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PERMACi. ET RE ACTIVIST
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<br />No. 38-A Supporting Permanent Culture in North America $1.50
<br />
<br />The Carbon Jungle
<br />
<br /> Keith D. Johnson
<br /> It's n jungle down there. Well, we hope it is. If we do our jobs
<br /> fight, a complex cacophony of soil life will appear beneath our
<br /> feet. We know that to grow soil--to increase it atmuallymwe
<br /> have to feed the lifo in it. More soil life raeans moro support for
<br /> the whole food web. And that all depends on carbom
<br /> Carbon, a soft black mineral, the sixth element on the periodic
<br /> chart, is the major building block (with hydrogen and oxygen, as
<br /> carbohydrates) of all life forms. All living organisms derive their
<br /> carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide. Plants use sunlight to
<br /> convert this ubiquitous gas into light-charged sugars
<br /> (carbohydrates) and fibers (eellulose) that in turn become
<br /> for organisms that don't pholosynthesize, e.g., hurrmng and other
<br /> animals. Everywhere on earth caflxm represents stored solar
<br /> energy--the source of it ALL. "
<br />Black Gold
<br /> It's easy to understand then how the
<br />c6ntroI and monopolization of carbon by
<br />ruling classes has defined most of human
<br />history. Whether as hard diamond
<br />brilliance, continental expanses of timber
<br />and grassland, or viscous pools of fossil
<br />crude, the combustion and consumption of
<br />carbon stores has marked the progress of
<br />civilization. Now, at this late epoch, when
<br />city~building has sway over most of the
<br />planet, it is time for us to reverse the
<br />exploitive dynamic of history. The
<br />restoration of real wealth to Nature's
<br />savings aeeoufit is long overdue.
<br />.~Yet, carbon remains key to the creation
<br />of wealth. Ecologically informed farmers,
<br />gardeners, foresters, and others have begun
<br />to understand--and apply--4he alchemy of
<br />Nature's living fire to create soil humus. It
<br />is toward this cool, slow, biological
<br />.conversion of carbon that we must now
<br />direct our a~ntion. For ii'energy is nature's currency, biological
<br />carbon is the quintessence of wealth.
<br />Biological Wisdom
<br /> The importance of replacing combustion and consumption
<br />with respiration and conservation cannot be overemphasized; in
<br />Permaeulture design this wisdom is embodied in the principle.,
<br />"Use biological resources,' for living systems are everywhere
<br />and always conserving carbon as biomass and soil humus, while
<br />converting the entropie stream of decaying solar energy into
<br />diverse forms of life. By chewing, shredding, grazing, mowing,
<br />browsing, pruning, munching, crunching, dissolving,
<br />decomposing, and excreting, all life eontribules to soil creation.
<br />In the healthiest soils, earthworm activity alone can result in the
<br />formation of one to tan tons of soil per acre per year! Accounting
<br />
<br /> for'ifiputs from all the other life forms, this begins to add up.
<br /> And, each unit of soil carbon can store four units ofwatar! So
<br /> when we bum or export our plant material, we're throwing away
<br /> both water and stored solar energy.
<br /> Nature's Business Plan
<br /> To achieve ecological arid, therefore, economic success, we
<br /> have to follow Nature's lead--store carbon. And to do that, we
<br />· must first learn to 'SEE" carbon in the landscape, then to practice
<br /> harvesting it, and finally to master cycling it through our
<br /> cultivated systems.
<br /> Carbon.is everywhere, though humid landscapes tend to have
<br /> more of it. But every human settlement, even on the edges of the
<br /> desert, is artificially humid, because we concentrate water where
<br /> we live, and consequently, carbon builds up.
<br /> What shall we look for? Carbon comes from plants, so
<br />' everything made from plants or plant parts contains carbon: trees,
<br /> logs, branches, twigs--these am/xamm's most conspicuous
<br /> carbon sinks. Wood waste, cardbea~ and paper are surplus in
<br />
<br />most of North America. Plant stalks, crop residues, grass, hay,
<br />straw, cloth and clothing, rags, and lint am all good sources of
<br />carbon. Shrubs, prunings, and fallen leaves are abundant in most
<br />· urban areas, where organic matter makes up more than_ 25 % of
<br /> the millions oftous ofwasta generated every week.
<br /> Carbon, carbon everywhere, and not a thought to sink...
<br /> So, whatta we gonna do? Lets look at a principal part of our
<br />waste stream, paper. In much of the worId it's no simple thing to
<br />come up with enough discarded newspaper and cardboard to start
<br />a mulch garden, or to make a compost pile, but here in North
<br />America we have access to mountains of the stuff. Valiant postal
<br />carriers tote tons of carbohydratas to our nmilboxes every day
<br />and we throw most of it away.
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<br />Seed Packet Attached: See page 6 for details
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<br />· ° THE PERMACULTURE ACTIVIST - MAY 1998 I
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