Re: [Biofuel] World Agriculture Report
I don't have a real good handle on this but David Blume says in his book Alcohol Can Be A Gas that biofuels must continue to have subsidies as long as the major oil companies have all their loopholes and tax breaks. Why I am writing is that I am upset because Ralph Nader has come out against biofuel subsidies as one of his platform issues. (See votenader.org skip to the website and uner nader 2008 blog refer to East Coast Corporate Liberal). Also Current TV blogs seem to be against biofuels. I need some guidance as to the truth. Is it that we just shouldn't use corn (i.e. 28 different sources for alcohol)? Could you please contact the Nader team and put in your ideas. They have a contact page. I don't want them to be against something that is not right or at least clarified better as I am a volunteer for his campaign. I'm interested in a CARBON NEUTRAL platform and I don't see how you can do it without biofuels. Accoring to David's book, John D. Rockefeller was the one who made gasoline out of kerosene toxic waste and stopped Ford from continuing with his plans to convert distilleries into alcohol fuel plants. Interesting that Rockefeller is working with the world bank and promoting GM food (i.e. refer to Patel's article). David Blume says we can grow everything we need for all transportation needs on less than 15% prime cropland by using other land that isn't considered cropland or farmland. -- Want an e-mail address like mine? Get a free e-mail account today at www.mail.com! -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20080421/be6c042f/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: Jos� Can You See? Bush's Trojan Taco
Also: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087sid=asZwjutieMasrefer=home Bush, Harper, Calderon Defend Trade Amid Backlash April 21 (Bloomberg) http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5152 Three Amigos Summit Manuel Pérez Rocha and Sarah Anderson | April 15, 2008 Editor: Emily Schwartz Greco Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org President George W. Bush will soon host what has become an annual Three Amigos Summit. The leaders of Mexico, the United States, and Canada will be gathering in New Orleans on April 21 and 22. What do you suppose is on the agenda? A rational response to immigration, perhaps? A thoughtful renegotiation of the unpopular North American Free Trade Agreement? Lessons from Canada's affordable medicines program? No. No. And no. Rather than putting their heads together around pressing issues such as these, the three leaders will be advancing a so-called Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). And while that may sound well and good, this initiative, begun in 2005, is unlikely to produce either security or prosperity. That's because the partnership is only with big business. The chief executives of Wal-Mart, Chevron, and 28 other large corporations are in on the closed-door negotiations, while members of Congress, journalists, and ordinary citizens are excluded. And the secrecy is not just around the presidential summits, but also the meetings of about 20 SPP working groups that carry on negotiations over the course of the year. What's on the table? Not much is public, but we do know that the executive powers of the three countries are hammering out regulatory changes that they claim do not require legislative approval. And given who's in the room, it's a safe bet that these changes will favor narrow corporate interests over the public good. The official corporate advisory body, called the North American Competitive Council (NACC), made 51 proposals to the SPP negotiators last year on issues as varied as taxation and patent rights. The NACC later boasted that all three of our governments have committed themselves to taking action on many of our recommendations. Bad on Process and Substance In essence, the SPP represents the privatization of policymaking. And so it's not surprising that on top of the outrageously anti-democratic process, there are also strong reasons to be concerned about the substance of SPP decisions. Here are just a few: First, at a time when the Democratic presidential candidates have kicked up a long overdue debate over NAFTA, the SPP would actually expand this flawed policy. Even though the lifting of trade and investment barriers under the trade pact failed to create the promised good, stable jobs, the SPP is further chipping away at remaining economic regulations. For example, at the last SPP summit, the three leaders announced a weakening of NAFTA's rules of origin to allow products with a lower level of national content to receive preferential tariff treatment. This will undermine domestic industries by making trade in products from third countries like China even more profitable. Second, the SPP could exacerbate tensions over energy resources and deepen our dependence on fossil fuels. Under the guise of a North American integrated energy market, there is evidence that the U.S. government and corporations are aiming to gain greater control over its neighbors' resources. One SPP agreement, for example, reflects the corporate advisors' recommendations to promote energy privatization in Mexico - this in spite of a massive citizens' movement in that country, which has fought long and hard to prevent their nation's oil industry from being handed over to global corporations. In Canada, progressive activists are up in arms over an SPP report that envisioned a fivefold increase in environmentally destructive oil production from tar sands, with most of the increase to be exported to the United States. Third, the SPP talks are aimed at expanding the militarized U.S. security perimeter to all of North America, with disturbing implications for civil liberties. The three countries have vowed to join forces against not only external but also internal threats, and Mexico and Canada have already agreed to share vast amounts of information with the U.S. government, including the fingerprints of refugees and asylum seekers. The Bush administration is also offering Mexico a multi-billion-dollar military aid package under the Merida Initiative (also known as Plan Mexico). While the new equipment is supposedly to combat drug cartels, many organizations have expressed concerns that it may also end up being used against political dissidents and immigrants. Progressive vs. Conservative Critiques Although the SPP has been the target of strong criticism from progressive groups in Canada and Mexico, right-wing anti-immigrant forces have dominated the discourse in the United States. And while there is unity
