Tuesday, June 20, 2017
and hey would you look at that heres a Brooks post for you!
and hey would you look at that heres a Brooks post for you!
Yep, thats right, my latest Brooks post is up, lucky you!
Ill let you know if any of my other guest-posting endeavors materializes during my absence, but pending that Im out until Tuesday September 6th.
Happy Laborious Day!
--Wildcat Rock Machine
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Saturday, June 3, 2017
Appearing at Philly ComicCon!
Appearing at Philly ComicCon!
Im not coming empty-handed though, oh no.
In addition to myself, Ill be bringing:
William Vitka (Psychotic Pulp Horror Author)
Alexander Maisey (Villainous Superhero Fiction Author. Well, hes not villainous. His main characters are.)
Michael Shean (Cyberpunk Specialist)
and...most importantly...
a couple seriously sizzling hot babes who are going to help us rope in the audience.
In addition, Ill be bringing a ton of free stuff to giveaway, including items sent directly to me by none other than Unca Harlan Ellison that Ive been instructed to hand out. Man, Im just excited for the box to arrive.
There will be plenty of other items for us to sign and hand out to anyone who shows up. Plus, you get to hear the war stories of four established authors in the writing industry who can probably save you years of blood, sweat, and needless toil.
Seriously, we know a lot about this stuff.
Looking forward to seeing you all there.
Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con
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An Extraordinary Life At Twelve 5 Forty
An Extraordinary Life At Twelve 5 Forty
DFTBA!
Available link for download
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
All U S income growth stuck at the top 20
All U S income growth stuck at the top 20
Indian economy: Growth forecast down on cash ban
Dick Bove: Fundamentals dont merrit current bank stock price
Social business - the business model of the future? | London Business School
Will cutting taxes boost the economy?
Dallas pension crisis: Financial disaster on the horizon?
Could a stronger dollar hurt Trump’s manufacturing push?
Trump: Sprint will bring 5,000 jobs back to U.S.
Whatd You Miss in Markets This Week? Heres Your Recap
Will the Dow hit 20K before 2017?
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Lambingan at Tambayan Teleserye
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Lambingan at Tambayan Teleserye
Ang Probinsyano January 2, 2017 | Lambingan at Tambayan Teleserye www.lambingan.su/ang-probinsyano-january-2-2017/Translate this page1 day ago - Ang Probinsyano January 2, 2017. CLICK 3-4 TIMES TO PLAY. MERON PANG ALTERNATIVE VIDEO SA BABA. CLICK 3-4 TIMES TO PLAY.
Ang Probinsyano January 2 2017 Pinoy TV HD - Lambingan Official lambingan.ph › ABS-CBN › Ang ProbinsyanoTranslate this page1 day ago - Watch Ang Probinsyano – January 2 2017 Replay Below ... The Greatest love January 2 2017 Pinoy TV HD. 3 hours ago ...
Ang Probinsyano January 3, 2017 Full HD Video | Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Ang-Probinsyano-January-3-2017-Full-HD-Video-60488...Ang Probinsyano January 3, 2017 Full HD Video. 1 like · 1 talking about this. TV Show.
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
Ang Probinsyano January 3 2017 Pinoy TV HD
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Thursday, March 30, 2017
And So The New Decor At The White House Begins!
And So The New Decor At The White House Begins!
Everyone has a favorite color. Mine is probably a soft blue. Yours? We all know that President Trump loves the color of golden yellow. From his gold spun hair to the elevators at Trump Tower to the gold plated seat belts on his Trump Jet – for whatever reason, Trump loves the color of gold! Maybe it stems from being Scottish and having a head of white hair as a child.
Aww – now, THIS is a cute little towhead baby! Precious!
Regardless of where his love of gold comes from, judging from his penthouse at Trump Tower – he definitely has the Midas touch!
Because the Obamas had just revealed, via Architectural Digest, their White House decor that the staid decorator Michael Smith had created for them, the public is now very curious about what changes Donald and Melania have in mind for the White House.
