Guardian: I believe that George Monbiot, in rubbishing the concept of biochar, misrepresents my work (Woodchips with everything. It’s the Atkins plan of the low-carbon world, 24 March). “The great green miracle works like this: we turn the planet’s surface into charcoal. Sorry, not charcoal … Now we say biochar.” I coined the word about four years ago. It doesn’t mean charcoal like you burn on the barbecue, but finely divided pyrolysed (OK, George, “cooked” if you like) biomass prepared for soil …