Paul Wildman

In order to look and act forward to a solution to today’s problems we must first look back to its origins.

Paul Taylor (2010:3)

The goal of futures is not to predict the future but to improve it.

Edward Cornish (2004:65) quoted in Dick and Wildman (2011:9)

Introduction

This “action research work in progress” report involves drawing insights from my field notes and learning circle experience made over a four year period. During this time, I worked along several bush mechanics involved in Biochar development, and trialed a Hydroponics/Biochar experiment.

By Biochar I mean the production, distribution and application of ‘agricultural charcoal’ primarily made with low temperature pyrolysis, in and for the domestic (household or Oikonomia) sector.

Work In Progress

Now to detail some aspects of the Works In Progress within this overall Biochar Action Research Project:

A) Working alongside the originator of the initiative, now called Australian Biochar Industries a not for profit social venture, Dolph Cooke and getting before, during and after views.

B) An ongoing Exemplar Project is the Biochar Project site at Kunghur in Northern New South Wales, Australia which seeks to synergise Bush mechanicing and Biochar in the Hill Of Abundance¹. To my knowledge, this is an Australian first.

C) In terms of the learning circles I have developed the Action Learning Circles referred to in this report, in co-operation with Learning Circles Australia. This involved applying my experience in developing Action Learning Circles for Community Economic Development (Wildman and Schwencke, 2003) to this current project (Wildman, 2011). As of November, there have been a full cycle of six action learning circle meetings with action and reading in the fortnight between each meeting. All up this comes to about 50hrs per participant.²

Final field results from this WIP should be known in early 2012. Early field results are hopeful, practical and most reassuring; some are presented in the brief below. Such outcomes are possible because the period between circle meetings permitted experiments in kiln and retort fabrication and field trial plantings to occur, as indeed they have. For instance, the following picture is of a plot of one of the ALC participants, taken one month after planting. The three rows nearer the camera are those with Biochar. The remaining four rows away from the camera are the control group with normal local soil without Biochar³.

Location: Border Ranges - inland Northern NSW @ 09-2011. Photo: P. Wildman

D) The overall project has detailed the links between the Biochar Action Learning Circles and the Millennium Project’s 15 Global Challenges (see Appendix A⁴ where they are listed GC1 to GC15). Particular Global Challenges of relevance are sustainability (GC1) whereby Biochar can act as a coral reef in one’s garden attracting all the ‘best bugs’ to its billions of microspores for nutrition of surrounding micro-organisms; clean water (GC2), whereby Biochar has been used as a grey water filter that can then be used in the garden; and sustainable energy (GC13) whereby the gases from the burn off can provide heat and even the capability to drive motors. For example, this was the case in the Great Depression when cars and even tractors were powered by Biochar-gas. The last Global challenge of relevance is ethical markets (GC7) whereby Biochar can be used in a pilot sense to help provide part of the ‘green’ economic base for several ‘right livelihood’ small businesses/social ventures. Here ‘black’ is the new ‘green’.

E) My intent, early in 2011, Brisbane Australia, was to see if it would be possible to set up a gardening system that could feed a couple that was: No dig, No weeds, No Watering, No bugs, No bending, No electricity, No pumps, No room and most importantly No weeds. Sound impossible? Would this be possible and would it work? Yes and here are the results to prove it.

Basically it’s an Autopot system with gravity feed nutrients (Ionic Grow) set up outside under shadecloth (32% up to 40% will work, 30% absolute minimum) on Bunning’s tables hung over the railing on my deck in Northside suburban Brisbane (30mts north from the City Centre).

These are the results⁵ from the 3 month field trial: What I have found is that the:

1. Overall Hydrochar experiment results were very positive.
2. Growth was about twice the control pots + of course hydroponics growth rates, with this system, are about twice in ground growth rates so we are looking at a growth rate four times that for ground plants.
3. Root system in the Hydrochar pots was 3-4 times more substantial than that in the control pots (first picture below cp. the second picture)
4. Root system as closely matted and had retained all the smaller granulated Biochar almost as if it was feeding off, and with, the Bio-char rather than as per normal, and feeding exclusively off the Hydroponic nutrient.
5. Hydrochar lettuce were still producing feed leaves, at the completion of the test period whereas those in the hydroponic control pots had all run to seed.

Root system with hydrochar

Root system without hydrochar

NB: Dear Readers: I in no way claim to be an agronomist. Rather I am, at best, a hobby hydroponicist – this experiment is more by way of exploring the issue – can Biochar be used efficaciously in Hydroponics? Further field trials are needed.

F) Key further outcomes of the past decade spent in the Action Research project have been the focusing through the revamping of the Biochar and Bush Mechanic websites as well as the development of this eZine to reflect the transition from text to screen, with the inclusion of social networking technologies (see icons on the top right hand side of our Adult Learning website), the completion of eBook2 on Chiro-learning, and as Work In Progress a small migration to Social Networking Technology with a uTube channel and a Weebly Blog as the locus of authenticity in our post textual age shifts from text to screen. See http://www.kalgrove.com/adultlearning/ .