The Michael S. Smith designed master bedroom at the White House – with just a hint of gold on the walls. Will the Trumps like this decor? It’s so hard to say. It is a fancy look, but there’s not much bling here. Melania has said that she loves the way her penthouse is decorated. It is exactly her taste, she said in an interview, even though it was designed by Trump and his first wife. If you are interested in the White House decor, you are wondering what rooms will the Trumps keep as is, and what will they redecorate, ASAP?
I doubt the Trumps will make many changes on the first floor with all the state rooms like the Blue Room, the Green Room and the Red Room. The State Dining Room was just updated by the Obamas for the first time in years. But, I do have a feeling the Trumps may change the Family Dining Room as soon as they can. It seems so far removed from their style. I’m not sure I would mind a change myself – this was my least favorite of the Smith decorated rooms:
The Family Dining Room: The rust curtains and contemporary rug seem so far from the Trump aesthetic – it will be interesting to see if they will keep it, despite the fact that it was just redone. They could put in a pretty gold-toned damask wallpaper, along with a similar fabric on the curtains and chairs. A Fortuny-like fabric would be beautiful in here. The furniture would stay – it’s been in this room for over a century. The art work by Alma Thomas between the windows was purchased for the White House – the first art work in the house collection by an African American woman.
And who will be their decorator? Will they use the team that decorates their hotels or will they pick a new, more well-known name like Suzanne Kasler or Suzanne Rheinstein?
Ivanka Trump used Kelly Behun to create her ultra-chic apartment. It will be so exciting to watch what happens – but I just hope the Trumps won’t make us wait to see their changes as long as the Obamas did!!!!!
Leading up to the election, the internet was filled with memes making fun of the various candidates and their hopes of winning the White House. I love this one of Hillary measuring the drapes, a bit early, in the oval office.
And here, behind the famous Resolute Desk in the Oval House.
Even Bernie Sanders wasn’t immune – he was teased about turning the White House into a hippie commune (I guess?) This meme place Bernie inside the Clinton oval office.
And of course, Trump is easy to tease – just throw in a bit of gold and there’s your meme.
And so, today, on the day of the inauguration, I was finishing up a new blog story that I’ve been writing when I suddenly hear that President Trump has already remolded the White House! What?!?! He just moved in this afternoon!
But sure enough, he has already made a few changes to the Oval Office and some of them are very ironic.
So, I quickly put this story together about the Oval Office and its changes.
In 1909, William Howard Taft created the first Oval Office when he moved the President’s Office from what is now called the Lincoln Bedroom to the EOB. Taft took over a secretary’s office space that was a half-oval, which he extended into a full oval, just as the Blue Room and Yellow Oval Room were. The curtains were silk velvet and the floor was wood in a checkerboard pattern. Taft chose a green color scheme for the room, which remained for decades. The curtains lasted a long time too.
Presidents Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge all worked in the same oval office which mostly looked the same as this one seen in 1927. In 1929 a fire destroyed the office and it was rebuilt for Herbert Hoover.
In 1933, FDR moved the Oval Office to its present location in the SE corner of the newly expanded West Wing – so that he could more easily reach it in his wheelchair. It was built 2 ft wider and longer than its previous size. Since 1934, the office has not changed much except in decor. What has stayed in the room since 1934 is the marble mantel, moved from the original 1909 office and the two flags placed behind the desk. Here is FDR’s office seen in 1945 with the same curtains as in the older offices. The blue-green rug was later used by all the presidents until Nixon ordered the first custom made Oval Office rug
Truman originally used FDR’s decor, but in 1947, he introduced a modern look to his office along with new green curtains.
The doors to the Rose Garden in the new Oval Office.
President Eisenhower kept much of the green decor, changing mostly the art work.
The beautiful marble mantel was moved from the old oval office to the new West Wing Oval Office. Eisenhower’s landscapes were a departure from the portraits of the Presidents that were hanging before.
John Kennedy originally kept FDR’s green rug and curtains. Jacqueline brought the Resolute desk into the Oval Office for the President to use. After his death, it was on tour and at the Smithsonian until Jimmy Carter began using the desk again. Since him, it has been used by many presidents.
After the President left for Dallas, his office was remodeled with a royal red rug and new white curtains with red trim! Love that! But, I can’t help but think the shades should have been hung higher!
This console table has been used since the Oval Office fire. It is still used by most presidents, including the Bushes, Clinton, and Obama. Notice the floor – at this time, it was cork. IKE’s golf cleats ruined the cork and it was later replaced by LBJ who put down linoleum in the Oval Office. Linoleum in the Oval Office – I swear!!!!
Here, white slipcovered sofas with twin bronze ash trays! Notice all the nautical paintings and models. John Kennedy never saw his newly decorated office nor did his wife. It was dismantled before she came back to Washington. The decorator was Stéphane Boudin.
President Lyndon Johnson originally used the Kennedy red rug and sofa. He added a larger coffee table.
Later, LBJ removed the red rug and replaced it with the FDR green rug, along with new green velvet pillows. He did use the same JFK curtains. He added a modern 3 screen TV to watch the news. LBJ did not use the Resolute desk, but instead had the Senate cabinet shop build him a new desk to fit his long legs.
I think LBJ would love to be alive today with the 24/7 news and all the TV channels and the internet and tweeting. I think he would love all of that!! The Johnson family owned the popular radio station KLBJ for decades and they also put the first TV station on air in Austin in 1952. The family eventually sold their holdings.
Nixon originally used the FDR rug. It must have been so dirty by then!! He kept the white curtains but added a new green trim.
Later, in what was to become a new tradition – Pat Nixon ordered a custom rug in blue and gold. She also added gold chairs and curtains, creating a very stately office. Besides Jimmy Carter, all further presidents have ordered their own custom rug and decor.
President Gerald Ford first used Nixon’s decor, then ordered a completely new look in yellow. It looks like this was a temporary rug until his new one arrived.
The Carters reused the Fords new decor. They also had a very unusual furniture arrangement with two sofas back to back. I love this decor and color scheme. Here, the new rug is in place. You can see the plain linoleum that LBJ had installed to replace the ruined cork floors.
Here the Carters eat in front of the fireplace. Actually, I kind of like this furniture arrangement. I love the decor with the gold damask and yellow striped sofas.
Another view of the Ford/Carter decor with PM Golda Meir. It’s incredible to think of all the world leaders who have visited this office!!
Sunday, March 19, 2017
And definitely dont look at the armband on his wing
And definitely dont look at the armband on his wing
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Sunday, March 5, 2017
Anton Corbijn talked about Rob at the Guanajuato Film Festival
Anton Corbijn talked about Rob at the Guanajuato Film Festival
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“Although many related and pigeonhole the name of Robert Pattinson in the Twilight series, there are others, such as Dutch director Anton Corbijn who see beyond the stigma and / or social labels.
So it is not unreasonable offer made British actor Dennis Stock’s role, that famous photographer 50s that caught James Dean three months before his death in the film Life.
“After I felt Twilight Robert tried to choose characters away from this whole saga.
“He wants to prove to the world that is a real actor can do challenging roles and that reminded me of Dennis Stock, a photographer in his early wanted to check I was good at what he did. That part was something I found in common between the two.
On the other hand, Robert is always being chased by photographers and I liked the idea that the film had to act like a photographer behind a star, he said to questions expressed by Excelsior, Anton Corbijn.
The filmmaker, who likewise attended the Festival last year to promote The most wanted man, was forceful in ensuring that while speaking of James Dean Life is not a movie about him, but the man behind the lens that made him some emblematic images that turned it around the world.
