Turning carbon footprints into healthy soils

Dear Friends,

I recently had the great fortune to visit Uganda, a very different landscape and climate from our home site in the Peruvian Amazon.  What brought me there was the opportunity to help develop a community reforestation project, and the trip was a great success.  Native Seeds is poised to be one of the most important native species reforestation initiatives in northern Uganda.  It was humbling and inspiring to get to join Wise Women of Uganda-- a community-based organization of women traditional healers-- in developing an ecologically and culturally vital action plan. Apwoyo matek!  

To my surprise, the visit was also a chance to see firsthand an unlikely connection to bio-char.  With essentially all Ugandans relying on firewood and charcoal for their home cooking, a bustling charcoal trade was visible everywhere I went.  Unfortunately, the pressure on trees and the resulting ecological degradation from over-harvesting of available wood was frankly scary.  I was encouraged to hear from young and old alike that there's an awareness of the need for reforestation, but it was also obvious that much action is needed to achieve energy sustainability in Uganda.

One way to help secure people's very real energy needs in the future is through improved charcoal production that makes more efficient use of wood and produces more charcoal pound for pound.  One of the best ways to do that is by using an Adam Retort charcoal oven like the one that I've described in previous reports for making bio-char as a soil ammendment.  Although Ugandan charcoal production is outside the realm of this Amazonian project, don't be surprised if you see a new page up on GlobalGiving in the near future.  Besides, all the residue and debris leftover from fuel charcoal production can be used as bio-char!

Meanwhile, it's great to be back home in the Peruvian Amazon.  I'm grateful for your support and interest in our work.  Thanks for helping create a greener future.