Re: A clean planet

From: Aidan Karley (aidan_at_abuse.demon.co.uk.invalidated)
Date: 09/23/04 

Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2004 16:00:13 +0100

In article <ciuiqs$5m4a$1@netnews.upenn.edu>, Mike Maxwell wrote:
> Why not grow them in areas that _DON'T_ currently grow them? Like
> (further north in) Canada, or Siberia?
>
       Because in most of those areas the soil is crap and this will
lower yield. Now *some* of that you can counter by means of fertiliser,
but not all of it. You also need to bolster the organic matter content
of the soils, and that requires multiple tillage seasons. And you'll
have to take steps to make sure that the microstructure of the soils is
up to scratch. An instructive example in this context is Osgood
Mackenzie's development of the Inverewe Gardens (
http://www.nts.org.uk/web/site/home/visit/places/Property.asp?PropID=10
103&NavPage=10103&NavId=5122 ) in the NW Highlands. Mackenzie basically
created soil pretty much from scratch - sand, gravel, mulch, cow***,
seaweed, and in practical terms his budget was unlimited (his income
from the rest of the estate was far more than he could productively
spend on creating his gardens). He started development of the site in
1863. It too about 40 years to have the place up to scratch.
       Most of the soils in the sub-arctic are, frankly, crap. I should
know - I'm a geologist by trade, I did a specialised unit in soil
science as an elective part of my courses, I live in Scotland, and I've
spent 2½ months of this year with my Siberian fiancee.
       
> Nice long days in the growing
> season, too...
>
       Yeah ... but that doesn't fully compensate for the fact that you
can't do any tillage at all for nearly half of the year. Trying to
till, plough, harrow, whatever on frozen or near frozen soil is a
perfect recipe for destroying the soil microstructure that you've been
trying to slowly improve for the last decade. (I was on the phone to
the fiancee about 2 hours ago - it hasn't been above freezing for
nearly a week in her town).
       
> Global warming does not necesssarily mean desertification everywhere.
>
       Which is not a claim I made.
       The changes in climate are not the only thing you need to
consider - there's the decades it takes for soil, vegetation and
farming practices to accommodate themselves to those changes.
        

-- 
 Aidan Karley,
 Aberdeen, Scotland,
 Location: 57°10'11" N,  02°08'43"  W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233