For gardeners and everyone interested in climate change mitigation. It looks as if we could be improving our soil and locking away carbon to reduce climate change – the heat can also be used, hence the carbon-negative cooking that James Greyson has been doing. If the gases are just allowed to escape, they add methane to the air, which is a serious climate warmer.

Here is some of what Ann Link has been finding out…

Oxford Biochar
This
is a small company that wants to allow the local production of biochar,
although they are supplying from Oxford now. They can be voted for and
funded through this crowd funding scheme set up by the River Cottage: Peoplefund.it
There’s an opportunity now to start testing the effects of the biochar on our gardens – there are instructions on the website: The Big Biochar Experiment

Carbon Gold
This
is Craig Sams’ venture, set up in 2008, with projects aimed at local
production and earning carbon credits. Its compost has been certified by
the Soil Association and is available via Garden Organic as Carbon Gold
Grochar Soil Improver.