G) This Chiro-learning path of Low Tech – High Ingenuity is a form of Critical Futures Praxis and represents a third path of Learning that may also contribute to the potential for braiding Action Learning, Learning Circles and Sustainability and possibly the emergence of KALGROVE as a functioning pedagogical institute. A path that is not ‘top down education’ as in schools and universities, nor is it ‘competency conditioning training’ as in TAFES and Vocational Education, rather it is ‘bottom up learning’ through informal structured methods such as ‘learning circles’.

Such that, in conjunction with the Dick and Wildman (2011) article, to appear in a later issue, this short piece has sought to present a concrete work in progress report demonstrating a particular interpretation of CRAFT. It is hoped that even to some small extent that this Work In Progress Report may elicit replication studies, which can in time become intrinsic to, and practically demonstrate the benefit of, the field(s) of Action Learning, Action Research, Bush Mechanics and perhaps most importantly Biochar.

Some broader reflections

I call this overall approach ‘chiro’, or hand oriented, Action Learning which, I argue offers the opportunity of developing a body of expertise that can stand us in good stead in any future emergency as we head to what many see as an onrushing post-apocalyptic world. I submit that in such a world, if we are to survive, will have to be in large part ‘made by hand’. Kunstler (2008), McCarthy (2006). Today we see movements in response to this all around us such as Transition Towns, Permaculture, Powerdown, Zero Emissions, Sharehood, Bush Mechanic and so forth.⁶

Present indications are that our grandchildren will face this post-apocalyptic world. Even Wikipedia and US, UK and Aus. TV have programs on: Apocalypse Man, Burning Man, Garbage Warrior, Escape from Experiment Island and Junkyard Wars. Indeed few of these above future threatening issues and NGO responses were in the public domain when this research project was commenced four years ago. And for an extended period the public saw little, if any, relevance was seen in this ‘off grid’ work however now, if I may say, the world is rapidly ‘warming’ to the concept. The grid is the darling of history – however this is about to change and Biochar is part of the reason why.

In Australia there is a term for someone who links thinking and doing, and uses their hands to act forward wisely by crafting projects that solve problems with what is available while developing innovations in the field that respond to broader needs ~ a Bush mechanic. Wildman (2005:1).

So by ‘bush mechanic’ I mean ‘chiro’ by which I mean ‘handmade’ by which I mean the ‘domestic sector’ (as counterpointed with the ‘corporate-industrial complex’), by which I mean Aristotles ‘Oikonomia’ or Home Economics from 2500BP (again as counterpointed with the financial economy or ‘love of money’ Chrematistics). The Bushy is often seen pejoratively, especially those bush mechanics in Indigenous Communities. I strongly submit that the Aussie Bush mechanic, though a dying breed, has not only a deep and ancient heritage but also a lot to offer our children’s children. If our children can ever grab hold of their ‘dignity of risk’ and be permitted to leave their cotton wool cocoons and light a match, or pick up a spanner, fork or needle, and act. Batty (2001), WMA (2002).

This interface between Action Learning, Biochar and the Bushy I submit can now be part of our ‘practical hope’ for our children’s positive future.

Paul Wildman is collecting exemplar projects. CRAFT’ers who would like their projects included and recognised through CRAFT are invited to contact him at paul@kalgrove.com and view progress in the research project on http://www.kal.net.au/ and in particular http://www.kalgrove.com/adultlearning/ as well as below.⁷

Appendix A: Explaining the Millennium Project

The MP, the only global futures watch project, was founded in 1996 in the US after a three-year feasibility study. Originally it was sponsored jointly by the United Nations University, Smithsonian Institution, UNDP, EPA, Futures Group International and the American Council for the UNU. It is now an independent non-profit global participatory futures research think tank of futurists, scholars, business planners, & policy makers who work for international organizations, governments, corporations, NGOs, & universities. The Millennium Project manages a methodical and cumulative process, participated in by over 3000 futurists and scholars and organisations from about 50 countries around the world. The Project then collects and assesses judgments from over these people and organisations since the beginning of the project selected by its 50 Nodes around the world. The work is distilled in its annual ‘State of the Future’, ‘Futures Research Methodology’ series, as well as special and sponsored studies and methodologies.

Phase 1 of the feasibility study began in 1992 with funding from U.S. EPA to identify and link futurists and scholars around the world to create the initial design of the Project and conduct a first test on population and environmental issues. In 1993/94 during Phase II, a series of reports were created on futures research methodology and long-range issues important to Africa, funded by UNDP. Phase III, conducted in 1994/95 under the auspices of the UNU/WIDER and funded by UNESCO concluded with the final feasibility study report. Today, the Project accomplishes its mandate by connecting individuals and institutions around the world to collaborate on research to address important global challenges (also please see the list below). Since 1996, about 3,000 futurists, scholars, decision makers, and business planners from over 50 countries contributed with their views to the Millennium Project research through a Delphi technique and indicate a non-prioritised list of critical some 15 Global Challenges that need to be addressed by 2045

The project is not a one-time study of the future, but provides an annual review through its on-going capacity as a geographically and institutionally dispersed think tank. It was selected among the 100 Best Practices by UN Habitat, among best 7 foresight organizations by US Office of Energy, eleven of the thirteen annual State of the Future reports were selected by Future Survey as among the year’s best books on the future, and the international journal Technological Forecasting & Social Change dedicates several entire issues to the annual State of the Future Report. Glenn and Gordon (2010).

