[Vision2020] Vision2020 Digest, Vol 2, Issue 290

[Megan Prusynski]

Thanks for the response. Let me first say that I'm not trying to be  
condescending in any way or saying that my lifestyle is right for  
everyone, just trying to offer a few ideas for living more  
sustainably that I am trying out, and see what others are doing.

If you need to hunt a deer to live, and do so locally, by all means  
that sure beats eating factory farmed food that is shipped in using  
fossil fuels! I have other reasons other than environmental impact  
that affected my choice to go vegetarian, as I mentioned, and one is  
that I believe I don't have the right to kill another sentient being  
to eat if I don't need to. I am healthier than I have ever been on a  
vegetarian diet and it's clear that I don't need meat to live, so I  
choose not to eat it. If you hunt to eat, so be it, you're right it  
is a much better alternative and a better choice for many people,  
just not myself.

Thanks for the bio-fuels information as well. Bio-fuels, like hybrid  
cars, I think are only a transitionary technology, and both still  
depend on a fossil fuel infrastructure that we have set up in  
society. So they're definitely not a be-all & end-all solution to the  
sustainable transportation problem and I hope I wasn't implying that.  
They are definitely a transition thing, and hopefully will be further  
developed (or discarded) as better and cleaner technology comes  
along. But it's a step in the right direction, I think, to run off of  
locally produced, lower emissions fuel for now if I can.

I will do some further research on what you've brought up when I have  
some time, but I have done a lot on my own already, from a variety of  
sources. I just hope that people all over the world start applying  
what they know and living their ideals instead of just talking about  
them. We certainly can't wait for the government to make the move on  
going green... if you want things to change you must first start with  
yourself, that is all I'm saying, and I'm obviously still a work in  
progress, as everyone is!

Message: 3
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 11:24:16 -0700
From: "Ted Moffett" <starbliss at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] An Inconvenient Truth: Local Hunters &
	Biofuels?
To: "Megan Prusynski" <megan at meganpru.com>
Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com
Message-ID:
	<d03f69e0608231124w124969btb81d02ebf71e135f at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Megan et. al.

Your comment on vegetarianism resulting in less fossil fuel use to  
produce
the food compared to a more meat eating diet is excellent.  Fossil  
fuels are
so integrated into every aspect of our economy it is easy to forget the
fossil fuel costs hidden everywhere.

Consider, though, the local hunter who kills a deer a few miles from his
home, and does their own butchering...They are getting a lot of food  
with a
minimal fossil fuel impact, an entirely different situation from the  
beef
grown in Brazil on former rain forest land, cut and burned to make  
way for
highly profitable cattle, releasing massive amounts of CO2, beef then
raised, transported and sold to the USA, again using more fossil fuel  
in the
process.  Talk about an argument for local food to reduce CO2 emissions,
even if it is a locally "grown" deer!  Depending on how the food was
fertilized, grown, harvested and transported, in some cases a local wild
deer might provide more food for less fossil fuel use than vegetarian  
food.
We should consider that keeping the deer meat frozen for months will  
have a
fossil fuel impact associated with this energy use... I suppose the meet
could be dried and salted or something, removing this energy use.   
And if
everyone in the Quad cities area was getting their meat from local deer,
could the deer population remain stable or decline?

Also, about your use of biofuels, if you can run your biofuel vehicle on
what would otherwise be thrown away vegetable oil from restaurants,  
what a
deal, and, as you pointed out, "carbon neutral."

However, biofuels are only truly carbon neutral when the entire  
process of
growing, harvesting and processing the biofuel and delivering it to  
vehicles
does not use fossil fuel.  Some systems of biofuel production show a  
limited
gain in reduction of fossil fuel use and CO2 emissions when  
considering all
fossil fuel impacts.  Much of the fertilizer and the energy for the
machinery for large scale agriculture come from petroleum.  The US  
ethanol
industry seems like it might radically reduce our need for foreign  
oil, and
reduce CO2 emissions, but according to this detailed analysis, this is
questionable:

http://petroleum.berkeley.edu/papers/patzek/PublishedEDS2005.pdf.

If this analysis is even just mostly correct, ethanol from corn is not a
profound solution to dependence on foreign oil or lowing CO2 emissions.

Almost certainly the vegetable oil from restaurants that you use for  
biofuel
came from biomatter grown, harvested, processed and transported with  
fossil
fuels.

Also, to rely on biofuels on a large scale to replace fossil fuels might
have a very negative impact on food production, taking land for fuel  
away
from food.

