Stop the Smoke - Reduce Global Warming

The annual Chiang Mai burning ban took effect on January 1, and as February comes to a close, we are still enjoying blue skies—a welcome sight! A few days of rain kept the fields green, giving us hope for cleaner air this season.

We are encouraged to connect with new biochar advocates across Thailand and have joined a coalition (Thailand Biochar Consortium) working to establish a biochar standard for the country. This effort will help open a market for biochar, promoting the widespread transformation of crop waste into a valuable resource. The Consortium includes Chiang Mai University, NSTDA, MTEC, in collaboration with various university networks, including Kasetsart University, Maejo University, etc., as well as many businesses. 

Advancing Biochar Technology 

We’ve been busy installing two new Wastex machines, which use a high-tech, circular system designed to produce biochar while capturing the last bit of methane released during the pyrolysis process. Additionally, we now have a chipper to shred orchard tree prunings at the farm, allowing us to convert them into biochar more efficiently. The biochar we produce continues to be distributed to organic farmers around Phrao, supporting sustainable agriculture while reducing air pollution. We are still fine-tuning our system and remain committed to finding new and innovative ways to produce biochar and keep smoke out of the air.  

Warm Heart Learning Center: A New Hub for Community Engagement 

Another milestone this quarter was the opening of the Warm Heart Learning Center in Hang Dong. Classes began in late December, and on February 4, we launched our first Warm Hearts’ Market, a monthly event held on the second Saturday of each month. The market featured organically grown vegetables from the Warm Heart Farm and local producers. Biochar for fertilizer, our new vermicast product, and our long lasting, low smoke briquettes were also available for sale.

Aom led a hands-on biochar and potting soil demonstration, and we celebrated the launch of our first raised-bed vegetable plots. Looking ahead, we plan to expand the Learning Center’s offerings, welcoming other organizations to host classes, workshops, poetry readings, and musical recitals in this conveniently located space just south of Chiang Mai’s city center. One initiative under discussion is to make the Center a collection point for tree pruning and making biochar to minimize burning around the city.

Biochar Academy & International Collaboration  

This quarter also saw our participation in the International Biochar Initiative’s Biochar Academy at ECHO Farm in Chiang Mai. We had the opportunity to demonstrate biochar production and present Biochar Life as a case study. The event brought together participants from across Thailand and around the world, creating a valuable platform for sharing the latest scientific advancements, exchanging ideas, and expanding the network of biochar advocates. 

Thank you for making this possible.  We look forward to sharing more progress in the coming months! 

Best wishes for the New Year!

Dana, Evelind Michael, and the Warm Heart Biochar Team

The annual summer rains are slowing and mountain villages around Chiang Mai are recovering from the flood waters. Phrao rice fields were flooded but the orchards were spared.

Our Biochar team managed to keep making biochar from the Longan orchard pruning as the crop was harvested, to avoid open field burning of the branches and leaves.

In our local program, we move from farm to farm and process the biochar, giving it to the farmer to use around the trees and share with other farmers with less feedstock. This season, the team in Phrao District has made and applied over 200 Tonnes of biochar, sequestering 400 Tonnes of carbon.

We’re looking ahead for ways to expand production and ensure we minimize any emissions from greenhouse gases. In that regard, we have contracted to test 2 machines, starting in January. Wastex has been certified by Carbon Standards International to produce these small industrial kilns with a closed-loop system for making biochar.

Every day, individual smallholder Artisan biochar farmers are making a difference in our atmosphere as they stop open-field burning. The new small industrial equipment will expand our capacity and provide an alternate model when individual farmers are not making their own biochar but are happy to use it to renew their soils.

Following up on new advocates of biochar, Hilltribe Organics posted its first photos of the biochar it made in a trough, after the Warm Heart training. "Celebrating the first biochar at Hilltribe Organics. Biochar production is a crucial element of the Regenerative Organics Valley project. Leftovers from corn, our major chicken feed, are burnt in a Kontiki pyrolysis process. The resulting biochar will be used to produce organic fertilizer, together with chicken manure, and returned to corn farmers in the area completing a circular agricultural model."

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Warm Heart team is dodging bullets from rebel forces, getting vaccines against monkeypox, and all the while training farmers to make and use biochar.

They have provided rabbits that multiply rapidly as a food source, added hand-made biochar briquettes to avoid cutting firewood, and many other uses for biochar. See the photo of the goats enjoying a salt lick with biochar to aid their digestion.

We’ll keep you posted as our equipment arrives and we continue to train in Africa and Thailand.

Thank you for your continuing support as our program continues and evolves.

Dana, Michael, Evelind, and the Biochar Team