“Whoever thinks that this film is about James, I’m afraid to say that is not so.
“In fact, when I was offered the script I did not care because I did not want to make a film about James Dean, however, when I began to see that the story was more about the photographer, I felt identified because basically that’s what I’ve been doing since 40 years ago, “he said Corbijn.”
El Universal
“For Robert Pattinson after Twilight had shown that he wanted to remove the image of easy film actor, he was chosen to star in Life , directed by Anton Corbijn.
On the tape plays professional photographer Dennis Stock, who came to have a friendly relationship with James Dean, legend of cinema. That closeness was born after the image Stock Dean took in 1955.
“I had noticed that he took papers out of the ordinary ( Bel Ami and Cosmopolis ) wanting to see that it was a real actor; and good in his life he is chased by photographers, and now he must act as one, “the director recalled yesterday. …”
am.com
“Later, the filmmaker opened a a time for questions and answers …. About elect Pattison [sic] for the role of the photographer, he said he and Stock have some in common, at the time Stock sought the recognition, Same with Pattison [sic], who sought the chance to prove he’s a serious actor despite recent films that launched him to fame. He said he was not interested in making a film about the life of James Dean, the script liked by character of the photographer and that is why in Friday night hundreds of people had the opportunity to see the film to be released in theaters later this year.”
La Cronica
“The film, which was presented for the first time in February, within the framework of theBerlin International Film Festival, is an honest portrait of the friendship between the twocharacters which also highlights the performance of Pattinson, “I wanted to work with himbecause in his last films has shown that he is an actor capable of making a complex role beyondmovies like Twilight and has tried to prove that he has more talent and I think that thephotographer of the film is very similar, because you want to prove that it is capable of workingfor a major magazine”, Corbijn explained
via
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Monday, February 27, 2017
An Afternoon at Gallery Nucleus!
An Afternoon at Gallery Nucleus!
Lots of things are happening! One of the neatest things I have to share is that the awesome people at Motivarti and Gallery Nucleus have asked me to spend an afternoon lecturing and demoing for anyone who might be interested. If you happen to be in LA on Sunday, April 17th, I would be honored if you would stop by! Here are the details:
An Afternoon with Brittney Lee
Sunday, April 17th, 2011
1:00 – 4:30 pm
at Gallery Nucleus (210 East Main St. Alhambra, CA 91801)
The afternoon includes:
- a one-hour lecture with Q&A, with topics including Brittney’s development as an artist, techniques for creating a fan base, and advice for making the transition to a career in the entertainment industry
- a two-hour, open-format paper demo, in which Brittney will craft an original paper work while explaining her process and techniques
- an artist meet-and-greet, with print and book signing following the paper demo
- a raffle of the original paper artwork created during Brittney’s demo; you’ll receive 3 free raffle tickets for attending, with more tickets available for purchase at the event
-an opportunity to purchase a limited-run, numbered and signed print which Brittney has created exclusively for Gallery Nucleus and Motivarti for this event
Tickets
Pre-purchase: $20 (click here)
At the door: $25
Get three free raffle tickets when you purchase an event ticket. Plus, college students show their I.D. at the door for an additional five free raffle tickets!
More information can be found here.
The painting at the top of this post is the print I made just for the workshop. I am not sure how many Motivarti/Gallery Nucleus are planning to make, but I do know that they will be exclusive to Gallery Nucleus (i.e. I wont be able to sell them in my shop.) I really hope to see you all there!
Now to finish my piece for this show. Back to work- more updates soon!
