A thorough look at the many benefits of the ultra-fertile soil called terra preta and instructions on how to make it.

Terra preta, meaning “black earth” in Portuguese, is a very dark, fertile soil first made by the original inhabitants of the Amazon Basin at least 2,500 years ago. According to a growing community of international scientists, this ancient soil, sometimes referred to as biochar, could solve two of the greatest problems facing the world: climate change and the hunger crisis. This comprehensive book condenses everything we know about terra preta and provides instructions for how to make it. Both passionate and practical, the book offers indispensable advice for how to create a better world from the ground up.

Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Institute

Ute Scheub is a Berlin-based journalist who holds a doctorate in political science. She has written a number of successful books on peace and on women and ecology.

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Kathleen Draper is the U.S. director of the Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence. She sits on the board of directors for the International Biochar Initiative and the U.S. Biochar Initiative.

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Haiko Pieplow is a soil scientist who works at the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Berlin. In 2005 he rediscovered the Terra Preta formulation.

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Hans-Peter Schmidt leads the Delinat Institute of Ecology and Climate Farming in the Swiss canton of Valais.

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Tim Flannery is an internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer, conservationist, and author of numerous ground-breaking books, including The Weather Makers.

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