Watch out, its a heavy duty rant:
> Published by the farmer advocacy group Rural Vermont
>
> from: http://www.vtce.org/biodiesel.html
>
> Rural Vermont’s Farm Policy Network News
> September 2004, Issue #26
>
> Not the Biodiesel You Think It Is
> By Michael Feiner
>
> What starts at the pump and comes out of the tailpipe is not the beginning
> and end of the discussion on biodiesel, or other “environmentally friendly
> alternatives.” As with everything else in today’s commodified consumer
> culture,
> if you want a fair cost/benefit analysis, you’re going to have to follow
> the
> waste stream back a little further.
>
> Most of the biodiesel available today in New England is brought to you by
> World Energy Alternatives, LLC, a privately owned company controlling most of
> the US market for this new fuel. The distribution and production of biodiesel
> is being regulated by the EPA and DOE, two institutions with proven track
> records for favoring big business over independent producers. Their aim is
> not
> to allow the people control of their resources, or to insure higher quality,
> or to lower the gross pollution of our delicate biosphere, but rather to
> further consolidate the market in the lap of transnational corporate
> interests,
> and keep the public nipping at the pump. According to World Energy’s own
> website, biodiesel is primarily made from, “virgin vegetable oils
> (primarily
> soybeans)” redirecting the market “surplus” of vegetable oil into
> another saleable
> form. Why is there a surplus of domestic soybean oil? Because the regulatory
> agencies in the much of the rest of the world have declined to accept
> American export of genetically engineered (GE) soy products, i.e. the US
> “surplus”
> commodity.
>
> According to a recent article in the Brattleboro Reformer titled, Support
> for biodiesel growing in Vermont, (9/18/04, Howard Weiss-Tisman) ‘Vermont
> farmers grow about 1,000 acres of soybeans which mostly goes to cow feed.
> Lane
> (David Lane, deputy secretary for agricultural development at the Vermont
> Agency
> of Agriculture) said he wanted to hear what increased production might mean
> for the Vermont farmer.” What he and others involved in the big push for
> biodiesel production in the state do not seem to be concerned with is what
> increased production of Genetically Engineered Soy in Vermont will mean for
> the
> environment, for health, and for the future. Of the 1,000 acres of soy
> already
> being grown in Vermont, it is safe to say that most of that is GE, and the
> variety spreading like wildfire across the country and now into Vermont is
> Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Soy. Vermonters will not miss this obvious
> exclusion in
> the biodiesel debate and just be blinded by the pretty golden glow around
> biodiesel…Or will they?
>
> Unlike the United States, much of the rest of the world has been more
> skeptical and cautious on the issue of genetic engineering, having the
> foresight to
> see the threat this technology as pollution would have on their environment.
> In 2002, the authorities of Zimbabwe even went so far as to deny the import
> of US food aid in the midst of a widespread hunger crises because the
> “food”
> , mostly whole corn kernels, was genetically engineered and the risk that
> some kernels might end up being planted in the ground was too high. To wit,
> the
> Bush administration has also tied the acceptance of GE exports to AIDS relief
> packages and international trade security. The corporate and government
> interests behind this dangerous new technology have found their sheep’s
> clothing,
> or cow’s, with the advent of biodiesel. Now they can steal into bed with
> well-meaning environmental organizations and their constituencies, still
> pushing
> their same devil seed onto an unknowing public, only this time in a package
> a public clamoring for “alternatives” can’t resist; biodiesel;
> agribusiness’
> new Trojan Horse. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
>
> Two more wars in the last four years, and the ongoing neo-colonial
> operations in Latin America to secure more US corporate control of petroleum
> resources, have woken a few people up from the calm stupor of the late
> 90’s. This and
> the drastic spike in the price for this America’s greatest addiction, oil,
> have urged the 21st century environmentalist to ratchet up the pressure in
> the
> push for “alternative energy,” especially biodiesel, and Vermont is no
> exception. At the same time people have been raising their voices loud across
> the
> globe against genetic engineering. The last ten years in Vermont have seen a
> grassroots movement against GE and the planting of these toxic crops in the
> state virtually explode in the legislature and across 80 town meetings, in
> the
> streets and on the farms. The two are not mutually exclusive points, and
> close attention is needed as the push for alternatives marches on,
> alternatives
> to what? They wouldn’t trade oil for GE soy? Would they?