The challenges are aimed at Governmental and organisational decision makers so relevant actions are also included. ⁸

GC 1: How can sustainable development be achieved for all?

GC 2: How can everyone have sufficient fresh water without conflict?

GC 3: How can global population and resources be brought into balance?

GC 4: How can genuine democracy emerge from authoritarian regimes?

GC 5: How can policy making be made more sensitive to global long-term perspectives?

GC 6: How can the global convergence of information and communications technologies work for everyone?

GC 7: How can ethical market economies be encouraged to help reduce the gap between rich and poor?

GC 8: How can the threat of new and re-emerging diseases and immune micro-organisms be reduced?

GC 9: How can the capacity to decide be improved as the nature of work and institutions change

GC 10: How can shared values and new security strategies reduce ethnic conflicts, terrorism, and the use of weapons of mass destruction

GC 11: How can the changing status of women help improve the human condition?

GC 12: How can trans-national organised crime networks be stopped from becoming more powerful and sophisticated global enterprises?

GC 13: How can energy demands be met safely and efficiently?

GC 14: How can scientific and technological breakthroughs be accelerated to improve the human condition?

GC 15: How can ethical considerations become more routinely incorporated into global decisions?

To cite this document:

Wildman, P. (2011). Global Futures Praxis: Work In Progress Report on the relevance of Biochar Action Learning Circles as a means to address several of the Millennium Project’s Global Challenges. CRAFT. Brisbane. 7pgs.

Key Words: Millennium Project, Biochar, Artificer Learning, Action Learning Circle, Hydroponics

References

Web (all web addresses accessed 10-2011)

Pedagogical Institutes/Learning Enrichment Foundations that embrace ‘chiro oriented pedagogy’ seen in Kids and Adults Learning: http://www.21learn.org/ Canada; http://www.swaraj.org/whatisswaraj.htm India, and possibly eventually www.kal.net.au Australia click on ‘Adult Learning’ or go direct http://www.kalgrove.com/adultlearning/ .

http://www.bioneers.org/ bioneers – practical biomimicry.

http://www.bushmechanics.com/ Warlpiri Media Association media site [WMA. (2002)].

Text

Batty, D. (2001). Motorcar Ngutju, The Chase, Payback, the Rainmakers. Bush mechanics ~ the Series. Australia: ABC Video. DVD 2hrs approx.

Dick, B. and P. Wildman. (2011). Critical Futures Praxis: futures, action research and change. Unpublished. 28pgs. Available from the authors.

Glenn, J. and T. Gordon (2010). 2010 State of the Future. Washington, DC, World Federation of UN Associations (WFUNA). 100pgs with DVD.

Kunstler, H. (2008). World Made by Hand. New York: Grove Press. 320pgs.

McCarthy, C. (2006). The Road. New York: Picador. 300pgs.

Taylor, P., Ed. (2010). The Biochar Revolution: Transforming Agriculture and Environment. Victoria – Australia: Global Publishing Group. 364pgs. http://biochar-books.com/TBRDetails

Wildman, P. (2011). BioChar Action Learning Circles: toward a future Nature can live with. Action Learning Circles based on Paul Taylor’s The BioChar Revolution book (2010). P. Wildman. Brisbane: The Kalgrove Institute. with Topic Guides – 40pgs. With six topics each of 5 pages.

Wildman, P. and H. Schwencke (2003). Your Community Learning – action learning circles for learning and earning through community economic development. Brisbane, Community Learning Initiatives and Prosperity Press: Multi Media CD Rom with explanatory booklet explaining action learning and including cross walk between community economy development questions and ALC topics integrated through Community Economy Development Actions. Brisbane: Prosperity Press and Life Long Learning Council of Qld. (then Community Learning Initiatives).

WMA. (2002), see Web section.

1 See http://biocharproject.org/charmasters-log/hill-of-abundance-update/ for more information.

2 (Dr. Mark Brophy http://studycircles.net.au/ ), industry expert and author; Dr Paul Taylor (2010) (http://biochar-books.com/TBRDetails ), Biochar entrepreneur; and CharMaster Dolph Cooke (http://biocharproject.org/ ).

3 For further information on these Action Learning Circles please see http://biocharproject.org/education-2/biochar-action-learning-circle/ and http://biocharproject.org/community/biochar-learning-circles/ . Most encouragingly in October, on the basis of these results and the way the Learning Circles sought to address several of the Millennium Project Global Challenges the group received a Millennium Project Node Award, see http://biocharproject.org/biochar-in-the-news/united-nations-millenium-award-biochar/ .

4 Backgrounding The Millennium Project: www.stateofthefuture.org .

5 I used an Australian Autopot system of six pots. Two of these had a 50/50mix of perlite and activated Bio-char – the Bio-char was itself a 50/50 mix of small chunks mixed with a granulated powered type + two were control pots with 100% Perlite and the same plants at the same time as the Hydrochar experiment – using principles from Paul Taylor’s 2010 book The Biochar Revolution.

