“A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
—Franklin Delano Roosevelt
We should be clear about what corn for ethanol really is—a heavily subsidized cash crop supported by a powerful lobby. It’s not a solution to high gas prices, and it will only contribute to the climate crisis while its supporters try to convince us that we’re doing something good by gassing up with it.
Fortunately, its dubious benefits have come under scrutiny from a variety of sources, and the meteoric rise in corn prices may make it a less viable alternative after all.
Nonetheless, acreage for energy is growing exponentially, and as our reliance on crops and water sources for energy increases, so does the pressure we’re placing on the planet’s surface. A car that runs on water seems like a nightmare to me. Imagine our rivers turning into fuel storage facilities!
What’s never been an option in the so-called energy policy of the Bush administration is conservation—using less, living within our energy means, changing our lives (or even moderating them) in a common effort to preserve the earth’s resources and to account for the impact when we use them.
Frank Drinkwine, chair of the Kanza Chapter of the Sierra Club, which hosted Donn Teske’s recent talk on biofuels, pointed out, “The cheapest and most environmentally friendly solution is the energy we don’t use.”
Even absent national leadership, people are increasingly making an effort to conserve, from giving up plastic bags at the grocery store to giving up SUVs.
But where is the cohesive plan, the vision, the if-we-can-put-a-man-on-the-moon-we-can-solve-this-problem leadership? In his recent speech on renewable energy at Constitution Hall in Washington, Al Gore showed such vision through his holistic approach to national security, the weakened economy, and the climate crisis—and with his challenge for America to abandon carbon-based electricity within 10 years.
“This is a generational moment,” he said. “A moment when we decide our own path and our collective fate.”
Still, as long as every politician, Republican or Democrat, who sets foot in Iowa or Nebraska or any corn-producing state thinks the way to solve the energy and climate crises—and get elected in the bargain—is to drink the ethanol Kool-Aid, our future will look dim indeed.
Bob Sommer, Midwest Voices 2008
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Sore on the Butt of Mankind
Must be jabbering again, I hear a little weenie mouse squeaking.......Say,
The beat goes on...
And still nothing to say. BTW, don't talk about "little weenie" unless you want Chief Showers-With-Men to come a-runnin'.
How much more inane can this loser get?
Sore on the butt of mankind just posted the two most stupid remarks I have ever read. The sore even has the nads to harken back to the days of "Jimma" and his misery index.
Rogaine is back, with little to say, unfortunately
All revved up from the Nugent concert, Rogaine? Good.
All the quotes are real.
The Carter energy plan is real.
Gore never said he invented the Internet.
The guy who did invent the Internet says that what Gore said is right.
Mark Foley was the first Repooblican to go public with the lie about Gore's quote.
It must really suck to be a member of the loony right these days, even more so than usual.
And now back to the grownups' table
"But where is the cohesive plan, the vision, the if-we-can-put-a-man-on-the-moon-we-can-solve-this-problem leadership?"
Check it out. Jimmy Carter laid it out thirty-one years ago.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_energy.html
Of course, Carter was the Worst President Ever.
You are correct cyst boy....
Jimmy Carter was ....by far .....the worst president of the last 150 years.
He is also the worst ex president ever, poking his nose where he has been asked not to and siding with the terrorists we are fighting. Still he does do some great work with Habitat for Humanity....which I commend him for.
I followed your link, read the text of his message with fond remembrances of the event. I would almost suggest that if you were less than 20 during carter's presidency then you have no perspective of how awful the peanut populist was and is......but that would be as pompously idiotic as your selfish little post about gore and the net.
The flaws stick out more today than the prophecy:
Government run, government administered, fair, (in whose eyes?)conserve, sacrifice, watch the environment, we all sacrifice equally......sound like anyone we see today?
He could not get any momentum even with control of both houses and lost badly on re election as the prime interest rate hovered around 20%. He also dunderheaded Iran which led to the Ayatollah taking over which in turn led to the largest sponsorer of the terror we face today in all parts of the world ......yeah ....that's really someone to emulate.
A nice man I am sure .....just incredibly, consistently wrong.
What's your kool aid taste like?
Mr Sommer is like a kid who likes grape koolaid ....but is disdainful of those who like cherry.
Suggesting that corn based ethanol is is a major problem while praising the greatest hypocrite and con artist of my life, the closed minded creator of the internet, Al Gore, is simply riotous.
Mr Gore, who refuses to engage any credible scientist with an opposing view of his capitalist inspired global warming scam, continues to use private jets and gas guzzling vehicles everywhere he goes and continues to live in a home with a carbon footprint the size of the state of Rhode Island. His photo should be inserted along side the dictionary definition of hypocrite.
And the loons on the left treat him like a king: What a joke
The Lord hath delivered him unto my hands
I've been waiting WEEKS for some foolish loony-right wingnut to bring up Al Gore and the Internet.
Al Gore never said he invented the internet. He said in an interview that "I took the initiative in creating the internet," which Vint Cerf, who IS as close as you're going to get to being the creator of the Internet, confirmed as being true at the '05 Webby Awards.
Now, who invented the lie about Gore's having claimed to be the "inventor" of the Internet?
(Wait for it...wait for it...)
Mark Foley.
Google it, bright eyes, then go have a big swig of Goofy Grape.
Pleased you can read, cyst boy
Whoops, maybe you can't.....never said he invented the net ....said that he stated that he had created it.....which he presumptuosly did say.
Nice to see that you ignored the thrust of the post, choosing to address that which you had been waiting for weeks to address.
My points were accurate and valid.......he will not engage anyone who is knowledgeable from the widely growing list of skeptics and he lives the life of a colossal hypocrite while never being challenged by anyone in the mainstream media.
There is no one who has as much to gain monetarily from our country's personalized sacrifices made to achieve his vision than Gore himself.
I was very disappointed in Brokaw's softball questions yesterday on MTP......I actually hoped that he might ask a single question from the perspective of a skeptic ....I should not have had such high expectations.
ethanol
this is the biggest boondoggle since star wars. one has to remember the secret meetings the bush admin. had with the energy corporations and wonder whether or not this issue was tabled and if so who has seen profits. ethanol could be an alternative if a non food source of cellulose were used but big agri saw fit to meddle with the basic structure of these ethanol plants to use corn as the source of cullulose which is stupid on the face of it and now we have five dollar cerial...