Re: [Biofuel] World Agriculture Report
Hello Francene I recommend a little digging in the list archives. For instance, there's a difference between biofuels and agrofuels. See: http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg71732.html Re: [Biofuel] Definition of biofuel. Fri, 18 Jan 2008 Small is beautifuel. Conversely, big is agrofuel, not beautifuel. Read the GRAIN report it refers to as well: http://www.grain.org/nfg/?id=502 We believe that the prefix bio, which comes from the Greek word for 'life', is entirely inappropriate for such anti-life devastation. So, following the lead of non-governmental organisations and social movements in Latin America, we do not talk about biofuels and green energy. Agrofuels is a much better term, we believe, to express what is really happening: agribusiness producing fuel from plants as another commodity in a wasteful, destructive and unjust global economy. The biofuels that the list and Journey to Forever deal with are real biofuels, small-scale, local, eco-friendly and community-friendly, it's Appropriate Technology (as if people mattered). David Blume's book is excellent, it's the bible of small to medium scale alcohol production as he said. But I don't agree with him that there should be subsidies for biofuels (actually agrofuels) as long as there are subsidies for big oil, for the sake of a level playing field or whatever. Subsidies can play a useful and important role, but these subsidies are only handouts to the same big guys who're causing all the problems in the first place. More of the same will only make it worse, with further distortions. There's a lot of confusion and spin about all this. I'm just as much opposed to agrofuels production as to any other kind of agribusiness, it's the problem, it can't provide solutions. Nonetheless, agrofuels is being blamed as a major cause of the current food crisis, but it's not so: http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg72337.html [Biofuel] A man-made famine Thu, 17 Apr 2008 http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg72313.html Re: [Biofuel] Fwd: Re: Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis, turns biomass into Green gasoline Sun, 13 Apr 2008 Meanwhile soaring food prices, scarcity and world-wide food riots are not (or not yet) due to pressures on the food supply caused by increased biofuels production as so widely alleged, but mainly to soaring petroleum prices. It also says, about industrial-scale agrofuels production, that if it doesn't fit the Appropriate Technology model it's useless. Subsidies for Appropriate Technology biofuels (not agrofuels) production might make some sense, as long as it didn't twist it all out of shape. But it's unlikely to happen. No doubt we'll manage to struggle along without it somehow. In fact it's been suitably out of control for a few years already: ... untold numbers of local folks all over the world in all kinds of circumstances are making their own biofuels, especially biodiesel, millions and millions of gallons of it every year, it all goes right under the radar, and it's spreading like a weed, suitably out of control. http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg71455.html [Biofuel] Biofuels for Transport Sun, 25 Nov 2007 And millions and millions of dollars that aren't going to ExxonMobil. But ExxonMobil managed to struggle along without it and posted an all-time world-wide record profit last year of $42 billion, which makes it a little hard to believe that the oil price went up from $25 to $117 a barrel because costs were higher, or because supplies were low. Straight figures you can trust are hard to come by in the murky world of big oil. Supply and demand? Of what? Of oil futures? Perhaps similarly, the reports about food shortages don't actually seem to report any actual food shortages, only dire talk about them, talk and soaring prices and hardship for poor people who can't afford the new prices, but no actual shortages, as yet. But the prices soar anyway. Supply and demand? I don't think production has decreased, in fact it's steadily increased, food production has kept 17% ahead of population growth over the last 30 years. The FAO and many others have stated that there's more than enough food for everyone, more food per capita available worldwide than there's ever been before. The reason that 852 million people go hungry isn't that there's not enough food, it's that they're excluded from the market by an inequitable economic system. Robert Watson, director of the IAASTD which produced the World Agriculture Report, said: We have to applaud global increases in food production but not everyone has benefited. He said governments and industry focused too narrowly on increasing food production, with little regard for natural resources or food security. Continuing with current trends would mean the earth's haves and have-nots splitting further apart, he said. We have to make food more
[Biofuel] Fwd: [LittleHouses] There Is No Gas Shortage
such as Pilgrim's Pride. And the net result of all this is that the prices of crude and gasoline rise ever higher thanks to a shortage that does not exist, while food costs are soaring thanks in part to the ethanol mandate. == The Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, but the cost of mortgages goes up six weeks in a rowand last month Bank of America (BAC) credit-card holders started being charged more than 24% interest on new purchases. == This is what they call Republican Prosperity? Ronald Reagan was both right and wrong when he said, Government is not the solution, government is the problem. And government is still the problem. Instead of a fair and open market they gave us a free-for-all marketplace with no regulations at all, which lately these bubble boys have sent south for all of us. == One would guess that Washington missed the obvious: Protect all U.S. consumers and you're also protecting business expansion. == http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2008/bw2008041_945564_page_3.htm == sail4free == - Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleHouses/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleHouses/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ - Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20080422/65f687b6/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] Food Rationing in America?
