Biochar News from Down Under

Charmaster Dolph

The Story of Stumpy

The Bio-Char Fest, held over a week ago in the biggest little town in Australia, provided a smorgasbord of biochar information which I thoroughly enjoyed (and participated in). It’s hard to pick a favorite amongst the various enlightening and eclectic presentations so I won’t even try but I will try over the next little while to shine a light on some of the really inspiring work being done by this small but dedicated group of people as I think some of their work could and should be replicated in many different communities around the world.

I feel compelled to start with the person that made me smile the most, ‘CharMaster Dolph’. Dolph is a well-known personality in the biochar world, someone I’d connected with virtually prior to my trip.  But the reality of Dolph is so much more than his on-line personality. Dolph personifies the grass-roots biochar movement. He is dedicated to teaching everyone and anyone interested in making and using char how to do it with ingenuity, ethics, and heart. Here is but one story of Dolph’s biochar efforts.

A few years ago Dolph started fabricating an efficient little kiln dubbed as ‘Stumpy’ out of used propane cylinders.  Not long after Stumpy caught the eye of a local woman who turned out to have access to literally thousands of these things which were taking up space and for which no other useful purpose had been found. Talk about kismet! Dolph found a group of local craftsmen to make these kilns in bulk and set up a BOGO (buy one give one) scheme which benefits the islanders of Vanuatu. Apparently his BOGO effort has now even spread to Africa. [More info on this effort can be found on his website here.]

I sincerely applaud grassroots biochar efforts such as Dolph’s. The world would be so much better off if more of us aspired to work with this ‘Right Livelihood’ mindset. As they say Down Under, Good Onya Dolph!

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