[SustainableTompkins] help
Dale Bryner
eartharts1 at earthlink.net
Tue Jan 22 17:52:30 PST 2008
Hi, email address change:
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new address: eartharts1 at gmail.com
THANK-YOU!
-----Original Message-----
>From: sustainabletompkins-request at lists.mutualaid.org
>Sent: Jan 22, 2008 9:31 AM
>To: sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>Subject: SustainableTompkins Digest, Vol 23, Issue 10
>
>Send SustainableTompkins mailing list submissions to
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>Today's Topics:
>
> 1. More On The Carbon Tax Resolution (senecajean at aol.com)
> 2. Re: Inspiring article on Biochar, a high leverage solution
> (Anthony Nekut)
> 3. Fwd: Initiative for local governments? resolutions in
> support of a federal carbon tax (senecajean at aol.com)
> 4. Fw: An Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories (Jon Bosak)
> 5. Re: Inspiring article on Biochar, a high leverage solution
> (Joel and Sarah Gagnon)
> 6. Re: Fw: An Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories
> (Joel and Sarah Gagnon)
> 7. Re: SewGreen Opens Studio Space (Wendy Skinner)
> 8. ithaca Forward Jump on board event (Anthony Guarneri)
> 9. Re: SewGreen Opens Studio Space (Patricia Haines)
> 10. Events: Interspecies Co-Production and Other Interventions
> (Daniel Roth)
> 11. Tonight! Green Building Seminar: Energy Efficiency for
> Existing Homes (Sandra Repp)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:49:06 -0500
>From: senecajean at aol.com
>Subject: [SustainableTompkins] More On The Carbon Tax Resolution
>To: sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>Message-ID: <8CA28092CB1E911-868-2F4B at mblk-d21.sysops.aol.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>?At it's meeting last Wednesday night the 5 member City of Ithaca's Planning and Development Committee unanimously passed A Resolution In Support Of the Enactment?Of A Federal Carbon Tax.??
>The 5 member committee is made up of Planning Committee members are:? Chair: Alderperson Mary Tomlan, Vice Chair: Alderperson?Eric Rosario(new), Alderperson Jennifer Dotson, Alderperson?Svante Myrick(new),Alderperson?Daniel Cogan.
>?
>Several members had carefully read the materials and even done some research on their own from?links provided. As the IJ article noted there was some?skepticism especially from new alderperson Rosario but all were strongly convinced by the compelling arguments and evidence provided by Sylvester Johnson.
>
>The Resolution was Item 6 and came up at about 10 PM. Sylvester?himself arrived at 9 from a long and highly successful day in which he did two presentations on climate change at Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES in Auburn Greenstar workshop on Prevention & Reversal of Cancer and Heart Disease earlier that evening at Greenstar for which 18 signed up and at least 15 attended.
>Great work all around Sylvester!
>
>At the Auburn presentations Sylvester succeeded in getting his listeners interested in trying to pass such a resolution in Auburn!!
>
>Coming Up In The Near Future
>
>Wednesday Feb. 6 Ithaca City Common Council.??? 7 PM Council Chambers. With strong support from?Mayor Peterson and the enthusiastic endorsement from the Planning Committee, the Resolution has a good chance of being brought before Council then or if not?at its March 5th meeting?(CC meets the first Wed?of?every?month.)
>
>Wednesday Feb. 13?Presentation of the Resolution to the Tompkins County Environmental?Management Council as the first step to a Countywide resolution.
>The EMC meets the second Wednesday of every month (except August) from 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the Ithaca-Tompkins Transit Center, 737 Willow Ave, Ithaca, New York. All meetings are open to the public.
>
>Sylvester and The Climate?Change Action Group have also begun getting in contact with other entities in hopes of making?this a nationwide push in the next year before Cap and Trade becomes entrenched.? One such is ICLEI USA, the United States chapter of the?International Council On Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI). Another is the U.S. Conference of Mayors of which Ithaca as a small city is an Associate Member. Others include the Sierra Club whose chair, Carl Pope is a supporter.
>Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute and PLAN B author is another supporter. We also hope to get Move-On to take it on.
>
>More to come including an action plan to get the Resolution passed by as many municipalities as possible.
>
>As noted in the Ithaca Journal article there is much support around the nation for a carbon tax. The?Carbon Tax Center http://www.carbontax.org/?has an extensive listing of supporters from many sectors, conservative and liberal.
>
>
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>?
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>?
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>
>________________________________________________________________________
>More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com
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>------------------------------
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>Message: 2
>Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:04:40 -0500
>From: "Anthony Nekut" <AnthonyNekut at vectormagnetics.com>
>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Inspiring article on Biochar, a
> high leverage solution
>To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv"
> <sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
>Message-ID:
> <3E981282F927634D81CADD4C0527DF782C1786 at vector-server.VectorMagnetics.local>
>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>Joel/all,
>The 1kg/acre is annual and is typical for high productivity energy
>crops. Our native forests produce at only 15-20% of this rate.
>
>60grams is the figure if 100% of the Earth's surface is involved, so for
>1% of area (3% o f land area) it's 6000g. I guessed 500 kg for a foot
>of soil so that's 1% of soil mass (not 10% as stated originally). I'd
>think 1% is acceptable but I'm haven't looked into it.
>
>If you accept 1kg/m^2/yr productivity, and that half of this mass is
>returned to the soil, that's 500g/m^2/yr, so it takes 12 yrs at this
>rate to gete to 6000g which is equivalent to 100ppm worldwide reduction.
>Tony
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org
>[mailto:sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org] On Behalf Of
>Joel and Sarah Gagnon
>Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 1:09 PM
>To: Sustainable Tompkins County listserv
>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Inspiring article on Biochar, a high
>leverage solution
>
>Thanks for sharing this, Tony.
>
>What time period were you assuming for the 1 kg of biomass per square
>meter to be produced? Since you must be figuring dry mass, this cannot
>be an annual figure, can it?
>
>500-600 g of charcoal would amount to a pretty impressive volume, I'm
>guessing. If it is going to be incorporated into the primary root zone,
>that would be the top 6 inches. Is that plausible?
>
> "This is about 10% of the carbon mass based on the 3% land area
>scenario. In other words, if 3% of the earth's land area were devoted
>to biomass production and associated carbon sequestration following
>pyrolysis to char, atmospheric CO2 would be reduced by 100ppm every 10
>years."
>
>You lost me there. I couldn't discern the chain of reasoning that got
>you to that conclusion. Could you elaborate?