-pound bags of rice at Costco. I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own consumption, he wrote. For now, rice is available at Asian markets in California, though consumers have fewer choices when buying the largest bags. At our neighborhood store, it's very expensive, more than $30 for a 25-pound bag, a housewife from Mountain View, Theresa Esquerra, said. I'm not going to pay $30. Maybe we'll just eat bread. robert luis rabello The Edge of Justice The Long Journey New Adventure for Your Mind http://www.newadventure.ca Ranger Supercharger Project Page http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/ -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20080422/311e9716/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Food Rationing in America?
i dont know about rice, but flour i can speak for. Cattails. http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/duffyk43.html you can use cattail pollen, tubers, sprouts, and seed heads for foods of all kinds. there is more about living comfortably in the boonies throughout the website, but there are some articles that could possibly be considered survivalist in the right context. all paranoia aside, its some pretty interesting stuff-- canning, hunting, recycling/repurposing, etc. Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:18:46 -0700 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: sustainablelorgbiofuel@sustainablelists.org Subject: [Biofuel] Food Rationing in America? _ In a rush? Get real-time answers with Windows Live Messenger. http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_realtime_042008 ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Fwd: [LittleHouses] There Is No Gas Shortage
institutions, but why protect the personal assets of those who were responsible for the mess? Both the corporation's officers and its board members should contribute their personal assets toward saving the bank they put in the ditch—the bank all of us are going to pay to bail out. == Instead, the Bush administration is protecting those responsible for creating yet another speculative bubble in oil futures, and is protecting investors in the ethanol industry—much to the detriment of food-processing companies such as Pilgrim's Pride. And the net result of all this is that the prices of crude and gasoline rise ever higher thanks to a shortage that does not exist, while food costs are soaring thanks in part to the ethanol mandate. == The Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, but the cost of mortgages goes up six weeks in a row—and last month Bank of America (BAC) credit-card holders started being charged more than 24% interest on new purchases. == This is what they call Republican Prosperity? Ronald Reagan was both right and wrong when he said, Government is not the solution, government is the problem. And government is still the problem. Instead of a fair and open market they gave us a free-for-all marketplace with no regulations at all, which lately these bubble boys have sent south for all of us. == One would guess that Washington missed the obvious: Protect all U.S. consumers and you're also protecting business expansion. == http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/apr2008/bw2008041_945564_page_3.htm == sail4free == - Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleHouses/ Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleHouses/join (Yahoo! ID required) To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ - Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20080422/65f687b6/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ _ Make i'm yours. Create a custom banner to support your cause. http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Contribute/Default.aspx?source=TXT_TAGHM_MSN_Make_IM_Yours ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Food Rationing in America?
companies have less discretion to increase prices locally. Mr. Rawles said the spot shortages seemed to be most frequent in the Northeast and all the way along the West Coast. He said he had heard reports of buying limits at Sam's Club warehouses, which are owned by Wal-Mart Stores, but a spokesman for the company, Kory Lundberg, said he was not aware of any shortages or limits. An anonymous high-tech professional writing on an investment Web site, Seeking Alpha, said he recently bought 10 50-pound bags of rice at Costco. I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own consumption, he wrote. For now, rice is available at Asian markets in California, though consumers have fewer choices when buying the largest bags. At our neighborhood store, it's very expensive, more than $30 for a 25-pound bag, a housewife from Mountain View, Theresa Esquerra, said. I'm not going to pay $30. Maybe we'll just eat bread. robert luis rabello The Edge of Justice The Long Journey New Adventure for Your Mind http://www.newadventure.ca http://www.newadventure.ca/ Ranger Supercharger Project Page http://www.members.shaw.ca/rabello/ -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20080422/311e9716/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
