Comments Hans Noeldner has made

Corn Ethanol

Unfortunately EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) has not been adequately covered in the Warts and Ethanol article nor in subsequent comments.  Corn ethanol has a lousy EROEI - 1.4 to 1 at best - that is one unit of fossil fuels yeilds no more than 1.4 units of ethanol.  Corn ethanol is basically a way to convert natural gas, diesel, and coal into alcohol while eroding topsoil and thus causing eutrophication of the Mississippi Gulf area.  It is as bad as feeding corn to livestock which then convert almost all of the nutrional value into manure.  (Go grass-fed bison!!  Go free-range chicken!!)

We are not going to break free from this mess until we clearly understand that automobiles are displacing natural life from Earth more rapidly than any other destructive force - including our own species.  Just look at how much of the United States we've already suffocated under asphalt!

GreenWash asks what we should do instead of producing ethanol.

(1) PARK YOUR CAR!  Even better, get rid of it!  Walk, bike, carpool, and use public transit instead
(2) Stop using fossil fuels to fertilize and mow lawns
(3) Stop using fossil fuels for recreation and to play (snowmobiles, RVs, vacation flights, water parks, etc.)
(4) Stop building suburbia and exurbia
(5) Densify existing urban areas
(6) Build mass transit as fast as possible
(7) If you have a yard, raise some food for your family

(FYI, I myself am doing and/or promoting all these things.)

The problem in the United States isn't supply of energy and other resources, it's our gluttony.  We live in a nation with more biologically productive land and natural resources per capita than any other on Earth.  If we can't build a sustainable civilization here - if we do ridiculous stuff like planting every square inch of farmland to feed automobiles - we deserve to become extinct.On A new reliance on coal could sap green cred from the ethanol industry posted 3 years, 6 months ago 17 Responses

No Talk & No Action

Of course I'm dismayed that my nation is once again thumbing its nose at efforts to fight climate change.  But when I start to get mad at Bush, I remind myself that we-the-people sure don't ACT like we give a damn about reducing our OWN CO2 emissions.  Highways and parking lots are still overflowing with vehicles.  Airports throb with planes landing and taking off.  Snowmobilers and four-wheelers are hitting the trails now that it is too cold for power boating and water skiing.  Everyone continues to drive to church and the grocery store.  Business remains brisk at ski slopes and casinos and amusement parks - thanks to customers who fly and drive thousands of miles.   Bulldozers and paving crews prepare new suburban and exurban homes for auto-addicted buyers.  It's business as usual, and the usual business is steadily increasing energy consumption.

There is only one way we can convince our political leaders that we are serious, and it ain't street protests or petitions or bumper stickers or elections.  Washington pays attention to money, and right now oil companies are the high bidders.  And these companies are flush with cash because you and I and our families and friends and neighbors have willingly enriched them.

What to do about it?  Stay away from the gas pumps and slash our fuel consumption.  (Hello!).  That means walking, biking, using public transit, living closer together, and living frugally.  We are utterly free to do all these things right now; we are utterly free to enroll others in the effort; we don't need any laws or new technology or government programs to get our butts in gear.  The thing we DO need is to believe our own actions matter.  Then we must commit ourselves to transforming our fellow countrymen.

Is it going to hurt the economy when we stop building single-family suburban homes and buying snowmobiles and flying to Colorado and Disney World for amusement?  Unfortunately the answer is "Yes".  After a fossil-fuel binge that lasted a century, our addiction is severe.  Overcoming this unhealthy, profoundly endemic dependence may be one of the greatest challenges our nation has every faced.

Addicts always begin with denial and shifting blame.  Can we take the next step?   God have mercy on our heirs if we cannot.
On Why the Montreal climate summit was too painful to watch posted 3 years, 11 months ago 5 Responses

Rank & Rile

The Day of Action in the Grist article "Rank & Rile" sounds good -- provided it is not a day of millions of people flying and driving to protests hundreds or thousands of miles distant.  Guzzling gasoline and jet fuel to attend such events would entirely miss the point.  We must abandon centralized, big media-oriented protests in places like New York and Washington.  They are as unsustainable as the fossil fuel consumption that made them possible.

What about many small protests against the purchase of gasoline at filling stations in virtually every city and village in the United States?  Participants could walk or bicycle to protest sites nearby, and since we would be protesting against the behavior of friends and neighbors rather than trying to grab a few microseconds of televised Soma between SUV and beer advertisements, we might actually make a difference.  A massive number of local protests would get directly to the point: right now gas pumps ARE our primary voting machines, and every time we-the-people grab that nozzle we vote for global warming, sprawl, and wars for oil.  Blaming Big Oil is lame -- Big Oil could not afford to purchase Washington if several hundred million of us didn't willingly foot the bill.

I dismiss the article's reference to 94% of people being "on board" about global warming.  If 94% of us were "on board" then 94% of us wouldn't still be driving everywhere we go; 94% of us wouldn't be waiting for higher fuel prices to force OTHERS to do what needs to be done.  Sidewalks would be full of people walking to school, work, the grocery store, etc.  Ditto for streets full of bicyclists and public transit users.  Bus manufacturers would be booked out 5 years and hiring like crazy.  Detroit would be in the light rail business.  Suburban and exurban home construction would have ground to an absolute halt.  Now THAT would be evidence of 94% support!

Words and polls like this are no more meaningful than saying we're against tooth-aches.  All that matters is whether we choose lifestyles that do not DEMAND global warming.  That means giving up something -- i.e. choosing far lower levels of resource consumption if we are middle or upper-class.

And that leads to my last point.  We are not going to solve problems with global warming and depletion of oil by demanding action and changes from other people or government or businesses.  Such demands are yet another form of consumer behavior.  Our focus on consumption IS the problem.  We have to become citizens and creators instead.  We have to generate a transformed world from the inside out.  "I am cause."On We must hit the streets to demand action on global warming posted 4 years, 1 month ago 3 Responses