>
>Joel
>
> At 07:56 PM 1/15/08 -0500, you wrote:
>>Here are some simple estimates related to biochar. Please point out
>>any mistakes.
>>For rough estimate purposes, suppose the equivalent STP atmosphere is 1
>>km thick. Each square km of the Earth's surface thus contains roughly
>>10^12 liters of gas and at 22.3 L/mole contains 4x10^10 moles of gas.
>>To reduce CO2 by 100 ppm requires removal of 4x10^6 moles of carbon or
>>4 moles of C per square meter (e.g. about 60 grams). The top foot of
>>soil weighs about 500 kg so 60g of C amounts to only 0.1% of this soil
>mass.
>>If 1% of the earth's surface (3% of land area) were utilized to
>>sequester 100ppm equivalent C, then the soil concentration of C would
>>be about 10% by weight. Carbon is bound up as biomass at a variety of
>>annual rates depending on growing region, vegetation type, and weather.
>>Assuming 1 kg of biomass production per square meter, about half of
>>this mass could be returned to the soil as char (500 g/m^2). This is
>>about 10% of the carbon mass based on the 3% land area scenario. In
>>other words, if 3% of the earth's land area were devoted to biomass
>>production and associated carbon sequestration following pyrolysis to
>>char, atmospheric CO2 would be reduced by 100ppm every 10 years. The
>>associated worldwide level of biomass production is about 4x10^12 kg/yr
>>(4 billion tons/yr).
>>
>>Tony Nekut
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org
>>[mailto:sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org
>><mailto:sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org> ] On Behalf Of
>>Joel and Sarah Gagnon
>>Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 2:57 PM
>>To: Sustainable Tompkins County listserv
>>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Inspiring article on Biochar, a high
>>leverage solution
>>
>>This comment points to the problem I see. Since the biochar process
>>would require harvesting only a fraction of the energy in the biomass,
>>there would be an economic disadvantage to doing that instead of
>>capturing as much of the available energy as possible by "going all the
>>way to ash".
>>That would have to be subsidized somehow -- perhaps using carbon
>>credits.
>>
>>I think that the main benefit of this carbon sequestration may well lie
>>in the soil-amending properties and not in the CO2 capture. Compared to
>>the huge amount of carbon released to the environment from digging up
>>and burning already-sequestered fossil carbon, this is a drop in the
>>bucket.
>>
>>If you haven't yet taken a look at the article recommended to us by Tom
>>Shelley yesterday, you are missing an excellent resource. Full of
>>interesting and relevant information, and well written! Here is the
>>link:
>>http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WindEnergy0108.pdf
>><http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WindEnergy0108.pdf> . It
>>makes a convincing argument that electricity is the power of the
>>future, with wind and solar-electric the primary sources, if we are to
>>rationally address the need to reduce carbon emissions as well as wean
>>ourselves off of dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.
>>
>>
>>Joel
>>
>> At 03:19 PM 1/14/08 -0500, you wrote:
>> >As a followup to this, I should note that the wood-driven vehicle
>> >conversions I referred to don't stop the combustion process at just
>> >the right point for biochar but actually burn the stuff down to ash.
>> >So this process is properly "gasification" rather than "pyrolysis."
>> >As far as I can tell, the difference between the two is a matter of
>> >how far the process is allowed to go, but clearly the
>> >biochar-producing power plants I was fantasizing about will be a good
>> >deal more complicated than the simple wood gasification units that
>> >were deployed in WW2.
>> >
>> >It still amazes me that you can run an ordinary gasoline engine on
>> >wood chips, though.
>> >
>> >Jon
>> >
>> >Jon Bosak wrote:
>> > > Thanks to Elan for forwarding the "Birth of a New Wedge" article.
>> > > Figuring out the carbon accounting is the next step in the growing
>> > > terra preta movement we first noticed last year. This is indeed
>> > > an inspiring development.
>> > >
>> > > Biochar is one of two unalloyed pieces of good news to come out of
>> > > 2007, the other being the finding that organic farms can be as
>> > > productive per acre as conventional farms (albeit much more
>> > > labor-intensive). This means that in theory we can decouple food
>> > > production from synthetic fertilizers -- a lucky thing for us,
>> > > since such fertilizers are created from natural gas, the North
>> > > American production of which has been declining for several years
>> > > now. The much greater input of hand labor required for organic
>> > > farming at this level of intensity suggests that most of us will
>> > > eventually have to spend at least part of each day involved in
>> > > individual or team-oriented food production -- a small price to
>> > > pay when you consider the alternatives. Besides, it's good for ya.
>> > >
>> > > Biochar is almost magic, and to my mind the most believable
>> > > technical fix so far proposed for greenhouse gas reduction. It's
>> > > a biomass energy production scheme with a carbon *negative*
>> > > byproduct that also appears to be the world's best long-term soil
>amendment.
>> > > So the more energy you extract this way, the more carbon you
>> > > sequester from the atmosphere and the more productive (over a
>> > > number of years) you make the soil.... which makes the biomass
>grow better.
>>
>> > > This circle almost seems to contradict the laws of physics, but
>> > > really all that's going on is an efficient and intelligently
>> > > directed use of the sunlight falling on the growing area.
>> > >
>> > > Here's a technofix vision for you: a farm tractor run off gases
>> > > generated by a wood-chip or grass-pellet pyrolizer (which requires
>> > > minimal modification to the engine itself), the carbon-rich
>> > > biochar from the pyrolizer fed out directly onto the land as a
>> > > long-term soil amendment....
>> > >
>> > > A member of last year's peak oil discussion group showed how
>> > > easily he converted his mom's pickup to run on a wood-chip
>> > > pyrolizer. It's not rocket science; anyone with a welding kit
>> > > could do this. During WW2, conventionally powered vehicles all
>> > > over the world were retrofitted with locally made pyrolizing gas
>> > > generators. It shouldn't take long to engineer pyrolizers that
>> > > eject the leftovers at just the right point now that we know what
>we're looking for.
>> > > This would never produce enough gas to run our current
>> > > transportation system, but it could certainly produce enough to
>> > > keep some tractors running.
>> > >
>> > > We haven't gotten much really good news on the energy descent
>> > > front in recent years, but the prospect of a believable carbon
>> > > sequestration scheme that also provides enough to eat and some
>> > > farm machinery to help out finds me much cheerier going into 2008
>> > > than I was going into 2007. Now if we can only teach our leaders
>> > > the concept of long-term planning....
