Klara Herzberge

I fear humankind can be lucky not to have a stronger urge to go outside. It would be terribly crammed there, hard to relax. There are so many places that would have a severe problem if all people wanted to go outside at the same time. Not to speak of nature. Corona led to a increasing stress for wild animals here where I live because people go out for a walk instead of sitting in a restaurant or cinema.

At the same time, I am also sad about my kids spending most of their time inside. I try to move activities outdoors, sport, eating outside, playing board games, reading ... Just to get them more used to being outside, even if it is a bit too cold or hot, bright, wet, windy, boring or whatever.

And to be honest: If I wouldn't have to care for the garden, I would also spent almost all my time indoors. Not before I am outside with all that smell and sound and the air I realize how huch I have missed it. I could fall into a depression inside not knowing what's wrong with me.

Hi to all of you,

I always wondered why the soils are not black with biochar from forest fires and now found research tackling this topic:

https://www.mpg.de/7112434/charcoal_oceans

From a chemical perspective, no one really thought it dissolves, but it does,” Jaffé says. “It doesn’t accumulate like we had for a long time believed. Rather, it is transported into wetlands and rivers, eventually making its way to the oceans.

According to the authors, the results imply that greater consideration must be given to carbon sequestration techniques (the process of capture and long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide). Biochar addition to soils is one such technique. ... Although promising in storing carbon, Jaffé points out that as more people implement biochar technology, they must take into consideration the potential dissolution of the charcoal to ensure these techniques are actually environmentally friendly.

I am not sure what this new line of research implies (factors like time, type of ecosystem etc are not yet investigated) but it's definitely a point that needs to be taken into consideration.

http://pubman.mpdl.mpg.de/pubman/faces/viewItemFullPage.jsp?itemId=escidoc:1921753

The stability of biochar, a form of charcoal intentionally made to be added to soil to sequester carbon (C) and improve its function, remains unclear. As it is not feasible to perform long-term (decades, centuries) laboratory experiments to assess biochar evolution after soil amendment, the study of ancient archaeological charcoals can help to identify characteristics (and possibly molecular markers) associated with the decomposition and preservation dynamics of biochar in specific pedoclimatic environments.

might also be interesting to some of you,
Klara