True. Unfortunately, the choice (at least in areas like in southwestern Ohio) is usually not between continuing agriculture and restoring the habitat - it is between continuing agriculture or putting up a Wal-Mart or more McMansions.
Wayne Tyson wrote: > Or restore it to habitat and save tax money for government support for > corporate welfare, not to mention erosion, siltation, chemical > contamination, air pollution, resource depletion, blah, blah, blah? > > WT > > At 11:25 AM 2/9/2006, Don Cipollini wrote: > >> I have thought recently about this, and without having read that paper, >> I might throw out that supporting ethanol fuel production could have the >> secondary (mostly) beneficial effect of keeping some land in agriculture >> that might otherwise be under development pressure. >> >> DeSolla,Shane [Burlington] wrote: >> >> >I am pretty sure that this has already been posted on ECOLOG, but since >> >the topic has come up again... >> > >> >A study by Patzek (2004) found that the use of ethanol (obtained from >> >growing corn) ultimately consumes more fossil fuels than it saves. He >> >advocates that the US dramatically reduce its corn production, and >> >reduce its use of ethanol from corn. Not all biofuel comes from corn, >> >but I suspect that the vast majority of it does. >> > >> >This is not the only study that came to this conclusion, but is among >> >the most recent. It is a long read, but is in depth. Of course that does >> >not make it right, but his argument is not trivial. >> > >> >Tad W Patzek. 2004. Thermodynamics of the Corn-Ethanol Biofuel Cycle. >> >Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences. 23(6):519-567. >> > >> >Cheers, >> >Shane >> > >> >Opinions expressed are those of the author and do not represent those of >> >his employer. >> > >> > >> >> -- >> *********************************** >> Don Cipollini, Ph.D. >> Associate Professor-Plant Physiology/Chemical Ecology >> Associate Director Environmental Sciences PhD Program >> Department of Biological Sciences >> Wright State University >> 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway >> Dayton, Ohio 45435-0001 >> (937) 775-3805 >> FAX (937) 775-3320 >> email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Lab Page: http://www.wright.edu/~don.cipollini >> <http://www.wright.edu/%7Edon.cipollini> > > -- *********************************** Don Cipollini, Ph.D. Associate Professor-Plant Physiology/Chemical Ecology Associate Director Environmental Sciences PhD Program Department of Biological Sciences Wright State University 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway Dayton, Ohio 45435-0001 (937) 775-3805 FAX (937) 775-3320 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lab Page: http://www.wright.edu/~don.cipollini
