[Dialogue] ENERGY DEPLETION

[opossum2 at att.net]

David,

I haven't been able to come up with anything on these folks either.  They are obviously very deep under the radar, which makes me suspicious.  Ethanol is only a tiny piece of the "solution" to our energy problems, if that.  This has been expounded on in all of the media to need recapitulation here.  The most positive take I have on it is that at least now politicians can get rid of the (literally) poisonous tobacco subsidy and still court the agricultural vote by putting the funds into ethanol subsidy legislation.

Steve Rhea

Sr. Geophysicist, Seismic Micro-Technology

Houston, Tx.

-------------- Original message from David & Lin Zahrt <chbnb at netins.net>: -------------- 

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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From: David & Lin Zahrt <chbnb at netins.net>
Subject: [Dialogue] ENERGY DEPLETION
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