>> > >
>> > > Jon
>> > >
>> > > Elan Shapiro wrote:
>> > > > Birth of a New Wedge
>> > > > By Kelpie Wilson
>> > > > t r u t h o u t | Report
>> > > >
>> > > > Thursday 03 May 2007
>> > > > http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050307R.shtml
>><http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050307R.shtml>
>> > > > >>>Also see other articles on Biochar , or Agrichar, in this
>> > > > listserve last May, when this article came out > > ...
>> > > Agrichar is the term not for the biomass fuel, but for what is >
>> > > left over after the energy is removed: a charcoal-based soil >
>> > > amendment. In simple terms, the agrichar process takes dry biomass
>> > > of > any kind and bakes it in a kiln to produce charcoal. The
>> > > process is > called pyrolysis. Various gases and bio-oils are
>> > > driven off the > material and collected to use in heat or power
>> > > generation. The > charcoal is buried in the ground, sequestering
>> > > the carbon that the > growing plants had pulled out of the
>> > > atmosphere. The end result is > increased soil fertility and an
>> > > energy source with negative carbon > emissions.
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
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>------------------------------
>
>Message: 3
>Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:06:36 -0500
>From: senecajean at aol.com
>Subject: [SustainableTompkins] Fwd: Initiative for local governments?
> resolutions in support of a federal carbon tax
>To: sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>Cc: contactsj at mac.com
>Message-ID: <8CA28358763EF4A-50C-16FE at Webmail-mg21.sysops.aol.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
>
>>From Sylvester Johnson
>
>
>A resolution in support of a federal carbon tax passed the Planning Committee of the City of Ithaca, NY on 01/16/2008 (Ithaca joins nationwide debate on carbon tax, cap and trade). There?s an excellent chance that Ithaca's City Council will endorse a federal carbon tax in early March 2008, possibly in February.
>
>If you?re interested in letting possible advocates beyond Ithaca know about this initiative please copy and send out the following suggested text, or a revision of it, to email lists:
>
>Re. Initiative for local governments? resolutions in support of a federal carbon tax
>
>This initiative does not require your money or much time, only an average of an hour a week to contact elected officials to keep the resolution on the agenda. The only training required is reading the background information linked below.
>
>After passage, the resolution requires no further commitment on the part of advocates or the local government. Yet this relatively easy political action publicizes the benefits of a federal carbon tax.
>
>The debate between a tax and emissions trading may seem remote from daily life, but the outcome will affect citizens for decades. New York City is also remote from Washington, however Mayor Michael Bloomberg has declared his support for a federal carbon tax, as have many economists both liberal and conservative. One reason for this broad-based support is that ?cap-trade? in heat-trapping emissions acts like a disguised tax, but trading is more expensive and at the same time less effective for emissions reduction, and more readily abused than an actual tax.
>
>Without a maximum permit ?stop? price, trading makes energy costs too volatile. With a stop price, selling extra permits to pollute blows off the regulatory cap. Both results of cap-auction are counterproductive for the goal of reducing heat-trapping emissions.
>
>Many local governments may hope to sell offsets in emissions trading to help fund projects that reduce heat-trapping emissions. However, the value of those projects may get undercut by competition from inexpensive offsets from abroad.
>
>A federal carbon tax is less expensive as well as more effective and simpler than trading.
>
>To find out further reasons to support a new tax, please see the non-profit initiative for a federal carbon tax at the "Initiative" page of www.climatehealth.net/Initiative.html. Also available from that page is a free sample resolution with enough points included so that it?s self-explanatory, as well as detailed background information, examples and analysis. The resolution could be modified as desired with little time commitment.
>
>Advocates from across the nation are being sought to volunteer for this initiative for local governments? resolutions in support of a federal carbon tax. In a matter of months, hundreds of local governments could pass versions of this resolution, sending a strong signal to the federal government that a carbon tax is politically possible.
>
>Could you volunteer an hour a week to work with a local government on this initiative for a few months? Do you know anyone who might? Please check out the above link or forward this email.
>
>?
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>________________________________________________________________________
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>Message: 4
>Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:20:43 -0500
>From: Jon Bosak <bosak at ibiblio.org>
>Subject: [SustainableTompkins] Fw: An Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means
> Costly Calories
>To: sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>Message-ID: <4791F92B.7000209 at ibiblio.org>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
>
>What happens when you grow fuel rather than food.
>
>Jon
>
>==================================================================
>
>The New York Times
>January 19, 2008
>The Food Chain
>An Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories
>By KEITH BRADSHER
>
>KUANTAN, Malaysia -- Rising prices for cooking oil are forcing
>residents of Asia?s largest slum, in Mumbai, India, to ration
>every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher
>shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built
>to convert vegetable oil into diesel sit idle, their owners unable
>to afford the raw material.
>
>This is the other oil shock. From India to Indiana, shortages and
>soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of
>vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a
>developing global problem: costly food.
>
>The food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of
>the United Nations, based on export prices for 60 internationally
>traded foodstuffs, climbed 37 percent last year. That was on top
>of a 14 percent increase in 2006, and the trend has accelerated
>this winter.
>
>In some poor countries, desperation is taking hold. Just in the
>last week, protests have erupted in Pakistan over wheat shortages,
>and in Indonesia over soybean shortages. Egypt has banned rice
>exports to keep food at home, and China has put price controls on
>cooking oil, grain, meat, milk and eggs.
>
>According to the F.A.O., food riots have erupted in recent months
>in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and
>Yemen.
>
>"The urban poor, the rural landless and small and marginal farmers
>stand to lose," said He Changchui, the agency?s chief
>representative for Asia and the Pacific.
>
>A startling change is unfolding in the world?s food
>markets. Soaring fuel prices have altered the equation for growing
>food and transporting it across the globe. Huge demand for
>biofuels has created tension between using land to produce fuel
>and using it for food.
>
>A growing middle class in the developing world is demanding more
>protein, from pork and hamburgers to chicken and ice cream. And
>all this is happening even as global climate change may be
>starting to make it harder to grow food in some of the places best
>equipped to do so, like Australia.
>
>In the last few years, world demand for crops and meat has been
>rising sharply. It remains an open question how and when the
>supply will catch up. For the foreseeable future, that probably
>means higher prices at the grocery store and fatter paychecks for
>farmers of major crops like corn, wheat and soybeans.
>
>There may be worse inflation to come. Food experts say steep
>increases in commodity prices have not fully made their way to
>street stalls in the developing world or supermarkets in the West.
>
>Governments in many poor countries have tried to respond by
>stepping up food subsidies, imposing or tightening price controls,
>restricting exports and cutting food import duties.