6 Transition Towns (http://transitiontownsaustralia.blogspot.com/ ), Permaculture (http://permaculture.com.au/online/ ), Powerdown, Zero Emissions (http://beyondzeroemissions.org/ ), Sharehood (www.sharehood.org ), Bush Mechanic (http://www.kalgrove.com/adultlearning/ ) and so forth.

7 http://biocharproject.org/news/ ; http://biocharproject.org/education-2/biochar-action-learning-circle/ and http://biocharproject.org/community/biochar-learning-circles/

8 See http://www.millennium-project.org/millennium/challeng.html and www.stateofthefuture.org

One initiative I have become interested in over the past two years is community gardening, and I have subsequently experimented with hydroponics and Biochar. These have been published elsewhere in this eZine.

On Friday 7th November 2011, as a volunteer bus driver I took the Nundah Men’s Shed¹ members to the Labrador Men’s Shed² and spent the day being shown over the premises by their president, Frank Law. One initiative I noticed was the conversion of old LP gas bottles to a camping stove for use in developing nations such as Vanuatu. The project is under the general auspice of Peter Fearnside and several hundred have been taken over there and also to India and some other countries I forget.

LP Gas Bottle as Camping Stove

Dolph's Men Shed Demo

Subsequently in discussions I suggested to Peter the idea of a modification to enable the gas bottle stove to make Biochar. This was most warmly and practically embraced by Peter and subsequently basic plans were discussed and developed. Prior to this I had Skyped my Biochar colleague Dolph Cooke of the Aust Biochar Project in Northern NSW about the possibility of the modification. He said ‘yes’: he had designed one and had wanted to find a group to test this on. This modification would then allow the production of Biochar which can be put back into the soil and improve its fertility – thus, to an extent, closing the cycle. Plus with proper preparation one can get a second burn with the charcoal so that actual use of the bio-source-stock wood is reduced.

I then met with Frank Law and the gas-bottle-stove project leader Peter Fearnside and team Robert Decolle and Roger Wilcox, and the Biochar adviser Dolph Cooke and planned a ‘proof of concept’ stove. The Nundah Lions Club Meeting has allocated $250 for the proof of concept modification and its testing jointly with the Labrador Men’s Shed and Australian Biochar Project³.

Biochar stove - Peter's invention

Prototype #3

Peter Fearnside loading for a burn in the prototype

In short in co-operation with the Labrador Men’s Shed, the Biochar Project and the Nundah Lions has resulted in the development of a village Biochar kiln for dual use of cooking + making Biochar which can then be used as a coral reef in one’s garden (as it were) to increase soil fertility and thus help close the eco-loop in third world countries such as Vanuatu. This also has the knock-on advantage of helping to stop deforestation and kids falling into open fires – which many do and many end up with horrible deformities such as their chin stuck to their chest via skin burning.

The Proof Of Concept (POC) project stove test firing first occurred on the 28th of November, 2011 and with some further modifications the proof of concept stove should move to prototype bio-char stove finalisation by mid-January 2012. Plans are being discussed for basic training of the stove in the use of the stoves in the correct procedure to make Biochar, its use in home agriculture and sale on the Internet.

The Biochar Stove Team (from left to right): Robert Decolle, Peter Fearnside, and Roger Wilcox

Overall this project can offer a small modicum of ‘practical help’ which can be used elsewhere, and does this by using traditional Australian bush ingenuity and practicality to help others. Importantly the Men’s shed team formed an informal Learning Circle and have identified specific learning’s from this process. I explained the link between Action Learning Circles (the action being the development of the prototype) and Adult Learning. This learning circle idea has been applied to Biochar as evident elsewhere in this eZine plus it has entered the ‘sharehood’ of sharing resources, know-how and tools⁴.

Congratulations to the Labrador Men’s Shed and in particular the gas-bottle stove team and thanks to The Biochar Project manager Dolph Cooke for technical advice.

*Further information: I am one of the two founders of the men’s movement in Qld in the late 80’s (BMG – Brisbane Men’s Group 1988-1992). This in turned led to a number of initiatives such as Men’s Help Line, Qld Men’s Festival and the Men’s shed movement as well as several other men’s groups in South East Queensland, Australia. I was a single father of two primary aged children during this time and published about men’s issues and single fathering – still rare today. Further the Biochar group I am on the board of has just received a UN Millennium award, more on this if you are interested see the relevant article in this eZine. I contributed to the Men’s Shed Application for Nundah Senior Citizens Centre (of which I am on the board) and the application was successful.

1 http://goldenyearsmensshed.wordpress.com/

2 http://mensshedlabrador.org.au/Mens_Shed_Labrador/Welcome.html

3 http://biocharproject.org/

4 http://www.thesharehood.org/sharing-stories/bush-mechanics-and-sharehood

As Webmaster of CRAFT, it is my pleasure and my honour to introduce the reader to this eZine. As it says on the cover, CRAFT is a publication “where crafters of materials turn to crafting deeds and words”. Each issue has a theme, and the theme here is biochar.

Now some of you may be thinking: “Isn’t biochar like… just glorified charcoal? What’s the point of making a whole issue of a magazine about that?” They’re good questions – painful questions to hear, but they need to be answered.

