Hi Mike >So...did Monbiot get his "research" for "Feeding Cars, not People" >from Lester Brown or, was it the other way around. > >It's the same short-sighted promoter of fear that conveniently holds >back information on more comprehensive incorporation of biofuel into >a diverse, long term energy strategy. > >Claims that put fear into those who haven't done their own research >will be offset by a growing public consensus on the Internet AND a >reexamination of suppressed technologies from the 1940's through the >70's - technologies with associated patents which have become public >domain. > >All we have to do now is keep large telecom corporations from >merging and influencing legislation that controls Internet traffic. > >Mike
I agree. And to use what we're protecting to the best effect. Not much cause for concern in either case, I reckon. Re protecting it, have faith in your friendly virtual neighbourhood hacker community, as in the recent thread re "The End of the Internet": >A good way of >looking at the post-modern hacker community is as the IT dept of the >second superpower. May the force be with them. :-) And > It takes about 6 months for a pharmacy lab to learn to copy someone >else's drug. > It took 72 hours to break the DRM on iTunes. > It took 24 hours to break the "ultimately encrypted" dvd encryption. > It took 12 hours to break Arista's new CD protection scheme. > It took 6 hours to break sony's illegal DRM. > > Fear not fellow subverts, the underground will keep us safe. Sort of. I'm not sure that we really have to do anything about the anti-biofuels noise being generated by George Monbiot, Lester Brown, Mae Won-Ho at ISIS, nor indeed Pimentel or Tadzek. They're not going to lead anybody anywhere other than astray, and indeed it doesn't go anywhere, apart from the odd 15,000 square miles of desert covered in algae farms, LOL! Never mind the desert, who cares about deserts. (I do!) More serious people should be able to figure it out for themselves, there is better information to be found if you look. Has anybody ever actually seen any real, genuine, non-mythical biodiesel made from algae? I mean that actually exists in the physical universe rather than just in the wish-fulfilment fantasies of guzzle-addicts? There's the stuff cleaning up the powerplant smokestacks in that one project but that's a bit different, no? Best Keith >Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Hello Chip > > >Probably, a lot of you are already familiar with the work of > >Lester Brown. I'm not however, and was recently introduced > >to it by a friend. > > > > > >I've read a few chapters online, and have ordered to book. > > > > >From Chapter 1; > > > >"In this new world, the price of oil begins to set the price of food, > >not so much because of rising fuel costs for farmers and food processors > >but more because almost everything we eat can be converted into fuel for > >cars. In this new world of high oil prices, supermarkets and service > >stations will compete in commodity markets for basic food commodities > >such as wheat, corn, soybeans, and sugarcane. Wheat going into the > >market can be converted into bread for supermarkets or ethanol for > >service stations. Soybean oil can go onto supermarket shelves or it can > >go to service stations to be used as diesel fuel. In effect, owners of > >the worldís 800 million cars will be competing for food resources with > >the 1.2 billion people living on less than $1 a day. 9 > > > >Faced with a seemingly insatiable demand for automotive fuel, farmers > >will want to clear more and more of the remaining tropical forests to > >produce sugarcane, oil palms, and other high-yielding fuel crops. > >Already, billions of dollars of private capital are moving into this > >effort. In effect, the rising price of oil is generating a massive new > >threat to the earthís biological diversity." > >Actually it's the industrialised countries' addiction to wasting >energy that's doing that. > >"Merely replacing fossil fuels is not the answer. A rational and >sustainable energy future requires great reductions in energy use >(currently mostly waste), great improvements in energy use >efficiency, and, most important, decentralisation of supply to the >small-scale or farm-scale local-economy level, along with the use of >all ready-to-use renewable energy technologies in combination as the >local circumstances require." > >To say the world's 800 million cars will compete for food resources >with the 1.2 billion people living on less than $1 a day shows a lack >of understanding of how the market works. See eg.: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_food.html >Biofuels - Food or Fuel? > >And: > >"Less than three-tenths of one percent of total US corn exports went >to the 25 poorest countries in 1996. More US corn goes to make >alcoholic beverages in the US than is exported to feed the hungry in >the world's 25 most undernourished countries combined." >http://journeytoforever.org/ethanol_energy.html >Is ethanol energy-efficient? > >More here which should be of interest: > >"How much fuel can we grow? How much land will it take?" >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html#howmuch > >Best > >Keith _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