>
>These temporary measures are already breaking down. Across
>Southeast Asia, for example, families have been hoarding palm
>oil. Smugglers have been bidding up prices as they move the oil
>from more subsidized markets, like Malaysia?s, to less subsidized
>markets, like Singapore?s.
>
>No category of food prices has risen as quickly this winter as
>so-called edible oils -- with sometimes tragic results. When a
>Carrefour store in Chongqing, China, announced a limited-time
>cooking oil promotion in November, a stampede of would-be buyers
>left 3 people dead and 31 injured.
>
>Cooking oil may seem a trifling expense in the West. But in the
>developing world, cooking oil is an important source of calories
>and represents one of the biggest cash outlays for poor families,
>which grow much of their own food but have to buy oil in which to
>cook it.
>
>Few crops illustrate the emerging problems in the global food
>chain as well as palm oil, a vital commodity in much of the world
>and particularly Asia. From jungles and street markets in
>Southeast Asia to food companies in the United States and
>biodiesel factories in Europe, soaring prices for the oil are
>drawing environmentalists, energy companies, consumers, indigenous
>peoples and governments into acrimonious disputes.
>
>The oil palm is a stout-trunked tree with a spray of frilly fronds
>at the top that make it look like an enormous sea anemone. The
>trees, with their distinctive, star-like patterns of leaves, cover
>an eighth of the entire land area of Malaysia and even greater
>acreage in nearby Indonesia.
>
>An Efficient Producer
>
>The palm is a highly efficient producer of vegetable oil, squeezed
>from the tree?s thick bunches of plum-size bright red fruit. An
>acre of oil palms yields as much oil as eight acres of soybeans,
>the main rival for oil palms; rapeseed, used to make canola oil,
>is a distant third. Among major crops, only sugar cane comes close
>to rivaling oil palms in calories of human food per acre.
>
>Palm oil prices have jumped nearly 70 percent in the last year
>because supply has grown slowly while demand has soared.
>
>Farmers and plantation companies are responding to the higher
>prices, clearing hundreds of thousands of acres of tropical forest
>to replant with rows of oil palms. But an oil palm takes eight
>years to reach full production. A drought last year in Indonesia
>and flooding in Peninsular Malaysia helped constrain
>supply. Worldwide palm oil output climbed just 2.7 percent last
>year, to 42.1 million tons.
>
>At the same time, palm oil demand is growing steeply for a variety
>of reasons around the globe. They include shifting decisions among
>farmers about what to plant, rising consumer demand in China and
>India for edible oils, and Western subsidies for biofuel
>production.
>
>American farmers have been planting more corn and less soy because
>demand for corn-based ethanol has pushed up corn prices. American
>soybean acreage plunged 19 percent last year, producing a drop in
>soybean oil output and inventories.
>
>Chinese farmers also cut back soybean acreage last year, as urban
>sprawl covered prime farmland and the Chinese government provided
>more incentives for grain.
>
>Yet people in China are also consuming more oils. China not only
>was the world?s biggest palm oil importer last year, holding
>steady at 5.2 million tons in the first 11 months of the year, but
>it also doubled its soybean oil imports to 2.9 million tons,
>forcing buyers elsewhere to switch to palm oil.
>
>Concerns about nutrition used to hurt palm oil sales, but they are
>now starting to help. The oil was long regarded in the West as
>unhealthy, but it has become an attractive option to replace the
>chemically altered fats known as trans fats, which have lately
>come to be seen as the least healthy of all fats.
>
>New York City banned trans fats in frying at food service
>establishments last summer and will ban them in bakery goods this
>summer. Across the country, manufacturers are trying to replace
>trans fats. American palm oil imports nearly doubled in the first
>11 months of last year, rising by 200,000 tons.
>
>"Four years ago, when this whole no-trans issue started, we
>processed no palm here," said Mark Weyland, a United States
>product manager for Loders Croklaan, a Dutch company that supplies
>palm oil. "Now it?s our biggest seller."
>
>Last year, conversion of palm oil into fuel was a fast-growing
>source of demand, but in recent weeks, rising prices have thrown
>that business into turmoil.
>
>Here on Malaysia?s eastern shore, a series of 45-foot-high green
>and gray storage tanks connect to a labyrinth of yellow and silver
>pipes. The gleaming new refinery has the capacity to turn 116,000
>tons a year of palm oil into 110,000 tons of a fuel called
>biodiesel, as well as valuable byproducts like glycerin. Mission
>Biofuels, an Australian company, finished the refinery last month
>and is working on an even larger factory next door at the base of
>a jungle hillside.
>
>But prices have spiked so much that the company cannot cover all
>its costs and has idled the finished refinery while looking for a
>new strategy, such as asking a biodiesel buyer to pay a price
>linked to palm oil costs, and someday switching from palm oil to
>jatropha, a roadside weed.
>
>"We took a view that palm oil prices were already high; we didn?t
>think they could go even higher, and then they did," said Nathan
>Mahalingam, the company?s managing director.
>
>Growth in Biofuels
>
>Biofuels accounted for almost half the increase in worldwide
>demand for vegetable oils last year, and represented 7 percent of
>total consumption of the oils, according to Oil World, a
>forecasting service in Hamburg, Germany.
>
>The growth of biodiesel, which can be mixed with regular diesel,
>has been controversial, not only because it competes with food
>uses of oil but also because of environmental concerns. European
>conservation groups have been warning that tropical forests are
>being leveled to make way for oil palm plantations, destroying
>habitat for orangutans and Sumatran rhinoceroses while also
>releasing greenhouse gases.
>
>The European Union has moved to restrict imports of palm oil grown
>in unsustainable ways. The measure has incensed the Malaysian palm
>oil industry, which had plunged into biofuel production in part to
>satisfy European demand.
>
>Another controversy involves the treatment of indigenous peoples
>whose lands have been seized by oil plantations. This has been a
>particular issue on Borneo.
>
>Anne B. Lasimbang, executive director of the Pacos Trust in the
>Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo, said that while some
>indigenous people had benefited from selling palm oil that they
>grow themselves, many had lost ancestral lands with little to show
>for it, including lands that used to provide habitats for
>endangered orangutans.
>
>"Finally, some of the pressures internationally have trickled
>down. Some of the companies are more open to dialogue; they want
>to talk to communities," said Ms. Lasimbang, a member of the Dusun
>indigenous group. "On our side, we are still suspicious."
>
>Demand Outstrips Supply
>
>As the multiple conflicts and economic pressures associated with
>palm oil play out in the global economy, the bottom line seems to
>be that the world wants more of the oil than it can get.
