[Dialogue] ENERGY DEPLETION

[James Wiegel]

My daughter gave me the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma,
and the first section really expands on the corn based
food system and ethanol as a means of taking advantage
of the artificially cheap price of corn and its
overproduction.

Jim Wiegel


--- David & Lin Zahrt <chbnb at netins.net> wrote:

> 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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>
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> 


401 North Beverly Way   
Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401
+1  623-936-8671
+1  623-363-3277
   jfwiegel at yahoo.com


 
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