Available link for download
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Android Five Nights at Freddy’s fnaf apk Full version Download
Android Five Nights at Freddy’s fnaf apk Full version Download
This is the fifth part of a much longer article published in the journal Science Progress, and which may be found here: http://stl.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/stl/sciprg/2014/00000097/00000002/art00001
11. Carbon Capture by Soil.
The loss of soil organic matter (SOM) is a critical factor both in soil erosion and in the loss of soil productivity, the latter from the loss of soil (depth) per se, and a decline in the structure, level of nutrients and hence the innate fertility of the soil. Soil erosion depletes the amount of carbon stored in the soil, and poses a possible source of increased carbon emissions. As we have seen, current agricultural practices tend to hasten the erosion of soil. To increase the SOM content of soil provides an effective means for taking carbon from the atmosphere and storing it, while simultaneously the soil structure is made more stable, thus mitigating the conversion of existing soil organic carbon (SOC) to CO2 which is then vented to the atmosphere. SOM has many influences on the health of soil, since it contributes nutrients to assist the growth of plants, and makes the soil more fertile, while aiding the storage and movement of water within the soil matrix. There are estimated to be some 2,200 billion tonnes of carbon stored in the top one metre depth of the world’s soil - practically three times the atmospheric budget of the gas. Through human activities that decrease the land cover, and changes in how land is used, including deforestation, urban development and greater tillage, in combination with agricultural and forestry practices that are unsustainable, soil degradation is accelerated. A report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)50, states that 24% of global land has fallen victim to a loss of its health and productivity during the last 25 years, principally as a result of unsustainable land use, and since the 19th Century 60% of the original SOC has been lost, e.g. by clearing land for agriculture and to build cities. It is thought that >20% of forests, peatlands and grasslands may suffer a reduction in their ecosystem services and biodiversity within the next two decades, with peatlands being especially vulnerable. Over 2 billion tonnes of CO2 are released from peatlands each year, due to their being drained for other (usually agricultural) purposes, which is equivalent to about 6% of the anthropogenic burden from burning fossil fuels.
The UNEP report proposes that levels of tillage should be reduced, along with the use of crop rotation, the careful use of animal manures and restricted amounts of synthetic fertilizers. It is further proposed that there should be payments made to encourage carbon storage, flood control and water quality improvement. It is considered that a global climate deal should be made including the trade of carbon credits for soils to encourage good practice, and regulations for land use change and forestry are currently in the process of being set down as a part of the deal. UNEP has identified a "critical need" to universally determine, report and confirm changes in SOC over time. It is estimated that degrading areas represent a loss of net primary productivity (NPP) of 9.56 x 108 tonnes of carbon, i.e. about one billion tonnes relative to the mean NPP over the period 1981?20033. This is around one billion tonnes of carbon that has not been removed from the atmosphere, which is equivalent to about one fifth of the global carbon emissions for the year 1980. In terms of the carbon floor tax of £16/tonne for CO2, introduced by the British Government, this amounts to around £59/tonne of carbon, or £56 billion ($87 billion) in terms of potential costing and revenue. The cost of land degradation is at least an order of magnitude larger from the point of carbon emissions from the loss of SOC, and estimates might also be made is regard to the influence of land degradation on food and water security, drought, flood and sedimentation3. Thus there are many good reasons to rebuild SOC (SOM) in the soil.
12. Tillage and carbon sequestration.
As we have already noted, it is widely held that no-till (no-tillage) farming leads to the sequestration of atmospheric carbon in the form of SOM, and in contrast that soil disturbance by tillage is responsible for an historic loss of SOC. No-till is practised on a mere 6% of the worlds cropland overall: mostly in the U.S and Canada, Australia and South America (Brazil, Argentina and Chile). There was a media report that a survey had been carried out of no-till land in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia and Maryland by Rattan Lal and his colleagues at the Ohio States Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Centre, where he is director of the Carbon Capture Management and Sequestration Centre. According to Lal51: "Basically, those soils that are well-drained, are silt/silt-loam in texture, that warm quickly and have some sloping characteristics prone to erosion, are excellent candidates for no-till. Clay soils or other heavy soils that drain poorly, are prone to compaction and are in areas where the ground stays cooler, may not always encourage carbon storage through no-till." Lal concludes that, at a depth of just 8 inches, in general, no-till fields will store carbon better than ploughed fields. However, at depths of 12 inches and more, the situation may be reversed. It is necessary to “know your soil”, as farmers traditionally do.