However, the new cellulosic biofuel process allows for less upstream  
fossil
fuel impacts to produce biofuel, some claim, and can use straw or wood
chips, not food biomatter.  But the efficiency of a entire biofuel
production/delivery system using this more sophisticated process, a  
system
that would need to be mostly powered with biofuels or other CO2 neutral
energy to really be mostly independent of fossil fuels, still remains in
question.

Allan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve, was on C-Span  
recently
lecturing members of the US Congress on our need to stop dependence on
foreign oil, and mentioned the cellulosic biofuel potential in Idaho  
as a
solution.

Supposedly Iogen from Canada was going to open a large scale cellulosic
biofuel production plant in Southern Idaho, utilizing Idaho's huge
agricultural production of straw, if I recall correctly:

http://www.free-press.biz/2-2006/Cellulosic-Ethanol.html

Does anyone know if this plant is being built or is still planned?.

I just answered my own question, assuming this news is accurate at  
the link
below.  Construction may start the Fall of 2007.   Idaho may become a  
major
player in biofuels if this plant is built and is economically  
successful,
but note Iogen wants US loan guarantees to cover investors losses if the
project fails.  This does not inspire confidence:

http://domesticfuel.com/?p=614

-----

Ted Moffett

On 8/23/06, Megan Prusynski <megan at meganpru.com> wrote:

>
>  I haven't seen the movie yet (gasp!) since I've been traveling a lot
> lately, but I do plan to see it. I find it rather funny that Al Gore's
> lifestyle, like most politicians, is pretty much the opposite of  
> how we need
> to be living if we hope to combat global warming... but at least he's
> willing to admit global warming is a serious threat, and that it  
> exists.
>
> I think it is up to each individual to change their lifestyle and make
> some sacrifices for the environment's sake, obviously waiting for our
> government to take action on global warming isn't working so well.  
> Americans
> don't usually like to be told that they need to make sacrifices,  
> though, but
> there are a lot of little things we can do to create positive  
> change that
> are relatively easy. I've been trying consciously to decrease my  
> footprint
> the last few years, so I have some ideas on where to start, but  
> obviously
> these things need to happen on a grand scale...
>
> So here's what I've done recently in a small effort to make my  
> lifestyle
> line up with my ideals and try to curb global warming...
>
> 1. Went vegetarian. Best decision I have ever made. I won't discuss  
> all of
> the numerous reasons I made this decision (animal welfare, aversion to
> factory farming, health, world hunger, beliefs, etc...) but a major  
> reason
> was the environment. Nearly half the water and 80% of the  
> agricultural land
> in this country are used to raise animals for food. More than one- 
> third of
> all the fossil fuels produced in the US are used to raise animals  
> for food.
> Eating lower on the food chain is simply less wasteful: it takes  
> about 20
> times more energy to produce meat than it does to produce plants  
> for food.
> If more of us ate a plant-based diet instead of a meat-based one,  
> we would
> lower our energy needs, contribute a hell of a lot less pollution,  
> and save
> precious water and land resources as well. (Check out
> http://www.goveg.com/environment.asp for more info).
>
> 2. Converted my car to run on bio-fuels and invested in a bike  
> trailer.
> For in-town errands, my boyfriend and I use a bike with a trailer  
> that fits
> all our groceries. For road trips, we use our newly converted VW  
> bus that
> runs on waste veggie oil & bio-diesel. Bio-fuels are carbon-neutral  
> (the
> plants used to grow them compensate for the carbon emitted when  
> they are
> burned), have lower emissions, and can be grown domestically,  
> reducing our
> need for foreign oil (and therefore war!). Any diesel vehicle can be
> converted to run on waste vegetable oil by installing a kit with an  
> extra
> veggie oil tank. If you're interested, I'm sure my boyfriend (an  
> engineering
> alumni from UI) wouldn't mind making a living off of converting  
> vehicles.
> Running on grease is better for longer trips, since you have to  
> warm up on
> diesel or bio-diesel, and yes, the exhaust does smell like french  
> fries.
> Speaking of veggie oil, does anyone know of any restaurants (other  
> than the
> Breakfast Club, who graciously supplies us with oil each week) that  
> want a
> better way to recycle their waste vegetable oil from fryers? Bio- 
> fuels are
> only one of many many alternative energy & fuel sources that I hope  
> become
> more popular.
>
> 3. I'm in the process (always) of learning to live more simply, eat  
> more
> locally-grown food, and simply thinking about the environmental  
> consequences
> of every action. By being more conscious and spreading that  
> consciousness,
> we can make green living the norm. Society needs to work towards
> sustainability, one person at a time.
>
> Just thought I'd share my ideas on the subject of living more  
> sustainably
> and curbing global warming through a change in lifestyle. What is  
> everyone
> else doing to help this problem? :)
>
> peace!
>
> ~megan