Biochar is not the same as charcoal. Both are formed where wood (or other organic matter) are heated without oxygen. However, biochar is cooked at a lot lower temperature than charcoal, so as to preserve the structure of the wood and all its little cavities and oil. That’s all the better for organisms to harvest in when buried in the soil, which increases the fertility makes it more suitable for growing plants, which makes it easier to absorb carbon dioxide out of the air. That’s a virtuous cycle, my friends.

By contrast, charcoal is formed at higher temperatures, and the goal is to produce a substance for heat. Cavities may remain, but the oil vaporises off, and you get something close to pure carbon. And to get heat out of charcoal, one adds a lot of oxygen. This produces carbon dioxide. Not the same as biochar at all.

Okay, you still might be thinking “Biochar is not the same as charcoal, but a whole issue… sheesh.” And what can I say? Let me put it this way…

Australia got gypped in the decent soil stakes. Australia got gypped real good. Take an island like Java, which is not too far away, globally speaking. It may be small at 128,297 square kilometres, or half the size of Victoria, but it’s 500 deciVictorias of volcanic goodness – enough to support 135 million people. While the closest part of Oz to it is a place like the Shire of East Pilbara, with an even larger area of 380,000 sq km, yet an almost infinitesimally smaller population of 8,000 people. Okay, that area’s desert, but even the rest of Australia comes out to 22 million top. And why is our population so small, relatively speaking?

It’s not the water. Water has a lot to do with it, but even sparsely inhabited places like the Kimberleys get the monsoons.  It’s that most of our soils are no good. There are some areas that have barely adequate soil, but very few have world class ground – “throw a twig in it and it will form a bush in a week”, what have you. Geologically, we’re an old continent, and most potential nutrients got blown out or washed out to sea millions of years ago. Our volcanoes are few, we don’t have the tectonic upwelling of the Himalayas or the Andes, and even glacial action (another source of soil) is lacking. No wonder most of us live close to the sea – that’s where most of the good stuff it.

The worst thing is that with the recent advent of – ahem – “Western” agriculture, we’ve made a poor situation even poorer. People cut down trees to plant wheat, and discover that the trees are the only thing keeping down a very salty watertable indeed, with soil erosion thrown in. As for fertilizers – pah to that, unless you like your rivers running blue and green with toxic cyanobacteria. Plus we’re running out of places to get phosphates.

The trick in the tail is that Australia may be overpopulated beyond its carrying capacity while being one of the sparsest countries in the world. (To answer your question: we’re third in sparseness- behind Namibia and Mongolia). Tim Flannery, who has had a lot of good things to say about biochar, is still worried that there may be too many people here. After studying a lot of estimates from various people, he writes:

Given the desire of Australians to reserve some potentially arable land for purposes other than agriculture, particularly national parks and forests, and given the enormous challenge presented by soil degradation, a more realistic maximum population for Australia may be 20-30 million. A population of this size would also give Australians a chance to earn some money from food exports.

That doesn’t sound so bad, except when you read ahead.

Virtually all hunter-gatherer societies seem to possess a ‘golden rule’ of population. This is, that in ‘normal’ times, the human population of a given area rarely exceeds 20-30% of the carrying capacity of the land (Sahlins 1968). This occurs because people are long-lived and usually reproduce slowly… Australia’s high rainfall variability and fragile natural environment mean that special care should be taken. It would appear to make good sense to observe the ‘golden rule’ of population in determining Australia’s ‘carrying capacity’.

Flannery doesn’t spell it out, but putting paragraph A and paragraph B together comes to the ‘golden rule’ population for Australia as between 4 million and 12 million. And what are we again? 22 million. Oh Bugger.

So what can we do about it? We being individuals, families, groups, what have you. What can we as people do about Australia’s shortage of good soil? If we can’t do big things of merit, perhaps we can do small things of goodness. Planting biochar in your gardens might be a good start.

Peter Murphy is a modest man, with much to be modest about. He started his working career as a software developer, using the power of C and C++ to bind computers to his will. However, after eight years of it, he decided to follow a woman he was seeing to Việt Nam. To pass the time, he took up ESL teaching. The relationship ended but the profession remained, because there was a great deal of demand for learning the English language over there. He met another woman while in the country, got married (as you do), and returned to Australia with her. He started a Dip Ed., then stopped, and did system analysis for some time.

Peter’s dream job is to teach IT. If that’s not available, he likes to put websites together. As far as he sees it, there’s more potential viewers that desktop applications, you don’t need to worry about what operating systems they’re running, and informing people is just as simple as sending them an URL. He prefers the Django web framework, but is not adverse to wrangling and wrestling with WordPress.

When not coding, Peter likes reading, listening to music (preferably live) and playing the bass guitar. He also likes writing, when he has the time. However, he hates writing about himself in the third person. Peter lives with his wife, An, in West End, but has no children. He does have one dog, Timpani, but due to Australia’s quarantine restrictions, she remains in Sài Gòn with his father in law.

Peter Murphy can be contacted on peterkmurphy@gmail.com. He has his own website: http://www.pkmurphy.com.au/.

Note: Peter Murphy would like to acknowledge Dolph Cooke’s role in setting up and initialising CRAFT’s installation of WordPress.

