Hello Everyone, Thank you to everyone who has replied to Re: patents, biotech and cellulosic ethanol with such great information. I hope that the development of cellulosic technology may be somewhat of a liberating force and not a story of corporate control. I regret that I was a bit unclear in my questioning, however. My main interest for discussion is more in the realm of economics, politics and social aspects as they relate to biofuel, and less with technology. Two questions which have recently intrigued me are these: Who benefits from biofuel? And, Who benefits *most* from biofuel? Certainly it may be stated that we benefit from biofuel. (Though I don't want to speak for *you* I venture to guess that you may feel biofuel is beneficial to attaining your goals, as entrepreneurs, activists, researchers, and many other walks of life.) Also, it may be argued that future generations benefit from further developments in biofuel, lessening the amount of net carbon we emit into the atmosphere every day. Biofuel may also be a significant improvement to those communities upwind of petroleum refineries-as we produce more biofuel perhaps we will have less petro-refineries. (That's quite an assumption. not sure about that one.) And than there's the thought that biofuel may somehow lessen the sort of 'vote with your dollars' desire for a 'war for oil,' that biofuel is beneficial to people who are having their petroleum resources exploited by foreign interests. But the question that has got me thinking lately is about who benefits *most* from biofuel. I don't want to unnecessarily get caught up in hierarchical thinking, more vs most benefits, but rather to consider to what degree corporate interests are gaining more from biofuels developments than persons like myself. Are Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill the main beneficiaries? What about big oil multinationals who see the potential of extending the life of petroleum through biofuel blending? I see these issues as critically important to biofuel as an *alternative*, realizing that a better world is possible, whereas the large-industrial development of biofuel as is criticized by David Pimentel for example is more along the lines of 'business as usual' with the same set of corporations at the top. I have spent far too much time disagreeing with Pimentel (I still do, and for good reason) and far too little considering some of the accusations he makes. (Please do not focus this discussion on Pimentels' work unless you really find it important, there is a lot of discussion in the biofuel list on that subject already.) Here is another set of questions that I am hoping to address in an article that I am writing. food for thought in case anyone is hungry. What are the myths that we are dealing with here? What are we (read *we* however you might, yourself maybe) advocating at a philosophical level? And what are we against? How does biofuel fit into the long-term global picture? How may biofuel relate with the WTO, IMF and World Bank? JtF does an excellent job of articulating answers to these questions, but I want to hear from people nonetheless, as sort of a philosophical exercise in original thought and creativity. Perhaps this is an exhausted dialogue for some people but I have not had discussions along these lines to consider the topics dead by any means. Thank you Keith and Martin for fostering this space. Sorry if I was long winded here. As Chico says, and I do appreciate this very much. The very best for us! - Dave _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel
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