“They showed up with a truck full of what looked like the remains of a campfire. It even smelled like a campfire.” During a series of field trials Peltz realized that carbonized wood can help revitalize dramatically degraded land. “Stuff would grow on mine sites where nothing had grown for 100 years.”

Christopher Peltz tells his story of discovery and amazement with Designers of Paradise host Erik van Lennep, describing research he has conducted at mining sites in Colorado to understand the impact of biochar on “the worst possible soils”. They discuss details of how the tests were conducted and the gratifying results. Control plots would still have no growth versus sites treated with biochar which were “bright green”.

They talk about the amount of damaged land in Utah and Colorado (a lot!), the pay-back period (quick!), what keeps him engaged (beauty!), and who should try biochar (everyone!). They also talk about Christopher’s motivations for continuing his work in a challenging political environment, the value of university education, and his personal satisfaction derived from helping restore damaged land.

Christopher closes with a story about how he includes biochar in his environmental science class and his students excitement with the results of their experiments. He emphasizes that “biochar is for everybody”.

When you are done with this episode, check out Erik’s earlier interview with Kathleen Draper on her work demonstrating the value of biochar.

Other References and links to check out:

Mind & Media logo

Designers of Paradise is made possible, in part, by Mind & Media. Over the last quarter century, the writers, producers, storytellers and media specialists at Mind & Media have spearheaded a multitude of engaging and complex communication campaigns.