"Soil" is part of a complex interactive system, and there is no simple and single strategy for all cases. The means must be tailored to achieve the optimum outcome on whatever land is being worked. Baker et al. also emphasise the importance of the depth to which the soil is sampled in determining its SOC content52. These workers observed that in practically all cases where conservation tillage was found to sequester carbon in the soil, the soils were only sampled to a depth of 30 cm (12 inches) or less, despite the fact that crop roots frequently extend to greater depths. In those relatively few studies in which the soil was sampled to greater depths than this, no consistent accrual of carbon could be demonstrated conclusively. Rather, there were differences in the distribution of SOC, with higher concentrations in the near surface regions when conservation tillage was used, but greater concentrations in the deeper soil layers when conventional tillage methods had been used. It is thought that these contrasting outcomes may be due to tillage inducing differences in the local thermal and physical conditions that affect root growth and distribution.
At the Rodale Institute, it has been shown53 that regeneratively managed organic soils have increased their SOM by around 1% per year to a total of nearly 30%, over the 27 year duration of their study. In comparison, land farmed using industrial high-input methods has at best accrued no additional carbon, and in some cases the soil carbon content has declined over the same period. Soils that are richer in carbon tend to support plants that are more resistant to drought, pests and disease. The sequestration of carbon in soil is principally due to the presence of mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi are able to conserve organic matter by forming aggregates of it with clay and other soil minerals. In such soil-aggregates, the carbon is less vulnerable to degradation than in the form of free humus. The mycorrhizal fungi produce a highly effective natural glue-like protein, called glomalin, which stimulates a greater aggregation of soil particles. It is further found that more soil carbon is accreted using a manure-based system than in a legume-based organic system.
In the first Rodale trial plots53, carbon was captured into soil at a rate of 875 pounds of carbon/acre/year, using a crop-rotation with manure, and about 500 lbs/acre/year using legume cover crops. However, in the 1990s, it was shown that by using composted manure combined with crop rotations, organic systems can yield a carbon sequestration of up to 2,000 lbs/acre/year (2,245 kg/hectare/year). Contrastingly, fields worked with conventional tillage, and which relied on chemical fertilizers, actually lost 300 lbs/acre/year of carbon (337 kg/hectare/year). 2,000 lbs of carbon is the amount contained in (44/12) x 2,000 = 7,333 lbs of CO2, and so each acre can remove this quantity of greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, per year, by trapping it in soil in fields. (This amounts to 8,233 kg/ha/year). While it would not be easy to do entirely and in practice, we may recall the claim, mentioned earlier, that if all the 3.5 billion acres of tillable land could be so managed, 40% of all human carbon emissions could be sequestered in its soil. Roughly that amounts to 2,000 lbs/acre x 3.5 billion acres/2,200 lbs/tonne = 3.18 billion tonnes of carbon, which is 40% of the total of 8 billion tonnes of carbon emitted per year from burning fossil fuels, in agreement with the above estimate. [In metric units, 3.5 billion acres equals around 1.4 billion hectares or 14 million square kilometres (km2), and is around 10% of the Earths land area]. The United States produces roughly one quarter of the worlds carbon emissions, and has 434 million acres of tillable land. If a 2,000 lb/acre/year carbon-capture was achieved, almost 1.5 billion tonnes of CO2 would be sequestered within its soil to mitigate nearly one quarter of the entire U.S. carbon emissions from fossil fuels. Assuming an average mileage of 15,000 miles per year and 23 miles/per/gallon, this is the emissions-cutting equivalent of taking one car off the road for every two acres of land, or removing more than half the number of cars there are on the highways of the United States53.