>
> The last four months at least have seen biodiesel featured somewhere in
> Vermont’s media on a weekly basis at least, and to the keen observer, few
> of the
> details of these stories match each other. Biodiesel is generally referred to
> as a “renewable fuel,” renewable meaning comprised of ingredients humans
> can reproduce regularly, economically, and hopefully sustainably, but not
> necessarily infinitely. There are two things wrong in this statement; one,
> biodiesel is made of three separate ingredients, vegetable oil (or animal
> fat),
> Methanol (or Ethanol), and a catalyst, usually lye (sodium hydroxide, NaOH).
> The
> second ingredient, Methanol, preferred by most manufacturers to Ethanol for
> its availability and chemical reactive consistency, is a fossil fuel,
> predominantly produced through a chemical synthesis process from natural gas,
> non-renewable, and highly toxic, making the label “renewable” in
> reference to
> biodiesel a misnomer. The second biodiesel myth is more of an intentional
> omission, this is that biodiesel needs to be made from virgin vegetable oils,
> a point
> fostered by the soy, corn, and canola trade associations across the country,
> and the manufacturers and patent holders of genetically altered varieties of
> these same oil crops. What they also don’t mention is that when cultivated
> conventionally, corn, soy, and canola have some of lowest oil yield per acre
> of oil producing crops, take up a lot of agricultural land that isn’t going
> to
> feed people, and are usually heavily fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide
> dependent. Not to mention that most of these crops in the ground today are of
> one GE variety or another. Biodiesel can be, and should only be, if it is to
> be considered at all sustainable, made only from post consumer waste
> vegetable
> oil, and should always consider a place for every waste product from the
> production process to be incorporate wisely back into the dynamic cycle of
> sustainable energy production.
>
> The push for biodiesel production in Vermont is gaining a lot of strength
> right now and is going relatively unchallenged. If people like Lt. Governor
> Brian Dubie are so, “sold on the concept,” as Dubie was quoted as saying
> in
> Weiss-Tisman’s article, then the legislature should spend more time cutting
> through the bureaucratic red tape, taxes, licensing, and regulations, and
> making
> it easier for independent producers to make their product available to the
> community for a reasonable price, instead of trying to further consolidate
> our
> energy resources into the hands of the few, and selling out Vermont’s land
> to
> the Monsanto’s of the world again. Vermonters need to capitalize on this
> fresh zeal for “greener” energy by moving forward with sound and logical
> reasoning towards stewarding a sustainable future, not choosing between the
> lesser
> of two evils. The Vermont public is being duped by a massive industry
> campaign to greenwash the GE issue in its new “renewable” form, and
> they’ve got
> most folks spinning their wheels, and spinning in circles. This time, if they
> can
> ’t feed the world with it, they can at least drive them crazy! People need
> now more than ever to educate each other and organize for Real Change; the
> stakes are getting too high.
>
> The truth is, biodiesel is not the answer we’ve been waiting for, if
> anything, produced logically, it is only a step in the right direction. Will
> the
> next world war be fought over vegetable oil? Or water? Will we displace more
> people around the globe and level more forests to grow GE soybeans to fuel
> our
> same virulent consumer culture? We will wait and see, or we will create the
> future we want to see. The alternative we need to be seeking is one to our
> current paradigm of insatiable consumption and bourgeois comfort. Sorry, but
> the
> messiah has not yet come, and had she, she wouldn’t be driving a
> biodiesel-car. She would be walking.
>
> Mike Feiner is a recovering petroleum addict burning 12+ gallons of fossil
> fuel every 10 days, now living in southern Vermont continuing efforts to halt
> the infectious spread of capitalism, neo-liberalism, and colonialism by the
> Imperial powers of the world. Working as a part time organic farmhand and
> gardener, focusing regionally on stopping the growing threat of genetic
> engineering to our food supply. Global Citizen and Conscious Evolutionary.
