In-Class Blog Post 2/3

Peak Soil: Why Cellulosic ethanol and other Biofuels are Not Sustainable and are a Threat to America’s National Security
By: Alice Friedemann

This article is about why using certain fuels are not a sustainable way to go about agriculture and it is hurting America. Friedemann goes about her argument by diving the article into seven parts and titles them in a sarcastic manner. The first part is called "The Dirt On Dirt" and explains why biomass fuels have predictable reasons for failure. Basically, the more work left to nature, the higher the energy yield, but the longer the time required. The second part is called, "The Poop on Ethanol: Energy Returned on Energy Invested" and explains how much oil is used for all of the food we consume. The third part is called "Biofuel is a Grim Reaper" and talks about how bad of a place using all of these fuels puts America into by a dramatic increase in soil loss, deforestation, global warming, pollution, and other factors. The fourth part is called "Biodiesel: Can We Eat Enough French Fries?" and talks about how biofuels have yet to be proven efficient and this strategy may not be a great way to go about in a world of declining energy. The fifth part is called "If We Can't Drink and Drive Then Burn Baby Burn. Energy Crop Consumption" and talks about how pollution consumption is hard to control but if we don't it could have bad effects on the environment. The sixth part is called "The Problems With Cellulosic Ethanol Could Drive You To Drink" and talks about all the problems with transportation, storage, harvesting, erosion, nutrition, etc. have no known solution and scientists have been trying to solve for over thirty years now. The seventh part is called "Where Do We Go From Here?" and talks about politics, jobs, and how we can reform our non-sustainable agricultural ways. Friedemann then ends by listing her references.

http://culturechange.org/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=107&Itemid=1