[Dialogue] ENERGY DEPLETION

Wed Jan 31 13:36:58 EST 2007

Collapse is the sequel to Guns, Germs and Steel.  Both excellent books! 
J. Diamond is a superb writer.

Regards,

Ed Reames
La Rivera de Belen
Heredia, Costa Rica

David & Lin Zahrt wrote:
> Omnivore's Dilemna is one is a series we need to be reading, digesting 
> (excuse the pun), over which we need to dialogue, and identify an 
> intentional course of action as response. Maybe that can happen a 
> million different ways as a series of individual responses. I continue 
> to feel there must be concerted corporate action to bend the current 
> trend. An Inconvenient Truth implies/predicts some of the same.
>
> The next one is David Korten, The Great Turning. He spent time doing 
> what ICA did, during the same time periods, but in/with different 
> institutions. He describes two futuric courses of action: the 
> *Empire*, and the *New Earth. *For him it is clear that *Empire* will 
> end in collapse. No surprise about the two. He is hopeful that *New 
> Earth* will be the direction of choice in the civilizing process.
> and 
> Jared Diamond, Collapse, examines a series of cultures/social 
> structures and itemizes the criteria by which to predict when a 
> culture/social structure will self-destruct, The last chapter examines 
> Australia. I don't think Australians want to know what he presents! 
>
> The one I've read most recently is in my attempt to identify where and 
> how to make a socio-spiritual witness that points us in an alternative 
> direction: The Engaged Spiritual Life by Donald Rothberg.
>
> I don't have facts about creating ethanol from sugar cane. It sounds 
> much the same to me--take oil, run it through the ground with 
> agribusiness up front (plant, fertilize, cultivate and/or spray for 
> weeds, etc), build a coal-fired plant to distill the ethanol out, and 
> wallah! you have spent oil, soil, water, and coal (or some other form 
> of energy) to create ethanol. The only process that might be 
> sustainable is to use switchgrass, a perennial prairie grass, which 
> crowds out weeds, requires nothing more than the initial planting, and 
> since it is perennial needs no tillage, yearly planting, cultivating, 
> or spraying. Public information released indicates that there is need 
> to refine the distillation process before it can be considered a 
> profitable source of ethanol.
>
> On Jan 29, 2007, at 10:19 AM, James Wiegel wrote:
>
>> 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 <mailto: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 <mailto:chbnb at netins.net>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>> 401 North Beverly Way   
>> Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401
>> +1  623-936-8671
>> +1  623-363-3277
>>    jfwiegel at yahoo.com <mailto:jfwiegel at yahoo.com>
>>
>>
>>
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>
> David & Lin Zahrt
> Country Homestead B&B
> 22133 Larpenteur Rd.
> Turin, IA 51040
> /Where a change of pace is as good as a vacation, and a sense of place 
> is soothing to the soul./
> *<chbnb at netins.net <mailto:chbnb at netins.net>>*
>
>
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