New York Times - IF the world is going to sharply reduce the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by midcentury, then many businesses will have to go carbon neutral, bringing their net emissions of the greenhouse gas to zero.

Boston Globe - THE EARTH'S UNCERTAIN oil reserves and dwindling freshwater supply may get all the attention, but modern society is also overtaxing the ground itself. An increasing number of scientists are starting to emphasize the extent to which soil - even more than petroleum or water or air - is a limited and fragile resource.

CNN - Despite plans to slash carbon dioxide (C02) emissions, the world still faces a very basic, and very big, problem. There is already too much C02 sitting in the atmosphere, and put simply, it needs to be somewhere else.

Geotimes - Charcoal is making a comeback — but not where you might think. Instead of putting charcoal into the grill, some scientists are advocating putting it into the ground.

Geotimes - In the heart of the Amazon rainforest lie small plots of fertile ground. Soils in tropical rainforests are notoriously nutrient poor, but the dirt that fills these plots is so rich that the locals sell it as compost. This soil — called terra preta, Portuguese for “black earth” — did not form by accident.

National Geographic - The future rests on the soil beneath our feet... Unlike ordinary tropical soils, terra preta remains fertile after centuries of exposure to tropical sun and rain. Its remarkable resilience has been demonstrated at Embrapa's facility in Manaus, where scientists test new crop varieties in replica patches of terra preta.

Scientific American - The world's most outspoken climatologist argues that today's carbon dioxide levels are already dangerously too high. What can we do if he is right?

Time - On his farm in the hills of west virginia, Josh Frye isn't raising chickens just for meat. Through a process that some scientists tout as a solution to climate change, food shortages and the energy crisis, Frye is transforming the waste into a charcoal-like substance called biochar that in the long run could be far better for the world than chicken nuggets.

The Independent - Trials are to be started in Sussex and Belize early in the new year, backed with venture capital from Silicon Valley, on techniques to take carbon from the atmosphere and bury it in the soil, where it should act as a powerful fertiliser.

Popular Mechanics - Biochar was first created and used thousands of years ago to help plants grow. Researchers have found that this charcoal-like substance traps carbon and is a renewable source of fuel. Nine countries are pouring research dollars into the charcoal-like substance to see if it can sequester carbon, improve the soil and produce biofuels all at once—on an economically competitive scale. Could this ancient fertilizer really put a dent on global warming?