>
>Even in Malaysia, the center of the global palm oil industry for
>half a century, spot shortages have cropped up. Recently, as
>wholesale prices soared, cooking oil refiners complained of
>inadequate subsidies and cut back production of household oil,
>sold at low, regulated prices.
>
>Street vendors in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, complain that they
>cannot find enough cooking oil to prepare roti canai, the
>flatbread that is the national snack. "It?s very difficult; it?s
>hard to find," said one vendor who gave only his first name,
>Palani, after admitting that he was secretly buying cooking oil
>intended for households instead of paying the much higher price
>for commercial use.
>
>Many of the hardest-hit victims of rising food prices are in the
>vast slums that surround cities in poorer Asian nations. The Kawle
>family in Mumbai?s sprawling Dharavi slum, a household of nine
>with just one member working as a laborer for $60 a month, is
>coping with recent price increases for palm oil.
>
>The family has responded by eating fish once a week instead of
>twice, seldom cooking vegetables and cutting its monthly rice
>consumption. Next to go will be the weekly smidgen of lamb.
>
>"If the prices go up again," said Janaron Kawle, the family
>patriarch, "we?ll cut the mutton to twice a month and use less
>oil."
>
>--
>
>Contributing reporting were Andrew Martin in New York, Anand
>Giridharadas in Kale, India, and Michael Rubenstein in Mumbai.
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 5
>Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:16:28 -0500
>From: Joel and Sarah Gagnon <Joel.and.Sarah.Gagnon at lightlink.com>
>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Inspiring article on Biochar, a
> high leverage solution
>To: Sustainable Tompkins County listserv
> <sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
>Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.2.20080119115503.00a42b30 at pop.lightlink.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>Correct me if I'm wrong, Tony, but I believe you meant to say 1 kg/m^2,
>not per acre.
>
>Do you have any sense whether the land actually available for biomass
>production, which would not be our best crop land, is capable of this level
>of productivity?
>
>I think it is worth highlighting that for the CO2 reduction to be real, the
>energy produced has to be sufficient to pay the energy costs of production
>and processing to incorporate the biochar into the soil. Hopefully, it
>exceeds that by a considerable margin or there wouldn't be any salable
>product to cover the land, labor, and other inputs to produce it. Any
>shortfall would have to be funded by carbon credits or some other subsidy.
>In any event, returning the biochar to the soil instead of using it for
>energy would have to be paid for somehow -- otherwise it would be worth
>more as an energy source. Charcoal production is responsible for
>considerable deforestation worldwide.
>
>Joel
>
>
>>Joel/all,
>>The 1kg/acre is annual and is typical for high productivity energy
>>crops. Our native forests produce at only 15-20% of this rate.
>>
>>60grams is the figure if 100% of the Earth's surface is involved, so for
>>1% of area (3% o f land area) it's 6000g. I guessed 500 kg for a foot
>>of soil so that's 1% of soil mass (not 10% as stated originally). I'd
>>think 1% is acceptable but I'm haven't looked into it.
>>
>>If you accept 1kg/m^2/yr productivity, and that half of this mass is
>>returned to the soil, that's 500g/m^2/yr, so it takes 12 yrs at this
>>rate to gete to 6000g which is equivalent to 100ppm worldwide reduction.
>>Tony
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org
>>[mailto:sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org] On Behalf Of
>>Joel and Sarah Gagnon
>>Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 1:09 PM
>>To: Sustainable Tompkins County listserv
>>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Inspiring article on Biochar, a high
>>leverage solution
>>
>>Thanks for sharing this, Tony.
>>
>>What time period were you assuming for the 1 kg of biomass per square
>>meter to be produced? Since you must be figuring dry mass, this cannot
>>be an annual figure, can it?
>>
>>500-600 g of charcoal would amount to a pretty impressive volume, I'm
>>guessing. If it is going to be incorporated into the primary root zone,
>>that would be the top 6 inches. Is that plausible?
>>
>> "This is about 10% of the carbon mass based on the 3% land area
>>scenario. In other words, if 3% of the earth's land area were devoted
>>to biomass production and associated carbon sequestration following
>>pyrolysis to char, atmospheric CO2 would be reduced by 100ppm every 10
>>years."
>>
>>You lost me there. I couldn't discern the chain of reasoning that got
>>you to that conclusion. Could you elaborate?
>>
>>Joel
>>
>> At 07:56 PM 1/15/08 -0500, you wrote:
>> >Here are some simple estimates related to biochar. Please point out
>> >any mistakes.
>> >For rough estimate purposes, suppose the equivalent STP atmosphere is 1
>> >km thick. Each square km of the Earth's surface thus contains roughly
>> >10^12 liters of gas and at 22.3 L/mole contains 4x10^10 moles of gas.
>> >To reduce CO2 by 100 ppm requires removal of 4x10^6 moles of carbon or
>> >4 moles of C per square meter (e.g. about 60 grams). The top foot of
>> >soil weighs about 500 kg so 60g of C amounts to only 0.1% of this soil
>>mass.
>> >If 1% of the earth's surface (3% of land area) were utilized to
>> >sequester 100ppm equivalent C, then the soil concentration of C would
>> >be about 10% by weight. Carbon is bound up as biomass at a variety of
>> >annual rates depending on growing region, vegetation type, and weather.
>> >Assuming 1 kg of biomass production per square meter, about half of
>> >this mass could be returned to the soil as char (500 g/m^2). This is
>> >about 10% of the carbon mass based on the 3% land area scenario. In
>> >other words, if 3% of the earth's land area were devoted to biomass
>> >production and associated carbon sequestration following pyrolysis to
>> >char, atmospheric CO2 would be reduced by 100ppm every 10 years. The
>> >associated worldwide level of biomass production is about 4x10^12 kg/yr
>> >(4 billion tons/yr).
>> >
>> >Tony Nekut
>> >
>> >-----Original Message-----
>> >From: sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org
>> >[mailto:sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org
>> ><mailto:sustainabletompkins-bounces at lists.mutualaid.org> ] On Behalf Of
>> >Joel and Sarah Gagnon
>> >Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 2:57 PM
>> >To: Sustainable Tompkins County listserv
>> >Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Inspiring article on Biochar, a high
>> >leverage solution
>> >
>> >This comment points to the problem I see. Since the biochar process
>> >would require harvesting only a fraction of the energy in the biomass,
>> >there would be an economic disadvantage to doing that instead of
>> >capturing as much of the available energy as possible by "going all the
>> >way to ash".
