In this keynote talk at Personal Democracy Forum 2008, Pesce situates the current moment of transformation in the context of 60,000 years of human civilization; argues that our innate tendencies to connect with each other, copy behaviors and share ideas are now on hyperdrive; and projects a near-future where "hyperempowered" individuals and networks transform politics. As he concludes: "Representative democracies are a poor fit to the challenges ahead, and ‘rebooting’ them is not enough. The future looks nothing like democracy, because democracy, which sought to empower the individual, is being obsolesced by a social order which hyperempowers him."

PdF2008 Talks: Mark Pesce on "Hyperpolitics (American Style)"

Article on the stunning environmental benefits of agrichar.

The exceptional properties of charcoal in soil were first noticed in the Amazon where there are large areas of what is called "terra preta" or Amazonian dark earths. These dark earths can be several feet deep and contain up to nine percent carbon, as compared with nearby soils that have only about half of one percent. In one of the most fascinating aspects of this story, the terra preta soils turn out to have been deliberately created by a lost Amazonian civilization. Some of the areas have been dated going back to more than 7,000 years, and they are still highly fertile.

Field trials and experiments in pots show impressive yield gains in charcoal-amended soils, but so far researchers don't completely understand why. One question is whether the effect is primarily chemical and physical or primarily biological. Charcoal is a highly porous material that is very good at holding nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus and making them available to plant roots. It also aerates soil and helps it retain water.

t r u t h o u t | Kelpie Wilson | Birth of a New Wedge

Plenty of good stuff on YouTube searching "agrichar" and "biochar."

The huge potential of agricultural soils to reduce greenhouse gases and increase production at the same time has been reinforced by new research findings at NSW Department of Primary Industries’ (DPI) Wollongbar Agricultural Institute in Australia.

Trials of agrichar - a product hailed as a saviour of Australia’s carbon-depleted soils and the environment - have doubled and, in one case, tripled crop growth when applied at the rate of 10 tonnes per hectare.

Soils Offer New Hope As Carbon Sink

Just as central banks manipulate currencies in concert, so gold can be manipulated by massive selling of central bank reserves. Oil and any other market can be manipulated as well. But markets can be manipulated by only so much and for only so long without fixing the underlying problem. There is more bad news coming down the pike, news of such magnitude that no amount of ordinary manipulation is liable to conceal it.

Web of Debt - WAG THE DOG: HOW TO CONCEAL MASSIVE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE