, so the net effect is that making charcoal reduces co2 in the atmosphere, both in the creation of it, and when it's in the soil

[@downbntout]

@@Matrix2458 still have the CO2 and other gases that belong to the soil. I still don't see why biochar is better than just burying the material

[@Matrix2458]

@@downbntout even when buried, fungus turns 100% of wood into co2 that goes back into the atmosphere

[@downbntout]

@@Matrix2458 soil microbiology is just far more complex than that

[@Matrix2458]

@@downbntout alright buddy

[@user-cl1oz5mg8h]

いつまでも来ない未来😅

[@alexanderzulkarnain3190]

what happens if charcoal absorbs nuclear radiation? anti-radiation or even keep radiation longer? which if a disaster occurs all farmers must dispose of their charcoal that has been planted for decades at a very high cost.

[@tonysaladino1062]

That's not how it works. If you don't contaminate it, you won't have a problem. Any soil contaminated with radioactive material is hazardous.

[@somethinsomethin7243]

The Earth was much warmer with much higher co2 levels....and animals still survived. The ocean was full of life. This is where much of the oil and coal come from.

[@ramachandranrcdubai6809]

We shalimar Biotech is producing Rice in the Desert Land New technology applied

[@luissarmento1179]

'Biochar' is charcoal used as fertiliser. It seems, to me, a waste to use charcoal as fertiliser when biogas (bio-methane) can be produced from the same organic waste. The bi product resulting from this process is a high nutrient fertiliser with the added value of producing natural gas with a reduced carbon footprint. Thus, to use charcoal as fertiliser misses out on one other potential use of the biomass pre carbon capturing. Furthermore, there is a growing industry focusing on the concept of cascading, reusing organic waste from other industries as input. This concept would reduce the biomass available for this industries. Good idea but it does not seem to be a long term solution.

[@symetryrtemys2101]

Actually, you can anaerobically digest organic material, produce biogas, and then turn the nutrient rich digestate residue into biochar, so you get the best of both worlds!

[@maxdecphoenix]

+Luis Sarmento biochar isn't fertilizer in the modern sense. It more of a long-term soil amendment than a "fertilizer". The hype isn't about what it adds to the soil, as much as the environment it creates in the soil and what it traps/retains. Biochar is more of a sponge than anything else when you get down to it.

[@vibrant151]

+maxdecphoenix Now you are making sense; about biochar anyway. Why bring politics into it?

[@howardlitson9796]

We suggest that you had better use soil. Dig soil. And then sprinkle gasoline on soil to 🔥 can turn into charcoal iron ore and bog iron.

[@Saroj_Rijal]

,

[@soldierofsolution]

we have seen much higher carbon di oxide in our atmoshere... MUCH higher. ... volcanoes?... Carbon tax is a sham.

[@ekcoylejr]

Tedx= global warming.

[@DavidCartuxo]

Lost me at NASA.

[@StrikeforceJedi]

My god she's cute...

[@katelynpineda8207]

I’ll let her know 😂

[@StrikeforceJedi]

@@katelynpineda8207 3 years on I'm still holding out for her 😍😘 lol is it you in the vid?? My biochar queen? 😂

[@katelynpineda8207]

StrikeforceJedi haha no it’s not me but it’s my wonderful aunt 😂

[@howardlitson9796]

Biocharcoal & biochar after all biology resources is limited. Soil resources is unlimited. Soil can trun into peat fuel similar to soil briquettes coal

[@EricRobinsoncav3manb0b]

Fire the soundman

[@mycameraview]

A typical 1870-present view on carbon emissions. How about doing some research and study what the geological record is telling us?

[@jonathanknobel3550]

mycameraview what are you saying? Not joking I really want to know.

[@paulskillman6634]

. Plactics. Totally foreign substance. The planet's curse!

[@larrystead7208]

38% of surface is covered in agriculture? What have you been smoking.

[@smb123211]

This is NOT a talk on agriculture but a long blather on hot button issues - overpopulation, environment, global warming, fossil fuels, etc. At one time a TED talk meant someone with education, experience and knowledge in the field - not a grad student spouting her solutions to the world's problems. The title is VERY misleading since there is little on the subject except photos and opinions. Very disappointed (and I have a farm) How much about farms can one learn from a university campus?

