Terra Preta de Indio
Biochar Soil Management
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Thea Whitman

MS Candidate, Crop and Soil Science
918 Bradfield Hall, Cornell University

Research Interests

Broadly, I am interested in climate change and carbon cycling with an emphasis on soils, and the policy applications of these issues.

MS Research in Soil Science at Cornell
My M.S. research contributes to the ongoing efforts to characterize black carbon with respect to its stability and its structure.  I am using an incubation study of black carbon produced from 7 different feedstocks at 7 different temperatures, combined with Fourier-Transformed Infra-Red (FTIR) analysis and a novel nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique, and am correlating the patterns of carbon loss with the analytical characteristics derived from FTIR and NMR analysis to better understand which characteristics can predict high resistance to decomposition in a BC.

I am integrating these findings about BC stability into a dynamic system model I am developing of the greenhouse gas (GHG) stocks and flows of a typical Western Kenyan small farm household where a cook stove is used that produces BC for field application as a by-product.  This model will allow me to characterize and predict the impact that switching from a traditional 3-stone cooking stove to a pyrolysis stove would have on the carbon stocks and flows in the system.  I am applying this research to the policy question of whether, or how, such households could access GHG-offset markets, such as the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism or voluntary carbon offset markets.
 

Publications and Presentations
Journal Articles
Whitman, T. and Aarssen, L.W. (accepted September 2009) The leaf size/number trade-off in herbaceous angiosperms. J. Plant Ecol. 10 pgs. doi: 10.1093/jpe/rtp018 (B.Sc. thesis).
Whitman, T. and Lehmann, J. (2009) Biochar - One way forward for soil carbon in offset mechanisms in Africa? Environ. Sci. Policy, 12 (7), 1024-1027 (M.S. work).

Conference Presentations and Posters
Whitman, T. and Aarssen, L.W. (May 2009) The leaf size/number trade-off in herbaceous angiosperms. Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution & the Genetics Society of Canada National Conference. Halifax, NS. Oral presentation. (B.Sc. thesis).
Whitman, T. and Whalen, J.K. (August 2009) Corn Stover Production for Cellulosic Ethanol in Quebec: A Life Cycle Assessment. Canadian Society of Soil Science, Canadian Society of Agronomy, and Canadian Society of Agricultural and Forest Meterology National Conference. Guelph, ON. Poster presentation. (NSERC USRA research).
Whitman, T. (August 2009) Carbon dynamics of a biochar cook stove system at a household level in western Kenya. North American Biochar Conference. Boulder, CO. Oral presentation and poster presentation (M.S. work).

 

Climate Change and the UN Negotiations Process

Fighting climate change is central to my research and interests.  I participated in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change annual conferences (COP14 – Poznan, Poland and COP15 – Copenhagen, Denmark) in 2008 and 2009 as a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation.

Media Coverage
The Coast – Halifax, NS – Dec.14-09/Dec.15-09/Dec.23-09/Dec.24-09
The Advertiser – Nova Scotia – Nov.23-08/Oct.27-09/Jan.11-10
The Kingston Whig-Standard – Kingston, ON – Oct.16-09
Queen’s Gazette – Kingston, ON – Nov.23-09/Jan.11-10
CBC radio – Maritimes – Dec.9-09/Dec.15-09

Podcasts from the UN Climate Change Negotiations

While in Copenhagen, I produced daily podcasts, which were broadcast on radio stations across Canada and are available through iTunes, Citizenshift, or the podcast RSS feed.