Albert Bates is one of the founders of the intentional community and ecovillage movements. A lawyer, scientist, and teacher, he has taught village design, appropriate technology, and permaculture to students from more than sixty countries. His books include Climate in Crisis; The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook; The Biochar Solution; and The Paris Agreement.
Kathleen Draper has been deeply involved in many areas of biochar research, communication, and outreach for the past six years. She routinely collaborates with biochar experts from around the globe as a board member of the International Biochar Initiative (IBI), moderator for IBI’s biochar education webinar series, and the US Director of the Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence. She has lectured on biochar in several countries and provides consulting services to companies entering the biochar industry. She is editor of the online review, The Biochar Journal.
“A brilliant, climatic coup that uplifts biochar to an entirely new
level of substance and urgency!”—Paul Hawken
“We’re in a climate emergency, and we need to be using an awful lot
of different approaches—here’s one that definitely deserves to be
explored in full.”—Bill McKibben, author of Falter
“Burn advances the discussion from fantasies of biochar-based
agriculture to normative proposals for many ways the material could
theoretically be used as an environmentally attractive,
economically competitive resource in many sectors of society. The
book opens new avenues of thought, and it will be a valuable
reference in the coming decade in helping us to assess the
inevitable cascade of ever bigger, riskier, costlier, and zanier
proposals for carbon withdrawal.”—Dennis Meadows, 2018 laureate,
The Earth Hall of Fame Kyoto
“For anyone interested in solutions to climate change, this book is
absolutely essential reading. It represents the latest, most
innovative thinking and experimentation on removing carbon from the
atmosphere. What’s delightfully startling is the authors’ detailed,
example-laden argument that we can use carbon to regenerate
landscapes while also producing an astounding array of
products—from concrete to plastics to batteries to paper—that
function better by incorporating the universe’s most versatile
element. Written in a clear, entertaining style, Burn is an
incendiary contribution.”—Richard Heinberg, senior fellow, Post
Carbon Institute
“I cannot recommend this book highly enough for going deep into the
science of a potentially revolutionary technology that could be
capable of stopping dangerous climate change in its tracks. For
anyone who wants to know how societies can transform the very
fabric of how we run our industries so that we protect and enhance
our environment, not destroy it—while contributing to thriving
economies—this is literally the manual. It is, in short, a window
into the future we could build together. So read it, and start
building.”—Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, system shift columnist, Motherboard;
editor-in-chief, INSURGE Intelligence; research fellow, The
Schumacher Institute
“What if we could make carbon our ally, instead of our enemy, in
preserving this planet? This deeply detailed book is about far more
than the ancient, carbon-fixing Amazonian soil technology
called terra preta. Practically everything humans do, Burn
shows, could reimburse the Earth for the carbon we’ve exhumed,
leaving civilization far cleaner and healthier—and with a chance
for a future.”—Alan Weisman, author of Countdown, The
World Without Us, and Gaviotas
“Carbon, the most promiscuous of elements, can be our ruination or
by better management, our salvation. Burn is a clear, accessible,
and luminescent blueprint for the latter. It really is a
must-read.”—David Orr, author of Dangerous Years
“Carbon is the element that likes to hold hands and collaborate. We
can learn a lot from carbon if we stop demonizing it. Burn does an
exceptional job telling the vital story of how carbon can address
the interconnected crises in waste, energy, food, soil, water, and,
most pressingly, climate. This book plays a critical role in
educating us to reorient with carbon math, reimagine the role of
carbon cascades, and redesign the carbon cycle.”—Amanda Joy
Ravenhill, executive director, Buckminster Fuller Institute
“Reading Albert Bates is always a delight. He challenges us in his
humorous, outside-the-box style with deep, practical, and original
carbon insights based on years of experience as one of the world’s
leading permaculture experts. His solutions are low-cost, scalable,
and doable—right on.”—Ross Jackson, chair of Gaia Trust, Denmark;
author of Occupy World Street
“This book is a big deal. It argues persuasively that carbon has
been vilified for far too long. Biochar, a hard, crystal-like form
of carbon, can reanimate tired soils and help to mop up vast
amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere. The authors speak as seasoned
scientists as well as practitioners, and their arsenal of arguments
offers more than a glimpse of hope in a world threatened with
climate doom. If there is a way out, here is a bunch of keys to the
door at the end of the tunnel.”—Herbert Girardet, cofounder, World
Future Council; executive council member, Club of Rome
“Brilliant in its range and depth, Burn offers an integrated
approach to addressing climate change and biodiversity loss and
provides potential solutions for tackling the full range of
activities that negatively impact our climate. It is a
groundbreaking sequel to The Paris Agreement and gives hope to a
world currently facing a multiplicity of interlinked
crises.”—Feargal Duff, environmental activist
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