Wicking bed – a new technology for adapting to climate change

The Copenhagen conference has shown the difficulties of reaching international agreement on climate change.  The political and technical obstacles are discussed in ‘climate change – obstacles to agreement’.

This shows that it is virtually impossible to cut emission on a global basis.  Even if it were possible to cut emission it does not solve the problem of global warming. The emissions are still there and accumulating. We need the technology of removing carbon from the atmosphere.

We are already suffering from damage to our soils making food production more uncertain. Erratic rainfall resulting from climate change will make food production even more difficult.. This is discussed in ‘food production and climate change’

 We need a new approach, with new technologies, which will lead to a sustainable but still affluent society.

 We are focusing too hard on reducing emission and ignoring the obvious alternative solution to climate change.  Plants already absorb 30 times all man made emission.  See plants absorbing carbon.  Yet the carbon that is absorbed is rapidly returned to the atmosphere.  By changing our agricultural system, for example by adopting the wicking bed technology, we capture carbon which is locked in the soil and make food production better able to cope with more erratic rainfall.

Changing our agricultural system so it becomes a net absorber of carbon, which is captured in the soil, is essential if we are to manage climate change and have stable food production

These two aspects of absorbing carbon and stabilizing food production are totally entwined, they cannot be separated.

This document aims to provide information to our political leaders on how to mitigate climate change and adapt our food production to the more erratic rainfall.