>> >That would have to be subsidized somehow -- perhaps using carbon
>> >credits.
>> >
>> >I think that the main benefit of this carbon sequestration may well lie
>> >in the soil-amending properties and not in the CO2 capture. Compared to
>> >the huge amount of carbon released to the environment from digging up
>> >and burning already-sequestered fossil carbon, this is a drop in the
>> >bucket.
>> >
>> >If you haven't yet taken a look at the article recommended to us by Tom
>> >Shelley yesterday, you are missing an excellent resource. Full of
>> >interesting and relevant information, and well written! Here is the
>> >link:
>> >http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WindEnergy0108.pdf
>> ><http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/jacobson/WindEnergy0108.pdf> . It
>> >makes a convincing argument that electricity is the power of the
>> >future, with wind and solar-electric the primary sources, if we are to
>> >rationally address the need to reduce carbon emissions as well as wean
>> >ourselves off of dwindling supplies of fossil fuels.
>> >
>> >
>> >Joel
>> >
>> > At 03:19 PM 1/14/08 -0500, you wrote:
>> > >As a followup to this, I should note that the wood-driven vehicle
>> > >conversions I referred to don't stop the combustion process at just
>> > >the right point for biochar but actually burn the stuff down to ash.
>> > >So this process is properly "gasification" rather than "pyrolysis."
>> > >As far as I can tell, the difference between the two is a matter of
>> > >how far the process is allowed to go, but clearly the
>> > >biochar-producing power plants I was fantasizing about will be a good
>> > >deal more complicated than the simple wood gasification units that
>> > >were deployed in WW2.
>> > >
>> > >It still amazes me that you can run an ordinary gasoline engine on
>> > >wood chips, though.
>> > >
>> > >Jon
>> > >
>> > >Jon Bosak wrote:
>> > > > Thanks to Elan for forwarding the "Birth of a New Wedge" article.
>> > > > Figuring out the carbon accounting is the next step in the growing
>> > > > terra preta movement we first noticed last year. This is indeed
>> > > > an inspiring development.
>> > > >
>> > > > Biochar is one of two unalloyed pieces of good news to come out of
>> > > > 2007, the other being the finding that organic farms can be as
>> > > > productive per acre as conventional farms (albeit much more
>> > > > labor-intensive). This means that in theory we can decouple food
>> > > > production from synthetic fertilizers -- a lucky thing for us,
>> > > > since such fertilizers are created from natural gas, the North
>> > > > American production of which has been declining for several years
>> > > > now. The much greater input of hand labor required for organic
>> > > > farming at this level of intensity suggests that most of us will
>> > > > eventually have to spend at least part of each day involved in
>> > > > individual or team-oriented food production -- a small price to
>> > > > pay when you consider the alternatives. Besides, it's good for ya.
>> > > >
>> > > > Biochar is almost magic, and to my mind the most believable
>> > > > technical fix so far proposed for greenhouse gas reduction. It's
>> > > > a biomass energy production scheme with a carbon *negative*
>> > > > byproduct that also appears to be the world's best long-term soil
>>amendment.
>> > > > So the more energy you extract this way, the more carbon you
>> > > > sequester from the atmosphere and the more productive (over a
>> > > > number of years) you make the soil.... which makes the biomass
>>grow better.
>> >
>> > > > This circle almost seems to contradict the laws of physics, but
>> > > > really all that's going on is an efficient and intelligently
>> > > > directed use of the sunlight falling on the growing area.
>> > > >
>> > > > Here's a technofix vision for you: a farm tractor run off gases
>> > > > generated by a wood-chip or grass-pellet pyrolizer (which requires
>> > > > minimal modification to the engine itself), the carbon-rich
>> > > > biochar from the pyrolizer fed out directly onto the land as a
>> > > > long-term soil amendment....
>> > > >
>> > > > A member of last year's peak oil discussion group showed how
>> > > > easily he converted his mom's pickup to run on a wood-chip
>> > > > pyrolizer. It's not rocket science; anyone with a welding kit
>> > > > could do this. During WW2, conventionally powered vehicles all
>> > > > over the world were retrofitted with locally made pyrolizing gas
>> > > > generators. It shouldn't take long to engineer pyrolizers that
>> > > > eject the leftovers at just the right point now that we know what
>>we're looking for.
>> > > > This would never produce enough gas to run our current
>> > > > transportation system, but it could certainly produce enough to
>> > > > keep some tractors running.
>> > > >
>> > > > We haven't gotten much really good news on the energy descent
>> > > > front in recent years, but the prospect of a believable carbon
>> > > > sequestration scheme that also provides enough to eat and some
>> > > > farm machinery to help out finds me much cheerier going into 2008
>> > > > than I was going into 2007. Now if we can only teach our leaders
>> > > > the concept of long-term planning....
>> > > >
>> > > > Jon
>> > > >
>> > > > Elan Shapiro wrote:
>> > > > > Birth of a New Wedge
>> > > > > By Kelpie Wilson
>> > > > > t r u t h o u t | Report
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Thursday 03 May 2007
>> > > > > http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050307R.shtml
>> ><http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050307R.shtml>
>> > > > > >>>Also see other articles on Biochar , or Agrichar, in this
>> > > > > listserve last May, when this article came out > > ...
>> > > > Agrichar is the term not for the biomass fuel, but for what is >
>> > > > left over after the energy is removed: a charcoal-based soil >
>> > > > amendment. In simple terms, the agrichar process takes dry biomass
>> > > > of > any kind and bakes it in a kiln to produce charcoal. The
>> > > > process is > called pyrolysis. Various gases and bio-oils are
>> > > > driven off the > material and collected to use in heat or power
>> > > > generation. The > charcoal is buried in the ground, sequestering
>> > > > the carbon that the > growing plants had pulled out of the
>> > > > atmosphere. The end result is > increased soil fertility and an
>> > > > energy source with negative carbon > emissions.
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > _______________________________________________
>> > > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
>> > > > SustainableTompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
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>> ><http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins>
>> > > > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
>> > > > <http://www.mutualaid.org>
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > >
>> > >_______________________________________________
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>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 6
>Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 13:04:48 -0500
>From: Joel and Sarah Gagnon <Joel.and.Sarah.Gagnon at lightlink.com>
>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Fw: An Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel
> Means Costly Calories
>To: Sustainable Tompkins County listserv
> <sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
>Message-ID: <5.2.1.1.2.20080119130343.00a42750 at pop.lightlink.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>How long before we end the idiotic ethanol subsidy?