> Contact at,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
>
>
>
-----------------------------
Homestead Inc.
www.yellowbiodiesel.com
Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Received: from rly-xj02.mx.aol.com (rly-xj02.mail.aol.com [172.20.116.39]) by
air-xj01.mail.aol.com (v103.7) with ESMTP id
MAILINXJ12-501419cce381af; Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:32:05 -0500
Received: from vonnegut.jf-olm.com (vonnegut.jf-olm.com [207.44.184.116]) by
rly-xj02.mx.aol.com (v103.7) with ESMTP id
MAILRELAYINXJ21-501419cce381af; Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:30:50 -0500
Received: (qmail 22987 invoked by uid 89); 18 Nov 2004 16:31:54 -0000
Mailing-List: contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]; run by ezmlm
Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Received: (qmail 22980 invoked by uid 615); 18 Nov 2004 16:31:54 -0000
X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-4.4 required=4.0
X-Antivirus-Mail-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] via vonnegut.jf-olm.com
X-Antivirus: 1.22-st-qms (Clear:RC:0(64.246.56.60):SA:0(-4.4/4.0):. Processed
in 6.342905 secs Process 22930)
Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]@mail.earthlovers.org
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 6.1.2.0
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 11:32:28 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: kate harris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: article on biodiesel in Rural VT newsletter
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="=====================_3369985==.ALT"
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse,
please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - server27.totalchoicehosting.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - easymailings.com
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [0 0] / [47 12]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - earthlovers.org
X-Source:
X-Source-Args:
X-Source-Dir:
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 2.63 (2004-01-11) on vonnegut.jf-olm.com
X-Spam-Pyzor: Reported 0 times.
X-Spam-Level:
X-AOL-IP: 207.44.184.116
from: http://www.vtce.org/biodiesel.html
Rural Vermonts Farm Policy Network News
September 2004, Issue #26
Not the Biodiesel You Think It Is
By Michael Feiner
What starts at the pump and comes out of the tailpipe is not the beginning
and end of the discussion on biodiesel, or other environmentally friendly
alternatives. As with everything else in todays commodified consumer
culture, if you want a fair cost/benefit analysis, youre going to have to
follow the waste stream back a little further.
Most of the biodiesel available today in New England is brought to you by
World Energy Alternatives, LLC, a privately owned company controlling most
of the US market for this new fuel. The distribution and production of
biodiesel is being regulated by the EPA and DOE, two institutions with
proven track records for favoring big business over independent producers.
Their aim is not to allow the people control of their resources, or to
insure higher quality, or to lower the gross pollution of our delicate
biosphere, but rather to further consolidate the market in the lap of
transnational corporate interests, and keep the public nipping at the pump.
According to World Energys own website, biodiesel is primarily made from,
virgin vegetable oils (primarily soybeans) redirecting the market
surplus of vegetable oil into another saleable form. Why is there a
surplus of domestic soybean oil? Because the regulatory agencies in the
much of the rest of the world have declined to accept American export of
genetically engineered (GE) soy products, i.e. the US surplus commodity.
According to a recent article in the Brattleboro Reformer titled, Support
for biodiesel growing in Vermont, (9/18/04, Howard Weiss-Tisman) Vermont
farmers grow about 1,000 acres of soybeans which mostly goes to cow feed.
Lane (David Lane, deputy secretary for agricultural development at the
Vermont Agency of Agriculture) said he wanted to hear what increased
production might mean for the Vermont farmer. What he and others involved
in the big push for biodiesel production in the state do not seem to be
concerned with is what increased production of Genetically Engineered Soy
in Vermont will mean for the environment, for health, and for the future.
Of the 1,000 acres of soy already being grown in Vermont, it is safe to say
that most of that is GE, and the variety spreading like wildfire across the
country and now into Vermont is Monsantos Roundup Ready Soy. Vermonters
will not miss this obvious exclusion in the biodiesel debate and just be
blinded by the pretty golden glow around biodieselOr will they?
Unlike the United States, much of the rest of the world has been more
skeptical and cautious on the issue of genetic engineering, having the
foresight to see the threat this technology as pollution would have on
their environment. In 2002, the authorities of Zimbabwe even went so far as
to deny the import of US food aid in the midst of a widespread hunger
crises because the food, mostly whole corn kernels, was genetically
engineered and the risk that some kernels might end up being planted in the
ground was too high. To wit, the Bush administration has also tied the
acceptance of GE exports to AIDS relief packages and international trade
security. The corporate and government interests behind this dangerous new
technology have found their sheeps clothing, or cows, with the advent of
biodiesel. Now they can steal into bed with well-meaning environmental
organizations and their constituencies, still pushing their same devil seed
onto an unknowing public, only this time in a package a public clamoring
for alternatives cant resist; biodiesel; agribusiness new Trojan Horse.
But it doesnt have to be that way.
