Jatropha, the new biofuel crop being promoted in tropical countries, is effectively a giant toxic monster weed which will have a destructive impact on wildlife and biodiversity, and will be almost impossible to get rid of once planted, thus destroying the future farming potential of the land.
SEE - http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKHKG7593720070912 The idea that Haiti of all places should use up what little land they have to grow Jatropha is absurd. Jatrophra is a unstable and unpredictable producer of toxic seeds and oil. In India native people are being run off their lands by rich developers who want to grow biofuels, and these biofuel schemes are harming the environment, wildlife, and native peoples all over Asia. SEE - http://www.navdanya.org/news/5dec07.htm Biofuels are the most evil idea of the 21st century. They have killed more people, unleashed more greenhouse gas, and destroyed more rainforests and native vegetation and wildlife habitat than anything else. The idea that biofuels for automotive use can be good for mankind is simply wrong. Biofuels should be used as calorie rich fuel (food) for human beings and animals, not for machines. "All sources of renewable liquid energy are inadequate when set against the net energy density that is achieved from extracting oil from wells, which we estimate as being the equivalent of capturing all 10,000 parts in 10,000 of insolation (incident solar radiation), or even from producing synthetic gasoline from coal — equivalent to capturing 2200 parts in 10,000 of insolation. 3 parts per 10,000 is a pale shadow of the fossil fuel net energy densities which have been the sine qua non of the 4400 million population growth in the last century." - Andrew R.B. Ferguson, editor Optimum Population Trust Journal SEE - http://www.energybulletin.net/node/2456 Christopher Calder - http://home.att.net/~meditation/bio-fuel-hoax.html (all the facts on biofuels) On Mar 22, 6:04 pm, "David B. Benson" <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mar 21, 10:11 am, Christopher Calder <[email protected]> wrote: > > > [snip] > > Just one state in India is setting up a million hectare Jatropha > plantation on unused land. There is a large Jatropha plantation in > Myanmar; there is something about it on a previous thread here. I am > sure similiar stories are unfolding in other parts of South Asia, > Southeast Asia and Africa. It would certainly be good to help the > Haitians do much the same in that devasted and devastatingly poor > country. > > As for the U.S., I only know about a single 900,000 plant Jatropha > plantation being started in Florida. I gather that this will be > enough biodiesel to power the disel fleet of the county the plantation > is located in. > > I agree that ethanol from corn and biodiesel from rapeseed are rather > poor ideas; biodiesel from Jatropha is another matter. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