The notion that converting to organic farming causes the build-up of SOC has been explored recently by Gattinger et al. From a statistical analysis of 74 studies of organic farms (OFs) vs non-organic farms (NOFs), they concluded that organically farmed soils have consistently higher SOC concentrations and higher carbon stocks and sequestration rates, than their non-organic counterparts54. However, this interpretation has been called into question by Leifeld et al., who argue that the data was biased because the organic inputs to the OFs were a factor of four higher than for the NOFs55. They assert further that the claimed effect on climate change mitigation is unreasonable because the application of manure to the OFs, simply represents manure that would otherwise have been used elsewhere and so does not represent a net removal of carbon from the atmosphere to soil, but a movement of carbon from one site to another. In their response to these criticisms56, Gattinger et al. emphasised that the observed difference in external carbon inputs between OFs and NOFs can be attributed to the fact that the field comparisons were not from fertilization experiments, but from pair-wise farming system comparisons where the design and the underlying treatments reflected the particular and prevailing farming practices employed in the region where the studies were conducted. In respect to the second criticism, Gattinger et al. did in fact state in their original paper54 that “Further, the estimation of carbon sequestration alone does not equate to climate change mitigation...”, for which they gave a variety of reasons. Fundamentally, the evidence is that organic farming practices do enhance SOC stocks.
13. Enhancing, rebuilding, and regenerating soil.
It is possible to address and mitigate the phenomenon of soil erosion and indeed to enhance and rebuild soil; nonetheless, it is common that the appropriate practices are avoided because maintaining the status quo leads to immediate benefits (e.g. high crop yields). This is a shortsighted view, however, because if allowed to continue, the quality of the land will decline such that crop yields eventually must fall, even to the point where the land is abandoned. By creating a better soil-structure, along with increasing its SOM content and by impeding runoff, the soil may be rebuilt. The procedure involves biological, chemical and physical processes, but it is unlikely that a soil can be entirely restored - along with its attendant flora and fauna – that was created only over a period of hundreds or even thousands of years. In northern Thailand, farmers initially responded by adding organic matter from termite mounds to the clay-poor soils there to increase their productivity, but over the longer-term this practice could not be maintained. Workers from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), in cooperation with Khon Kaen University and local farmers, experimented with adding the smectite clay, bentonite, to the soil, which assisted its retention of water and nutrients. By a supplement of 1,256 kg per hectare, an increase in the average yield of 73% was achieved, and the risk of crop failure on degraded sandy soils during years of drought was reduced by the addition of bentonite to them. According to a survey carried out in 2008 among 250 different farmers in northeastern Thailand, and some 3 years following the initial trials, IWMI were able to determine that the average yields were 18% higher from those lands that had been treated with bentonite, and through this practice, some farmers were able to increase their income by growing vegetables, for which a more fertile soil is needed57.
14. Land management actions for the purpose of mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change.
As we have alluded, rising global temperatures are expected to have an impact on the future of agriculture, in terms of heavier and more violent rainfall on the soils in some regions of the world; in addition, sea level rise will affect low-lying lands particularly. An increasing rate of soil erosion, with a reduction in soil quality and agricultural productivity might therefore be anticipated. Since the food requirements of a human species must rise in proportion to the expected 30% increase in its population by 2050, the effect of climate change can only make matters of food security and global sustainability more acute. It has been proposed that the good management of soil is the single best contribution we can make to climate change mitigation and adaptation58. Both management practices on the field and off-site can play a role in this, serving to maximise the conservation of soil and water, so to increase agricultural food production per hectare of land. It is future generations who will benefit or suffer from the decisions that we make now, regarding the management of soils and crop residues, in terms of soil quality and water resources. Hence there is the need to bring rates of soil erosion, expected to rise in the wake of climate change, to a minimum rate. The introduction of conservation agriculture, growing cover crops, leaving residues to cover the soils, using crop rotations, and returning crop residue, will improve the quality of soil and curb its erosion.
As noted, large amounts of carbo
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