paroneanu’s Recent Comments

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  Power Shift and Step It Up

  I couldn't agree with Nathan more. If you're a student, you should be going to Power Shift in Washington DC. It's poised to be a tipping point in public discourse on Climate Change.

  For the rest of us over age 25 (and there are many of us!), a great way to get involved is to go to a Step It Up event near you. There are literally hundreds around the country, and dozens of politicians will be attending and addressing the 1Sky priorities outlined at www.stepitup2007.org.

  Whether you're going to Power Shift or hitting up a Step It Up rally, this weekend will be nothing less than historic.On Students organize summit on climate change posted 2 years ago 2 Responses

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  Biofuels -- Choices

  Much like any new technology we engage in, biofuels have the potential to either harm or benefit people (or both). Having done some preliminary research on biodiesel development in West Africa, I think we are just getting sidelined by the harms that may come from overdevelopment of ethanol. Poor people, of course, are the first to bear the brunt of large-scale economic decisions of politicians (Bush) and corporations (ADM...etc.) But it's important to focus on how to make our current biofuel situation better. They clearly have a role in the clean energy economy of the future. What we have to do now is make sure to hold those decision-makers and corps. accountable to producers and consumers.

  In a Grist piece a few months ago, David Morris of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, describes how to foster a just, decentralized biofuel industry. It's not biofuels that's the problem, it's the industry that is:

  http://www.grist.org/comments/soapbox/2006/12/08/morris/i ...On The former: Not good for the latter posted 2 years, 5 months ago 26 Responses

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  Democratic, decentralized biofuel development

  I've been following the wonderful grist series on biofuels for the past couple weeks--Thank you Grist for taking on this complex topic. All the hype around ethanol and biodiesel over the past couple years, I have to say, is overbearing. It's hard for an environmentalist to choose what side he or she is on, when in Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia, rainforest is being cut down to grow sugarcane and oil palm on industrial scales.

  Having spent the past 6 months reading all I could about biofuels and writing my senior thesis on biodiesel development in Senegal, I think that there's clearly been spin on both sides of the debate. What the Grist articles show is that there is absolutely no way that biofuels will solve the civilization-scale problem of climate change while having benign side-affects.
  If we, as environmental activists, engineers, policymakers, academics and concerned citizens, don't keep a close watch, ADM, Cargill and others will outpace small producer co-operatives and more sustainable producers by continuing to treat environmental degradation as an "externality." To ensure that consumers understand the true costs and enjoy the benefits of biofuels, we need to look at the whole energy picture. In my thesis, I argue that only a small-scale, decentralized biofuel production system would help rural people gain income.

  Where I live in Vermont, the Vermont Biofuels Association and ACORN, a community group focused on energy issues, are trying to take the same model and apply it to Addison County, where dairy farms take up much of the land. All around the world, small-scale producers and cooperatives are outpacing large corporations in innovation while keeping sustainability and democracy in view.

  In Vermont, the Midwest, Brazil and even Senegal, we must push for a more democratic, decentralized and sustainable bioenergy market before the behemoth conglomerates take us too far down the wrong path.On A biodiesel entrepreneur in Argentina spreads seeds of wisdom posted 2 years, 10 months ago 5 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Democratic, decentralized biofuel development

  I've been following the wonderful grist series on biofuels for the past couple weeks--Thank you Grist for taking on this complex topic. All the hype around ethanol and biodiesel over the past couple years, I have to say, is overbearing. It's hard for an environmentalist to choose what side he or she is on, when in Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia, rainforest is being cut down to grow sugarcane and oil palm on industrial scales.

  Having spent the past 6 months reading all I could about biofuels and writing my senior thesis on biodiesel development in Senegal, I think that there's clearly been spin on both sides of the debate. What the Grist articles show is that there is absolutely no way that biofuels will solve the civilization-scale problem of climate change while having benign side-affects.
  If we, as environmental activists, engineers, policymakers, academics and concerned citizens, don't keep a close watch, ADM, Cargill and others will outpace small producer co-operatives and more sustainable producers by continuing to treat environmental degradation as an "externality." To ensure that consumers understand the true costs and enjoy the benefits of biofuels, we need to look at the whole energy picture. In my thesis, I argue that only a small-scale, decentralized biofuel production system would help rural people gain income.

  Where I live in Vermont, the Vermont Biofuels Association and ACORN, a community group focused on energy issues, are trying to take the same model and apply it to Addison County, where dairy farms take up much of the land. All around the world, small-scale producers and cooperatives are outpacing large corporations in innovation while keeping sustainability and democracy in view.

  In Vermont, the Midwest, Brazil and even Senegal, we must push for a more democratic, decentralized and sustainable bioenergy market before the behemoth conglomerates take us too far down the wrong path.On What Brazil can teach the U.S. about energy and ethanol posted 2 years, 10 months ago 5 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Democratic, decentralized biofuel development

  I've been following the wonderful grist series on biofuels for the past couple weeks--Thank you Grist for taking on this complex topic. All the hype around ethanol and biodiesel over the past couple years, I have to say, is overbearing. It's hard for an environmentalist to choose what side he or she is on, when in Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia, rainforest is being cut down to grow sugarcane and oil palm on industrial scales.

  Having spent the past 6 months reading all I could about biofuels and writing my senior thesis on biodiesel development in Senegal, I think that there's clearly been spin on both sides of the debate. What the Grist articles show is that there is absolutely no way that biofuels will solve the civilization-scale problem of climate change while having benign side-affects.
  If we, as environmental activists, engineers, policymakers, academics and concerned citizens, don't keep a close watch, ADM, Cargill and others will outpace small producer co-operatives and more sustainable producers by continuing to treat environmental degradation as an "externality." To ensure that consumers understand the true costs and enjoy the benefits of biofuels, we need to look at the whole energy picture. In my thesis, I argue that only a small-scale, decentralized biofuel production system would help rural people gain income.

  Where I live in Vermont, the Vermont Biofuels Association and ACORN, a community group focused on energy issues, are trying to take the same model and apply it to Addison County, where dairy farms take up much of the land. All around the world, small-scale producers and cooperatives are outpacing large corporations in innovation while keeping sustainability and democracy in view.

  In Vermont, the Midwest, Brazil and even Senegal, we must push for a more democratic, decentralized and sustainable bioenergy market before the behemoth conglomerates take us too far down the wrong path.On The strangest biofuel sources you've never heard of posted 2 years, 10 months ago 5 Responses