[@tonysaladino1062]

It is attitudes like yours that have led to the mass wasting of soil. I could teach you to make biochar in about three hours and by adding just 1% char by weight to your soil, about 900 pounds per acre, you would double your crop production. No doubt to continue to receive those benefits, you would have to change your cultural practices, but I'm pretty sure your attitude will find fault with my offer too. I didn't hear any blather about "hot button" issues, just facts and awareness of human history that we can trace back over eight thousand years.

[@howardlitson9796]

Soil with gasoline 🔥 can turn into artificial rock & ore

[@maxdecphoenix]

lol, the Marxists got their claws in this poor girl DEEEEEEP!

[@ianman6]

+maxdecphoenix You know the cold war is over, right McCarthy?

[@Polarcupcheck]

We are Leninist. I like violence. Soyuz nerushimmy Respublik Svobotnik. Splatila naveki velikaya Rus.

[@ekcoylejr]

+ianman6 yea the west lost.

[@tonysaladino1062]

Karl Marx didn't believe in global climate destabilization.

[@lanbuddyatgmail]

At the beginning of her presentation, She is quoting climate related conclusions and asserting things that are not proven. Climate alarmism is not science, it is politics.

[@tonysaladino1062]

That's not true. The changes we are making to the atmosphere are very alarming.

[@robthebeekeeper8997]

Love biochar but shut up with the global warming bs.

[@tonysaladino1062]

Your comment makes no sense.

[@tinybigbus1873]

Sound like your giving a 4th grade class project. I hope they didn't pay you.

[@anneofgreengables1619]

Two minutes of this woman's nonsense is enough for me.

[@tonysaladino1062]

I have been doing research on this material for fifteen years and not one word of what she said is a lie.

[@solartonytony5868]

sound/voice is horrible.....diction is of a teenager, not a uc phd student....presentation is discombobulated, fragmented, not well put together....biochar is simply one ingredient, full credit goes to terra preta, the genius, wisdom and knowledge of our ancestors native americans....

[@rikdownunda]

this speaker has no idea. very very bad. no idea. I'm now very annoyed. these people will kill us all !

[@andrewtowell6074]

No idea about what? Rotting wood releases C02 lol

[@cmwish]

Richard Fehlberg Enjoy yr chemicals :/

[@BeautifuLakesStreamsBiologists]

Richard Fehlberg I was following along until 6:50 when she claimed wood waste would convert to compost in 5-10 years. For most low nitrogen content wood, that claim is way off base. We ran our own research on finely ground wood that was continually wet for over 5 years. Finely ground wet wood will decompose faster than large dry wood. Its breakdown was nearly non-existent. This is why most wood is an excellent MULCH, not compost. Lauren needs to learn to be less of an advocate and more of a scientist to maintain credibility in these talks.

[@srgbuffalobuffalony7112]

Natural Ponds Lakes & Streams by Spring Creek Aquatic Concepts Speaking of compost, I actually co-own and manage the operations of a large facility in Buffalo NY. Took me 8 years to perfect it, research it, trial and error, LOTS of mistakes and finally 100% successful. It is managed to result in a special product that is fungal dominated, through microbial diversity, for green infrastructure projects, remediation, storm water management, etc... What her comments about wood chips tell me is that they are merely "cut/paste" - even their thoughts!!! from some websites or textbooks. Well, I doubt there are many actual "books" involved any longer. Too bad. buffalorising.com/2014/11/composting-with-a-purpose-east-buffalo-custom-composts/ facebook.com/srgbuffalo.com

[@BeautifuLakesStreamsBiologists]

Green Infrastructure Buffalo NY Buffalo NY Great! I will book mark you. We will use your products when we build a piece of water in your area. Mistakes only mean you are getting better! I never had a stomach for cut and paste "science". It usually leads down the wrong path. She is young; she has plenty of time to gain wisdom. Cheers! PS go check into your Google+ account. We added you there. It is well worth your time to become active on g+

[@eugenesteele8310]

Nonsense on a nice level

[@anchorbait6662]

I bet she probably drives her boyfriend crazy. Check that, probably drives her girlfriend crazy.

[@Mr71paul71]

Total rubbish

[@kycolonel1001]

bs then and BS now