Today we introduce Biochar as a serious option for carbon sequestration in Australia. Action Learning Circles for Transforming Agriculatuer and Evnrionment through the production, distribution and use of Biochar.

We have put our heads together and have seen that to help get the message out wide and clear we need a package with three integrated things to maximise the impact and reach of Biochar. In fact Tim Flannery sees Biocarbon as nothing less than a magic pudding

What does the Learning Circle kit include?

At this seminar we are pleased to announce the launch of our threefold Learning Circle package comprising:

1. An invitation to a series of practical DIY Learning Circles based on the book and aimed to help you action Biochar by Paul Wildman
2. An invitation to visit the Biochar Education Facility to see and feel Biochar at work by Dolph Cooke, here with your barista of black, you can make your own ‘magic pudding’
3. Paul Taylor’s text The Biochar Revolution – transforming agriculture and environment

What do you get in detail

We welcome and encourage participation in our offering, and through the Learning Circles process you can interface the text and the field and help yourself as well as friends and family learn while having some fun and getting your hands black!!

• With the learning circles you can gain from interactions with others working on the same project, facilitation assistance and of course mentoring from both Paul’s both electronically and face to face. This is a great opportunity to help us co-author. Learning Circles are very well known in Europe and now more widely in Australia as a vital part of Adult Learning and Community Education.
• With the project at the Biochar Education Facility you can get a ‘hands on’ experience of making a retort and use this to make your own Biochar.
• With the book you get a substantial discount for the critically acclaimed basic reference text that is now selling widely across the world.

So won’t you please join us now in working with Biochar to help make a better world for our children? They deserve nothing less.

This is an action learning process for us all so we can offer these three in a heavily discounted package for $75 or $50 for unwaged

Paul (Learning Circles are GO!) Wildman – paul@kalgrove.com

Dolph (your Charmaster) Cooke – dolph@biocharproject.org

Paul (Rocket Scientist) Taylor – potaylor@bigpond.com

These Learning circles are endorsed by:

~ Study Circles Australia ~ http://studycircles.net.au/

~ The Millennium Project ~ The Australian Node – Global Futures Studies & Research – www.StateOfTheFuture.org

~ The Bush Mechanics and Artificers Guild of Australia ~ http://thebushy.wordpress.com/ http://www.kalgrove.com/adultlearning/

Discover Biochar - The Flyer

Every issue of CRAFT will have a featured link – an URL to a site we think is worthy of publicity — and we have chosen Post Pressed as first off the block.

Post Pressed is a quality small-scale publisher now operating from the sylvan surrounds of the slopes of Mount Gravatt, to the south of Brisbane.

John Knight, the manager of Post Pressed, is a retired academic and long-standing poetry, short story and literary review editor of the journal Social Alternatives, and co-editor of the Australian haiku journal, Paper Wasp. He brings to publishing a unique understanding of literary authors, their needs and the challenges of the marketplace.

With the use of current technology, Post Pressed can produce runs of books which are not feasible for most large commercial publishers. From 50 to 500 or more copies can be produced with modest substantial difference in unit costs, whilst subsequent runs cost less due to no further setup costs. It is therefore particularly attractive to authors of specialist works or those with intrinsic worth but for which the market is limited.

Post Pressed handles both “Literary” and “Academic” titles, with the latter dealing in areas such as Education and Indigenous Issues. For example, it has published many of the books in the Contesting Colonialism: Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Research series.

There are several reasons we chose Post Pressed as CRAFT’s Inaugural Featured Link. Running a small business is never the easiest job, so anyone doing so is worthy of respect. John Knight is a top bloke, as both Paul Wildman and Peter Murphy would attest. Both arguments would be good enough to give it the gong, but we want to add another reason at the end.

Without Post Pressed, it is possible that there would be no CRAFT at all – or merely CRAFT delayed by months or years. Paul had been friends with John since the late 1970’s, while Peter had been managing the Post Pressed website, but both Paul and Peter were complete strangers to each other until October of this year. Paul had been envisioning CRAFT for years, but was stumped at finding a website developer. Fortunately, John Knight knew someone that was good at this website business. He could make introductions. He could distribute email addresses. So he did.

It would be a cheap false cliche to finish with “And so CRAFT was born”, because CRAFT has been 20 years in the making. “And so CRAFT was implemented” may be closer to the truth… especially in time for Christmas.

All praise to John Knight and the business he runs: Post Pressed.

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Copyright A explicated – © 2011 Creative Commons Copyright exercised through the above web-links and publisher Kalgrove Institute. Q4 2011. This Creative Commons license covers:

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3. Acknowledgement: Every effort is made, in good faith, to encourage contributing authors to acknowledge sources. Clearly this will not prove 100% effective in all instances. Please bring any instances of absent of incorrect ascription to our knowledge and we will address this in the next volume.