Two more wars in the last four years, and the ongoing neo-colonial
operations in Latin America to secure more US corporate control of
petroleum resources, have woken a few people up from the calm stupor of the
late 90s. This and the drastic spike in the price for this Americas
greatest addiction, oil, have urged the 21st century environmentalist to
ratchet up the pressure in the push for alternative energy, especially
biodiesel, and Vermont is no exception. At the same time people have been
raising their voices loud across the globe against genetic engineering. The
last ten years in Vermont have seen a grassroots movement against GE and
the planting of these toxic crops in the state virtually explode in the
legislature and across 80 town meetings, in the streets and on the farms.
The two are not mutually exclusive points, and close attention is needed as
the push for alternatives marches on, alternatives to what? They wouldnt
trade oil for GE soy? Would they?
The last four months at least have seen biodiesel featured somewhere in
Vermonts media on a weekly basis at least, and to the keen observer, few
of the details of these stories match each other. Biodiesel is generally
referred to as a renewable fuel, renewable meaning comprised of
ingredients humans can reproduce regularly, economically, and hopefully
sustainably, but not necessarily infinitely. There are two things wrong in
this statement; one, biodiesel is made of three separate ingredients,
vegetable oil (or animal fat), Methanol (or Ethanol), and a catalyst,
usually lye (sodium hydroxide, NaOH). The second ingredient, Methanol,
preferred by most manufacturers to Ethanol for its availability and
chemical reactive consistency, is a fossil fuel, predominantly produced
through a chemical synthesis process from natural gas, non-renewable, and
highly toxic, making the label renewable in reference to biodiesel a
misnomer. The second biodiesel myth is more of an intentional omission,
this is that biodiesel needs to be made from virgin vegetable oils, a point
fostered by the soy, corn, and canola trade associations across the
country, and the manufacturers and patent holders of genetically altered
varieties of these same oil crops. What they also dont mention is that
when cultivated conventionally, corn, soy, and canola have some of lowest
oil yield per acre of oil producing crops, take up a lot of agricultural
land that isnt going to feed people, and are usually heavily fertilizer,
herbicide, and pesticide dependent. Not to mention that most of these crops
in the ground today are of one GE variety or another. Biodiesel can be, and
should only be, if it is to be considered at all sustainable, made only
from post consumer waste vegetable oil, and should always consider a place
for every waste product from the production process to be incorporate
wisely back into the dynamic cycle of sustainable energy production.
The push for biodiesel production in Vermont is gaining a lot of strength
right now and is going relatively unchallenged. If people like Lt. Governor
Brian Dubie are so, sold on the concept, as Dubie was quoted as saying in
Weiss-Tismans article, then the legislature should spend more time cutting
through the bureaucratic red tape, taxes, licensing, and regulations, and
making it easier for independent producers to make their product available
to the community for a reasonable price, instead of trying to further
consolidate our energy resources into the hands of the few, and selling out
Vermonts land to the Monsantos of the world again. Vermonters need to
capitalize on this fresh zeal for greener energy by moving forward with
sound and logical reasoning towards stewarding a sustainable future, not
choosing between the lesser of two evils. The Vermont public is being duped
by a massive industry campaign to greenwash the GE issue in its new
renewable form, and theyve got most folks spinning their wheels, and
spinning in circles. This time, if they cant feed the world with it, they
can at least drive them crazy! People need now more than ever to educate
each other and organize for Real Change; the stakes are getting too high.
The truth is, biodiesel is not the answer weve been waiting for, if
anything, produced logically, it is only a step in the right direction.
Will the next world war be fought over vegetable oil? Or water? Will we
displace more people around the globe and level more forests to grow GE
soybeans to fuel our same virulent consumer culture? We will wait and see,
or we will create the future we want to see. The alternative we need to be
seeking is one to our current paradigm of insatiable consumption and
bourgeois comfort. Sorry, but the messiah has not yet come, and had she,
she wouldnt be driving a biodiesel-car. She would be walking.
Mike Feiner is a recovering petroleum addict burning 12+ gallons of fossil
fuel every 10 days, now living in southern Vermont continuing efforts to
halt the infectious spread of capitalism, neo-liberalism, and colonialism
by the Imperial powers of the world. Working as a part time organic
farmhand and gardener, focusing regionally on stopping the growing threat
of genetic engineering to our food supply. Global Citizen and Conscious
Evolutionary. Contact at,
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
_______________________________________________
Biofuel mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel
Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable):
http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