>
>Joel
>
>At 08:20 AM 1/19/08 -0500, you wrote:
>>What happens when you grow fuel rather than food.
>>
>>Jon
>>
>>==================================================================
>>
>>The New York Times
>>January 19, 2008
>>The Food Chain
>>An Oil Quandary: Costly Fuel Means Costly Calories
>>By KEITH BRADSHER
>>
>>KUANTAN, Malaysia -- Rising prices for cooking oil are forcing
>>residents of Asia's largest slum, in Mumbai, India, to ration
>>every drop. Bakeries in the United States are fretting over higher
>>shortening costs. And here in Malaysia, brand-new factories built
>>to convert vegetable oil into diesel sit idle, their owners unable
>>to afford the raw material.
>>
>>This is the other oil shock. From India to Indiana, shortages and
>>soaring prices for palm oil, soybean oil and many other types of
>>vegetable oils are the latest, most striking example of a
>>developing global problem: costly food.
>>
>>The food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization of
>>the United Nations, based on export prices for 60 internationally
>>traded foodstuffs, climbed 37 percent last year. That was on top
>>of a 14 percent increase in 2006, and the trend has accelerated
>>this winter.
>>
>>In some poor countries, desperation is taking hold. Just in the
>>last week, protests have erupted in Pakistan over wheat shortages,
>>and in Indonesia over soybean shortages. Egypt has banned rice
>>exports to keep food at home, and China has put price controls on
>>cooking oil, grain, meat, milk and eggs.
>>
>>According to the F.A.O., food riots have erupted in recent months
>>in Guinea, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and
>>Yemen.
>>
>>"The urban poor, the rural landless and small and marginal farmers
>>stand to lose," said He Changchui, the agency's chief
>>representative for Asia and the Pacific.
>>
>>A startling change is unfolding in the world's food
>>markets. Soaring fuel prices have altered the equation for growing
>>food and transporting it across the globe. Huge demand for
>>biofuels has created tension between using land to produce fuel
>>and using it for food.
>>
>>A growing middle class in the developing world is demanding more
>>protein, from pork and hamburgers to chicken and ice cream. And
>>all this is happening even as global climate change may be
>>starting to make it harder to grow food in some of the places best
>>equipped to do so, like Australia.
>>
>>In the last few years, world demand for crops and meat has been
>>rising sharply. It remains an open question how and when the
>>supply will catch up. For the foreseeable future, that probably
>>means higher prices at the grocery store and fatter paychecks for
>>farmers of major crops like corn, wheat and soybeans.
>>
>>There may be worse inflation to come. Food experts say steep
>>increases in commodity prices have not fully made their way to
>>street stalls in the developing world or supermarkets in the West.
>>
>>Governments in many poor countries have tried to respond by
>>stepping up food subsidies, imposing or tightening price controls,
>>restricting exports and cutting food import duties.
>>
>>These temporary measures are already breaking down. Across
>>Southeast Asia, for example, families have been hoarding palm
>>oil. Smugglers have been bidding up prices as they move the oil
>>from more subsidized markets, like Malaysia's, to less subsidized
>>markets, like Singapore's.
>>
>>No category of food prices has risen as quickly this winter as
>>so-called edible oils -- with sometimes tragic results. When a
>>Carrefour store in Chongqing, China, announced a limited-time
>>cooking oil promotion in November, a stampede of would-be buyers
>>left 3 people dead and 31 injured.
>>
>>Cooking oil may seem a trifling expense in the West. But in the
>>developing world, cooking oil is an important source of calories
>>and represents one of the biggest cash outlays for poor families,
>>which grow much of their own food but have to buy oil in which to
>>cook it.
>>
>>Few crops illustrate the emerging problems in the global food
>>chain as well as palm oil, a vital commodity in much of the world
>>and particularly Asia. From jungles and street markets in
>>Southeast Asia to food companies in the United States and
>>biodiesel factories in Europe, soaring prices for the oil are
>>drawing environmentalists, energy companies, consumers, indigenous
>>peoples and governments into acrimonious disputes.
>>
>>The oil palm is a stout-trunked tree with a spray of frilly fronds
>>at the top that make it look like an enormous sea anemone. The
>>trees, with their distinctive, star-like patterns of leaves, cover
>>an eighth of the entire land area of Malaysia and even greater
>>acreage in nearby Indonesia.
>>
>>An Efficient Producer
>>
>>The palm is a highly efficient producer of vegetable oil, squeezed
>>from the tree's thick bunches of plum-size bright red fruit. An
>>acre of oil palms yields as much oil as eight acres of soybeans,
>>the main rival for oil palms; rapeseed, used to make canola oil,
>>is a distant third. Among major crops, only sugar cane comes close
>>to rivaling oil palms in calories of human food per acre.
>>
>>Palm oil prices have jumped nearly 70 percent in the last year
>>because supply has grown slowly while demand has soared.
>>
>>Farmers and plantation companies are responding to the higher
>>prices, clearing hundreds of thousands of acres of tropical forest
>>to replant with rows of oil palms. But an oil palm takes eight
>>years to reach full production. A drought last year in Indonesia
>>and flooding in Peninsular Malaysia helped constrain
>>supply. Worldwide palm oil output climbed just 2.7 percent last
>>year, to 42.1 million tons.
>>
>>At the same time, palm oil demand is growing steeply for a variety
>>of reasons around the globe. They include shifting decisions among
>>farmers about what to plant, rising consumer demand in China and
>>India for edible oils, and Western subsidies for biofuel
>>production.
>>
>>American farmers have been planting more corn and less soy because
>>demand for corn-based ethanol has pushed up corn prices. American
>>soybean acreage plunged 19 percent last year, producing a drop in
>>soybean oil output and inventories.
>>
>>Chinese farmers also cut back soybean acreage last year, as urban
>>sprawl covered prime farmland and the Chinese government provided
>>more incentives for grain.
>>
>>Yet people in China are also consuming more oils. China not only
>>was the world's biggest palm oil importer last year, holding
>>steady at 5.2 million tons in the first 11 months of the year, but
>>it also doubled its soybean oil imports to 2.9 million tons,
>>forcing buyers elsewhere to switch to palm oil.
>>
>>Concerns about nutrition used to hurt palm oil sales, but they are
>>now starting to help. The oil was long regarded in the West as
>>unhealthy, but it has become an attractive option to replace the
>>chemically altered fats known as trans fats, which have lately
>>come to be seen as the least healthy of all fats.