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Copyright B explicated – The eZine is simply a Peer2Peer collective/aggregating publishing tool. In general authors ask for their work to be published. On this basis CRAFT does not seek to obtain copyright, and by submitting their document the authors agree to their article’s publication in CRAFT. The authors remain responsible for the content of their articles — including references. CRAFT’s editorial process seeks to ensure attribution is undertaken; however from time to time mistakes and omissions will occur. These remain the prime responsibility of the author. Once such mistakes and omissions are brought to our attention will be addressed post haste by the article’s author and noted in a future issue of the eZine. We prefer collaborative intention to adversarial contention. The principals emphasise CRAFT is Not 4 Profit and a collaboration for CRAFT based social change for a future our planet can live with.

Michael Lucas Monterey

Don’t go numb. Keep thinking, caring, and be crafty when it comes to your impact .

Five of the basic factors affecting the fate of civilizations were revealed in Dr. Jared Diamond’s best-selling book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Those five crucial choices are:

1. Environmental impact
2. Climate change
3. Neighbouring allies and enemies
4. Loss and gain of trading partners
5. Society’s responses to all the above

All the choices, causes, and effects are interactive. All the factors relate to use of our brains, for better or worse. The failed empires of the past shared terminal defects, misconceptions, and misunderstandings in common, misuse of inner and outer resources and too many missed opportunities.

My practice and research over the past decade has revealed two prerequisites* that foster all other determinants of cultural health and longevity. Here are seven essentials of sustainable success:

1. * A viable paradigm, for a sane, life sustaining set of values and basic ideas and ideals
2. * Loving respect for nature and humanity, sustaining commitment to the joy and wellness of children, elders, great spiritual leaders and wise guardians
3. Green awareness and empathy, compassionate sensitivity to environmental conditions, fostering the best possible quality of life for all generations
4. Consciousness of climate change, with active commitment to eliminating or reducing its severity and rapidity
5. Sustainable peace, positive relations with neighbours, allies and enemies alike, fostering Win-Win strategies and dialogue
6. Thriving with ongoing upgrading of policies, laws, institutions, and enterprises that foster healthy innovation, resilience, and diversity, supporting positive dialogue and interaction with allies and competitors, minimizing hostility and harm
7. Positive responses to whatever challenges sustainably healthy success

We, the people, decide to rise or fall. With healthy values and abiding commitment to a lively culture and general well-being, success can grow out of near disaster. Without sane basic values and attitudes, how can we sustain effective concern for the wellness of children, elders, and humanity as a whole? Success depends on wise choices that depend on good values and good ideas. Is the global Consumer Society choosing to succeed?

The Chinese will double the area of their built environment by 2030, about 18 building seasons from now. With population and economic growth rates of India close to China’s and the rest of the “Third World” catching up fast, that means doubling the amount of human habitat built over the last 5,000 years in just over 200 months! That could double or triple the use of bricks, concrete, and pavement. That means doubling or tripling the amount of carbon released in the production and use of bricks, cement, concrete, and pavement. Bricks and mortar account for over 80 billion pounds of CO₂ annually, while the carbon dioxide (CO₂) released by production of concrete equals from 1 to 10 times the weight of concrete itself. That means from 81.6 billion to more than 96 billion pounds of extra CO₂ pollution, yearly. Related processes and construction operations produce billions of tons of other greenhouse gases (GHG), many at dangerous levels in the food chain already.

The methane frozen under the ocean floor and virtually locked in millions of square miles of melting arctic tundra can be unleashed by more global warming. Methane (over 22 times more potent than CO₂) can start runaway global super-heating, killing most ocean life with excess acidity, plus acid-rain strong enough to wipe out most land animals and plants for a million years.

Tar sand and oil shale mining and conversion (to low grade fuel oil and gasoline) are neither affordable nor green. They pollute the air, waters, and soil. Increased burning of fuel for transportation and power would release huge amounts of CO₂ and GHGs. The melting Arctic ice-cap, protects 30% of Earth’s oil, but not for long.

Superior green concrete and unfired masonry alternatives to bricks — with only a tiny fraction of the negative impact of ungreen concrete and bricks — have existed for nearly 10,000 years. The best green design and new materials are better, but virtually suppressed while bioneer inventors go begging or broke.

With full scale energy efficiency upgrades, solar panels over rooftops and parking lots will produce more than enough electricity for all our future needs. Optimal design, ultragreen building materials, and new construction systems can radically reduce GHG emissions over the next 18 years, but the 7 billion of us will become 9 billion hungry, energy junkies.

So, Biochar, the focus of this issue of CRAFT, and all the other relatively clean ways to keep carbon out of the sky are critically important now. Some new materials are perfect for green buildings that can stand for 10,000 years or more, but replacing all, or even most, of our anti-green materials will take time. This is a race against time, and it may be later then we think. Not changing our ways and not preparing for the future would be disastrous. We need to demand the greenest materials available to maximize our sustainability, and Biochar is here now. You can use Biochar in many ways – make it, sell it, use it in the garden, to purify water, absorb smells and much more, all the while sequestering carbon, reducing your impact and enhancing the future quality of life.

Our most important choice is a classic no-brainer, but many politicians, business owners, and stock holders are failing Sustainability 101. Careless insanity will create worst case results. Sanity and the best green design will produce the best results, the healthiest, happiest, brightest future for all generations.

