Dear Folks: The following article on biofuels and the threat it poses to soil health, among other concerns, is an excellent analysis of the problems as well as some suggestions about where societies, communities and individuals can to go from here. Since it is a long article I've provided the link to the original journal below as well as the editor's comments. I originally read the article in Rachel's Democracy & Health News #906
www.rachels.org Tony Del Plato Ithaca NY http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=107&Itemid=1 Culture Change editor Jan Lundberg writes: There are many serious problems with biofuels, especially on a massive scale, and it appears from this report that they cannot be surmounted.So let the truth of Alice Friedemann's meticulous and incisive diligence wash over you and rid you of any confusion or false hopes. The absurdity and destructiveness of large scale biofuels are a chance for people to eventually even reject the internal combustion engine and energy waste in general. One can also hazard from this report that bioplastics, as well, cannot make it in a big way. The author looks ahead to post-petroleum living with considered conclusions: "Biofuels have yet to be proven viable, and mechanization may not be a great strategy in a world of declining energy." And, "...only a small amount of biomass (is) unspoken for" by today's essential economic and ecological activities. To top it off, she points out, "Crop production is reduced when residues are removed from the soil. Why would farmers want to sell their residues?" Here's an Oh-god-she-nailed-it zinger: "As prices of fertilizer inexorably rise due to natural gas depletion, it will be cheaper to return residues to the soil than to buy fertilizer." Looking further along than most of us, Alice has among her conclusions: "It's time to start increasing horse and oxen numbers, which will leave even less biomass for biorefineries." -- I am against using death as a punishment. I am also against using it as a reward. - Stanislaw J. Lec _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
