Paul Cereghino- Ecosystem Guild
Maritime Temperate Coniferous Rainforest - Mild Wet Winter, Dry Summer
Hugh H. wrote:More importantly, if you grow trees and other deep-rooted plants, you can be building soil faster than any potential loss. These plants help to break up bedrock, the parent material of the soil. This is essentially an unlimited source of nutrients that we can mine to make new soil, with the right plant systems in place.
But where those processes have been in train for a long time, or when they are lost (by erosion, etc), where do they end up?
Paul Cereghino- Ecosystem Guild
Maritime Temperate Coniferous Rainforest - Mild Wet Winter, Dry Summer
In terrestrial systems, phosphorus resides in three pools: bedrock, soil, and living organisms (biomass). Weathering of continental bedrock is the principal source of phosphorus to the soils that support continental vegetation; atmospheric deposition is relatively unimportant. Phosphorus is weathered from bedrock by the dissolution of phosphorus-bearing minerals such as apatite (Ca10[PO4]6[OH,F,Cl]2), the most abundant primary phosphorus mineral in crustal rocks. Weathering reactions are driven by the exposure of minerals to acids mainly derived from microbial activity. Phosphate solubilized during weathering is available for uptake by terrestrial plants and is returned to the soil by the decay of dead plant material.
Hugh H. wrote:
Ryan: Earth is not a closed system as we receive constant energy input from the sun. The energy degrades to low quality forms like heat and leaves the system via re-radiation to space. This is a constant flux rather than being a finite amount which can be depleted (well, until the sun dies anyway).
•In any physical or chemical change, matter is neither created nor destroyed but merely changed from one form to another.
•conversion from one to another creates heat, which is lost into atmosphere
Paul Cereghino- Ecosystem Guild
Maritime Temperate Coniferous Rainforest - Mild Wet Winter, Dry Summer
ryan112ryan wrote:
I think I need to reiterate two things: time frame and creation of matter.
A system, no matter how large, has a finite (countable) amount of everything. Period.
[li]A good system might be able to tap into more, open up access to more, but it all was ALREADY available resources[/li]
[li]A system cannot create matter[/li]
[li]In any physical or chemical change, matter is neither created nor destroyed but merely changed from one form to another.[/li]
[li]conversion from one to another creates heat, which is lost into atmosphere[/li]
[li]Heat is created at every step of the way, growth, human exertion to plant, growth, absorption of nutrients, exertion in harvest, preparation of food, consumption, digestion, excretion, composting, returning to land[/li]
[li]That is a lot of heat created that over time adds up and we can't get back 100%[/li]
The time frame most here are considering is too short:
[li]We need to consider not 100 years, but 100 million years[/li]
[li]Because of the above, eventually we lose a small portion over time[/li]
[li]This loss is cumulative over millions of years, eventual degrading too much[/li]
Sometimes the answer is not to cross an old bridge, nor to burn it, but to build a better bridge.
My books, movies, videos, podcasts, events ... the big collection of paul wheaton stuff!
Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.
I do not believe that stasis is possible, whether or not humans are present.Robert Ray wrote:
Sustainable is a state of stasis, I would hope for better than a static effort I want to strive for maximum return for intelligent application of methods that do no harm.
I do not believe that stasis is possible, whether or not humans are present.
Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.
Robert Ray wrote:
When I mentioned stasis it would mean after development a resilient perfect permaculture garden will hopefully be a continual garden that requires little or less effort to obtain that continued food production.
Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.
Life is too important to take seriously.
Paul Cereghino- Ecosystem Guild
Maritime Temperate Coniferous Rainforest - Mild Wet Winter, Dry Summer
Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.
winsol3 wrote:
I guess it would be nice to have a net positive food and living system, but can we really live by current solar rays only? Another way to look at this is to operate within a totally closed loop. I doubt if that is possible. Even Biosphere 2 couldn't pull it off. Read 'Gaiome' by Kevin Polk for a real assessment on this. He's got the best overview of permaculture's role in the future.
The best we can do RIGHT NOW, is to reduce our 7 calories needed (in fossil fuel) for every 1 calorie we eat.
Heck, even a 2:1 ratio here would be an earth shattering accomplishment.
.
Energy Curmudgeon
Green Fret Consulting
Yes, my master! Here is the tiny ad you asked for:
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https://permies.com/t/267198/turnkey-permaculture-paradise-monies
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