[Dialogue] ENERGY DEPLETION

[David & Lin Zahrt]

I have watched the "ethanol craze" build in Iowa. It is driven by the  
universal awareness that we are participating globally in Energy  
Depletion. I see it as a 'quick fix' being exploited by agribusiness  
and the oil industry.

Ethanol will be a by-product of the corn raised in Iowa. Aside from  
some of the left over by-products it is a wash--we use up as much  
energy as we produce, and we use up (as in exhaust) an unbelievable  
and consistently ignored amount of water and soil resources . It is  
an attempt to use soil and water to turn petroleum into energy.

The local agriculturalist believes it will help him/her because it  
will raise the price of a bushel of corn. At the moment the price of  
corn is the recipient of a price support program which means that it  
is sold for less than it costs to produce, the balance of which is  
made up by government subsidy. That, of course, allows Cargill and  
Archer, Daniels, Midland to purchase corn for less than it costs to  
produce so they can manufacture corn syrup and corn oil, ingredients  
that have been coveted by the fast food industry, and which have made  
a major contribution to the epidemic of obesity in the US.

I would like to believe that I am looking at the real trends rather  
than being consumed by pessimism--that I am willing to take the  
'blinders' off and face the real future we, as a society, are in the  
process creating. I am constantly on the lookout for individuals,  
groups, movements,  with whom I could collaborate to set a new trend  
in motion. I belong to Practical Farmers of Iowa--sustainable  
agriculture; Iowa Prairie Network--protecting and restoring natural  
habitat; NW Iowa Sierra Club Group; Center for(If you know of any  
please inform me)

I recently received a mailing (always suspicious of unsolicited  
mailings and phone calls) from a group that calls themselves the  
International Energy Depletion Institute (IEDI), located in  
Tennessee. I would scan the mailing but I am under the impression  
that it would have to come as an attachment and these list-serves  
don't accept attachments. Has anyone else received such a mailing?

In an attempt to find out more about the IEDI I went to the internet.  
Google has nothing in the first 10. Yahoo doesn't either. Does anyone  
have information on the background of IEDI?

The mailing was 6-8.5x11 pages. This is the beginning of one of the  
pages.
Sample from one of the pages

"OIL IS FOOD
6 BILLION HUMAN BEINGS SIMPLY CANNOT SURVIVE ON THIS PLANET WITHOUT  
OIL. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE NATURAL CARRING CAPACITY OF THE EARTH  
IS PROBABLY SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ONE & TWO BILLION PEOPLE AT BEST.

	This sobering assessment does not, in our opinion, take into  
consideration the environmental degradation of the Industrial Age or  
the impact of future Global Warming. Fossil Fuels have magically  
turned the planets depleted top soils into abundant cropland. Just  
take a look at the graph below. The evidence is undisputable!! OIL IS  
FOOD!..."


I'm asking for feedback because I think the IEDI is on to something  
important. I am suspicious of unsolicited mass mailings and the fact  
that I find no background info on the internet.

David Zahrt
<chbnb at netins.net>



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