So I've been working on crackpot theory number one. I know what the theory is. It's hard to get it in writing though. LOL! I'd like to have some citations or links for the references I want to work with, yet it's a busy, busy world we're attempting to navigate. May evolution happen in the land of monkeys!!!
I'm including an article I wrote that appeared in the Ramah Farmers' Beet last fall. It was right about the time BP began drilling the well that's now spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Four Months or Several Million Years???
I first heard of biodiesel in 2004. For some reason, I thought it was a hoax. It wasn't until 2007 that I discovered it was a reality. In the winter of 2008, I came across the Spring 1999 issue (102) of Communities Journal of Cooperative Living. On page 75, in an ad for Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, I read, "At Dancing Rabbit we: ...make diesel fuel from vegetable oil." Talk about arghhh! That was in 1999, and I was finding out 10 years later?
This past February, I heard an interview with David Blume, executive director of the International Institute for Ecological Agriculture. He's been pioneering alcohol fuel since the 70s. The interview blew me away! I went to his website (AlcoholCanBeAGas.com) and ordered his book and DVD, Alcohol Can Be A Gas: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century, then rattled an earnest email to Jackie, the editor at the Ramah Farmers' Beet to ask if she had heard of this guy.
While waiting to hear back from Jackie, I reread the January '09 edition of the Beet, where I came across an article entitled "The Biofuels Hoax" that downplayed the validity of biofuels:
"Propaganda.
Cable vision.
Syndicated TV.
Look into the box.
Is this the world you see?"
Does anyone remember The Waltons? After learning about ethanol, I recalled an episode in which one of the Walton brothers runs a car on moonshine. That's what ethanol basically is: moonshine! Reviewing an online synopsis of the episode (http://www.the-waltons.com/season7.html#TheBeau,) I found the memory I had was correct: The episode aired on Nov. 23, 1978 and the brother was Jim-Bob,who realizes that WWII gas rationing is coming and decides to see if he can get a car to run on alcohol made in a friend's moonshine still. After a couple of attempts, they distill a 190 proof brew, perfect for running his car. Not wanting trouble with the government, Jim-Bob reports the alcohol fuel to them, but they respond that it is impossible for fuel to be made from alcohol; that it's a hoax.
That was 1978. I was nine years old but the episode stuck with me. Thirty years later, Al Gore challenged America to re-power our country within 10 years with alternative energy, to become energy independent. He didn't mention biofuels, though he did point out that American businesses are paying foreign countries two billion dollars every 24 hours for oil...well, not exactly paying: The American Government is actually borrowing money from China for oil.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." -Thomas Pynchon
"The Biofuels Hoax" article in the January '09 Beet focuses on corn and soybeans as the main source for biofuel production and distillation. It states that Archers Daniel Midland, Cargill and Monsanto are the ones profiting. That is the hoax! Does anyone reading this think Archers Daniel Midland, Cargill or Monsanto have the best interest of the planet or public in mind?
I've expressed my enthusiasm for ethanol, and for the most part have been met with extreme skepticism:
"You can't do that. It's against the law. The ATF will be all over you."
Actually, it is legal to make alcohol for fuel.
"Farmers should be making there own fuel."
They do in Iowa.
"I've already seen the ethanol fuel issue. There's not enough land to grow our fuel. We need to be feeding people organically."
“We” are not even feeding starving people inorganically!
Alcohol Can Be a Gas is an eye-opening tome of information that busts the myths of corporate propaganda. Blume presents a model for biofuel production that isn't dependent on Corporate America and includes permaculture and sustainable solutions.
Ethanol isn't just for cars: It can also fuel small engines, power plants and airplanes. Imagine a future with no nuclear or coal-fired power plants! No more uranium waste to put in some hole in the ground for our great grandchildren and our great, great-to-the-nth degree grandchildren to deal with.
I'm a fan of Blume. He's really helped open my eyes about the oil debacle and the misinformation surrounding ethanol. He's also innovative as all get out. In the interview last week, he presented a bio-remediation idea for the Gulf using kelp. The kelp would be made into ethanol. Thank you David! I hope your ideas and book get some attention with the folks in our nations Capitol.
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