RACC Seminar: “Biochar for Soil Health and Carbon Capture,” by Mark Cohen

April 20, 2022 at 7pm on Zoom

Mark Cohen will present his experiences creating and deploying biochar. Biochar is created by pyrolysis (burning biomass at high temperature in the absence of air). The carbon transformed into biochar is recalcitrant, meaning held out of the atmosphere. Used in compost and soils, biochar’s tiny pores hold water, micronutrients and microorganisms that supports plant photosynthesis, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.

Mark has a background in wildlife biology, ecology, ethnobotany, permaculture, cooperative land use, and renewable energy. Mark has been an organic inspector with OEFFA for 30 years. Living off the grid for 42 years and growing a wide range of crops, seeds, honey, mushrooms, and medicinal plants.

He founded the Belize Agroforestry Research Center, a permaculture research and teaching facility based in Southern Belize, and spent 25 winters in Central America practicing and teaching tropical permaculture.

Mark is constantly learning, teaching, inventing and consulting (cross-pollinating) in his travels.

Photo: Application of Biochar in the soil of a greenhouse where organic vegetables are grown in central Namibia. GIZ/Tim Brunauer – Contractual Photography Services, CC BY-SA 4.0