Michael Lucas Monterey

© 2011 Michael Lucas Monterey

Michael Lucas Monterey, is an ecotect, green designer, multidisciplinary scientist, artist and writer. Monterey’s training in the fine arts and design began in 1952, at age four. In the mid-70s he studied the works of Paolo Soleri. Monterey then began research and development of ecotecture, neo-primitive design-build techniques, as well as new green technologies, sustainable community planning, and evolutionary social theory. Michael started experiments with his Ultradobe and Ultracrete building materials in 2003, and then, in 2005, invented a natural, nontoxic, fire-proof, foam insulation. In response to the ongoing destruction of the building industry, the economy, and culture, Monterey began work on a sustainability solutions resource text. The Greenbook provides green policy directives embodying the essence of his accumulated knowledge, planning strategy, ways and means for greening the world. He is also working to co-found new alliances and institutions for implementing a real solution for sustainable culture. Michael Monterey lives in Seattle, Washington, providing green design, planning, consulting and innovative solutions for personal and global sustainability. He may be reached by phone at 760 500 6171 or email: michael.monterey@mdcinet.com or www.EcotectureNOW.wordpress.com

Editors Note: Readers Michael will be contributing to our regular Green Design column reflecting on some of the deeper design issues of our particular volume themes. He welcomes your contact.

Paul Wildman

Paul has an extensive track record in the areas of: Learning Systems Development inc. Artificer Learning (Bush Mechanics), Bioneering, Anticipatory Action Learning, Adult and Community Education (ACE), Strategic Planning, Futures Studies, Business and Organisational Intentionality and Learning. From 2001 onwards, he has been working at Kalgrove¹, a company specialising in Child Care and Adult Learning. (The company is about Kids and Adults Learning, and it’s based in a Grove of gum trees – hence the name.) Kalgrove’s philosophy is that learning is an engaged process that comes from the lived life of the student, through a strong practical commitment to helping generate in children, students and communities a Life Long Love of Learning.

Paul is also a board member of Golden Years Senior’s Care Centre², and of the National Federation of Parents, Families and Carers³. He and his wife are also long time members of th Nundah branch of Lions International.

From 1989-2001 he worked in the Adult and Vocational Educational area concentrating in Apprenticeships and Traineeships interfaced with TAFE Qld – ultimately ending up as Deputy Commissioner for Training and Director Employment Directorate. Before hand, he lectured in 1994-97 at Southern Cross University where he developed a Master’s specialisation course in Futures Studies (FS) (then the only online version in the world).

He has published four CD-ROMs, contributed 10 chapters and some 45 articles in these and related areas. Interests include bike riding, boating, healthy diet, grandchildren minding and spending the past three years on building his own bush mechanic exemplar project in the marine services industry – as well as developing a theoretical and practical understanding of this specific type of advanced Anticipatory Action Learning called Artificer Learning which, in Australia is called Bush Mechanics, and publishing therein. Artificers are the step beyond Artisan and are expert generalists in a number of related fields. They bring a methodical and ingenuous approach to solving everyday dilemmas with an eye to assisting today the development of a better world tomorrow for our children.

He has overseas experience in management development and futures including in Tonga, India, Malaysia, Africa and Singapore and Papua New Guinea.

Paul can be contacted via email on paul@kalgrove.com .

Jim Prentice

Jim Prentice

Jim always sought social activism as a way of relating to the world, initiating his interest in anti-war actions, early environmental and community concerns within the urban landscape. He engaged such matters as freeway construction with its division of communities and ineffective and destructive technologies applied to urban transportation and likewise Indigenous issues, although his own cultural community often is the offender.

Most recently he helped his local media to revise its implicit racist mindset as applied to the problem of why young Indigenous children use railway tracks with calamitous consequences. A tragedy and its aftermath led to wider community reflection on transport policing. The Indigenous use them to walk to various places – not least because no one else does. In fact, the community learned in this campaign young people do this more widely due to fare costs and service limits. However, in the poorer and often prejudiced white community Jim lives in, this walking led to a calamity which proved just another avenue for denigration of the local Indigenous. Jim’s faith in learning through action was vindicated, if the events deeply saddened and racism proved its vicious presence. Jim’s doctorate is in local history.

Jim’s interests in anti-war, environmental issues, women’s and men’s rights and duties took him back to university in later life after stints as taxi driver, Naturopath and Acupuncturist, Asian traveller and would be gardener: even mower of those great symbols of nature’s subservience – the suburban lawn. Jim has also worked in Aged Care for 15 years. However, at University social movement theories, sociology and practices reignited his interest in ideas. He has taught in Australian politics, identity and culture for the last 15 years at several universities while still engaged in Aged Care to a limited but significant degree, which gives him a unique perspective.

His hope for the eZine is that it allows others to engage in practice or doing good works (if not necessarily those or only those of Biblical sanction), reflecting on them, finding a forum for constructive criticism and dialogue and building local actions. Giving oneself practical hope and the world meaning, through resistive action and thought seems a worthwhile project given what is around. He hopes that this eZine project will become yours too.

Jim may be contacted via email: at jimprentice@optusnet.com.au .

1 http://www.kal.net.au/ This site also contains information about Artificer Learning/Bioneering and Bush Mechanics.

2 http://www.goldenyears.org.au/

3 http://www.civilsociety.org.au/federation/index.htm