By Harold Dickert
May 3rd, 2025
BURLINGTON, ON
By Way of Introduction. There are environmentalists who do there part day in day out – they know that climate change is taking place and there is a lot of work to be done. Then there are the really hard core environmentalists. Vince Fiorita (and it if don’t know Vince, you are not a real environmentalist) and then there are the really hard core types. Harold Dickert is one of those. He lives on a 6 acre piece of land in Kilbride and probably has a nickname for every tree on his property. Don’t ask for half an hour of his time – you will end up talking to him for several hours.
A Soil So Magical, It Might As Well Be Wizardry
This isn’t just dirt. It’s a carbon-hoarding, crop-boosting, water-hugging powerhouse – soil with serious staying power.
Picture this: a soil so rich, so fertile, so ridiculously good at its job that it makes modern industrial farming look like a toddler trying to build a sandcastle with a teaspoon. This isn’t some lab-grown, corporate-patented monstrosity—it’s Terra Preta, the legendary Amazonian “Black Earth.”
Ancient civilizations whipped up this soil cocktail long before carbon footprints were even a thing. The recipe? A mix of local earth, bio-char (basically charcoal, but don’t you dare call it ash), nutrients, and enough beneficial microbes to send a scientist into happy convulsions. The kicker? It’s still in Amazonian soil 3,000 years later, still making crops go gangbusters. That’s right—it’s soil with serious staying power.
Why Should You Care?
Because the planet is having a bit of a meltdown (literally), and Terra Preta is the comeback story we need. This isn’t just dirt. It’s a carbon-hoarding, crop-boosting, water-hugging powerhouse that can:
✅ Multiply Crop Yields – Up to eight times higher. That’s not a typo.
✅ Lock Away Carbon – Basically the underground vault of the climate world.
✅ Fight Climate Change – Because if we don’t, who will?
✅ Turn Invasive Plants into a Goldmine – More on that below.
The Mess We’re In
Terra Preta. It’s the ultimate Swiss Army knife of agriculture—restoring soil, capturing carbon, boosting food security, and turning invasive plants into a resource instead of a headache.
Ah, the modern world. So many innovations, so many terrible side effects. Here’s what we’re dealing with:
❌ Dead Soils – Industrial farming sucked the life out of them. Oops.
❌ Toxic Runoff – Fertilizer pollution creating oceanic “Dead Zones.” Not great.
❌ Invasive Plants on the Rampage – Like a botanical zombie apocalypse.
❌ Droughts, Floods & Angry Farmers – Mother Nature is Not Amused™.
❌ Global Food Shortages – Because “progress” should not equal “less food.”
Enter Terra Preta. It’s the ultimate Swiss Army knife of agriculture—restoring soil, capturing carbon, boosting food security, and turning invasive plants into a resource instead of a headache.
How Do We Scale It Up?
Governments, it’s your time to shine. Here’s how:
Bounty Programs for Invasive Plants – Pay folks to gather problem plants, turn them into bio-char, and voila! A win-win.
♻️ Composting 2.0 – Green bin waste deserves better than the landfill. Let’s bio-char it up.
Carbon Cap & Trade + Carbon Micro Credits – If you put carbon into the ground instead of the air, you should get rewarded. Period.
Community & Backyard Bio-Char Production – Imagine every backyard being a tiny carbon-sequestering machine. Beautiful.
What’s In It for Us? (Spoiler: A Lot.)
✨ More Carbon in Soil, Less in the Air – Climate change just got a little nervous.
Bigger Harvests – More food, fewer chemicals. Cleaner Water – Say goodbye to toxic runoff. Healthier Plants – Who needs pesticides when your soil is thriving? Better-Tasting, Nutrient-Dense Food – Your taste buds will write thank-you notes. A Soil System That LASTS – Unlike conventional farming’s one-and-done approach.
Built-in Drought Resistance – Bio-char hoards water like a paranoid prepper, releasing it just when plants need it most.
Microbial Paradise – Soil microbes love Terra Preta.
♻️ Less Waste, More Smart Use of Resources – Even invasive plants get a redemption arc.
A Step Toward Real Climate Action – Because hashtags alone won’t fix this.
Good Carbon: Locked in soil, feeding plants, keeping ecosystems happy.
It’s Not Just About Dirt – It’s About Carbon
Science alert! Pyrolysis (the fancy word for heating organic matter in the absence of oxygen) transforms invasive plants and waste into bio-char and syngas (a renewable energy source). This means Terra Preta isn’t just a soil revolution, it’s an energy solution too.
Let’s Rethink Carbon
Carbon isn’t the villain here. It’s literally the backbone of life. The problem? We keep putting it in the wrong place.
Good Carbon: Locked in soil, feeding plants, keeping ecosystems happy.
Bad Carbon: Floating in the atmosphere, melting ice caps, wrecking the climate.
Terra Preta lets us take the bad carbon and turn it into good carbon. Simple. Brilliant. Necessary.
Take Action (Because the Planet Won’t Fix Itself)
This is not a fringe idea. It’s real, backed by science, and ready to go. We just need people to get on board. That means you.
Advocate for bio-char programs in your city.
Make Terra Preta in your backyard (yes, really).
Support farmers using sustainable soil practices.
Watch, Read & Get Inspired
For the skeptics, the curious, and the already-convinced, here’s your homework:
“The Secret of Eldorado – TERRA PRETA” (National Geographic Documentary)
Terra Preta: How the World’s Most Fertile Soil Can Help Reverse Climate Change and Reduce World Hunger (ISBN: 978-1856234375)
BURN: Using Fire to Cool the Earth (ISBN: 978-1603587833)
Join the Movement
I’ve been making Terra Preta in Kilbride, and guess what? It works. My last bio-char session had local environmental NGO leaders geeking out over its potential. Now, we’re figuring out how to scale this up.
Because climate change isn’t waiting, and neither should we.
Let’s dig deep and fix this—one bio-char batch at a time.
Just to clear up Pepper’s comment about Bio Char or Ash….
When you burn wood, you are not actually burning wood! You are burning the hydrocarbon gasses that come out of the wood at various temperatures, and this will lead to glowing embers. Burning further leads to burning the carbon in the wood, which results in ash. When you see ash, you have gone too far, wasting your effort. You want embers – not ash. Do this in a way that creates zones with-in the fire where pyrolysis (with out oxygen) is happening and you get mostly embers, which when quenched turn pure black resulting in bio char. It is the bio char that is one of the ingredients needed to create Terra Preta – which is the goal of all of this.