>>
>>New York City banned trans fats in frying at food service
>>establishments last summer and will ban them in bakery goods this
>>summer. Across the country, manufacturers are trying to replace
>>trans fats. American palm oil imports nearly doubled in the first
>>11 months of last year, rising by 200,000 tons.
>>
>>"Four years ago, when this whole no-trans issue started, we
>>processed no palm here," said Mark Weyland, a United States
>>product manager for Loders Croklaan, a Dutch company that supplies
>>palm oil. "Now it's our biggest seller."
>>
>>Last year, conversion of palm oil into fuel was a fast-growing
>>source of demand, but in recent weeks, rising prices have thrown
>>that business into turmoil.
>>
>>Here on Malaysia's eastern shore, a series of 45-foot-high green
>>and gray storage tanks connect to a labyrinth of yellow and silver
>>pipes. The gleaming new refinery has the capacity to turn 116,000
>>tons a year of palm oil into 110,000 tons of a fuel called
>>biodiesel, as well as valuable byproducts like glycerin. Mission
>>Biofuels, an Australian company, finished the refinery last month
>>and is working on an even larger factory next door at the base of
>>a jungle hillside.
>>
>>But prices have spiked so much that the company cannot cover all
>>its costs and has idled the finished refinery while looking for a
>>new strategy, such as asking a biodiesel buyer to pay a price
>>linked to palm oil costs, and someday switching from palm oil to
>>jatropha, a roadside weed.
>>
>>"We took a view that palm oil prices were already high; we didn't
>>think they could go even higher, and then they did," said Nathan
>>Mahalingam, the company's managing director.
>>
>>Growth in Biofuels
>>
>>Biofuels accounted for almost half the increase in worldwide
>>demand for vegetable oils last year, and represented 7 percent of
>>total consumption of the oils, according to Oil World, a
>>forecasting service in Hamburg, Germany.
>>
>>The growth of biodiesel, which can be mixed with regular diesel,
>>has been controversial, not only because it competes with food
>>uses of oil but also because of environmental concerns. European
>>conservation groups have been warning that tropical forests are
>>being leveled to make way for oil palm plantations, destroying
>>habitat for orangutans and Sumatran rhinoceroses while also
>>releasing greenhouse gases.
>>
>>The European Union has moved to restrict imports of palm oil grown
>>in unsustainable ways. The measure has incensed the Malaysian palm
>>oil industry, which had plunged into biofuel production in part to
>>satisfy European demand.
>>
>>Another controversy involves the treatment of indigenous peoples
>>whose lands have been seized by oil plantations. This has been a
>>particular issue on Borneo.
>>
>>Anne B. Lasimbang, executive director of the Pacos Trust in the
>>Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo, said that while some
>>indigenous people had benefited from selling palm oil that they
>>grow themselves, many had lost ancestral lands with little to show
>>for it, including lands that used to provide habitats for
>>endangered orangutans.
>>
>>"Finally, some of the pressures internationally have trickled
>>down. Some of the companies are more open to dialogue; they want
>>to talk to communities," said Ms. Lasimbang, a member of the Dusun
>>indigenous group. "On our side, we are still suspicious."
>>
>>Demand Outstrips Supply
>>
>>As the multiple conflicts and economic pressures associated with
>>palm oil play out in the global economy, the bottom line seems to
>>be that the world wants more of the oil than it can get.
>>
>>Even in Malaysia, the center of the global palm oil industry for
>>half a century, spot shortages have cropped up. Recently, as
>>wholesale prices soared, cooking oil refiners complained of
>>inadequate subsidies and cut back production of household oil,
>>sold at low, regulated prices.
>>
>>Street vendors in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, complain that they
>>cannot find enough cooking oil to prepare roti canai, the
>>flatbread that is the national snack. "It's very difficult; it's
>>hard to find," said one vendor who gave only his first name,
>>Palani, after admitting that he was secretly buying cooking oil
>>intended for households instead of paying the much higher price
>>for commercial use.
>>
>>Many of the hardest-hit victims of rising food prices are in the
>>vast slums that surround cities in poorer Asian nations. The Kawle
>>family in Mumbai's sprawling Dharavi slum, a household of nine
>>with just one member working as a laborer for $60 a month, is
>>coping with recent price increases for palm oil.
>>
>>The family has responded by eating fish once a week instead of
>>twice, seldom cooking vegetables and cutting its monthly rice
>>consumption. Next to go will be the weekly smidgen of lamb.
>>
>>"If the prices go up again," said Janaron Kawle, the family
>>patriarch, "we'll cut the mutton to twice a month and use less
>>oil."
>>
>>--
>>
>>Contributing reporting were Andrew Martin in New York, Anand
>>Giridharadas in Kale, India, and Michael Rubenstein in Mumbai.
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
>>SustainableTompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>>http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
>>free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 7
>Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 06:24:54 -0500
>From: "Wendy Skinner" <ws at twcny.rr.com>
>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] SewGreen Opens Studio Space
>To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv"
> <sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
>Message-ID: <033901c85b57$14e7ff50$6b01a8c0 at wendyvaio>
>Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> reply-type=original
>
>Thanks for the vote of confidence! It's a lot of work, but very gratifying.
>Let me know if there's anything I can do for you in the coming months!
>
>Wendy
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "simplylovelife" <yesjake at gmail.com>
>To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv"
><sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
>Cc: <esw-l at cornell.edu>; <sustainableithaca at topica.com>;
><sustainability at icsun.ithaca.edu>
>Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 10:24 AM
>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] SewGreen Opens Studio Space
>
>
>> Great news Wendy! Gotta love the love from kindred establishments; keep
>> the
>> network evolving in a positive direction.
>>
>> Looking forward to making my own knit cap, my grandma would be proud!
>>
>> Warm regards,
>>
>> Jacob
>>
>> On Jan 17, 2008 3:49 PM, Wendy Skinner <ws at twcny.rr.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Sustainable Sewing Program Opens Classroom Space
>>> Grand Opening January 26 Features Reuse Sale
>>>
>>> SewGreen, an Ithaca-based community program that encourages reuse and
>>> sustainability in sewing and needlecrafts, is partnering with Tuff Soul
>>> to
>>> open a studio for classes and workshops. Tuff Soul is a locally owned
>>> retail
>>> clothing store that sells vintage and organic apparel. A portion of the
>>> store, located at 516 West State Street in Ithaca, has been redesigned as
>>> a
>>> permanent activity space for SewGreen events.
>>>
>>> A fabric and fiber reuse sale will be held 11 am to 4 pm, January 26, to
>>> celebrate the grand opening of the SewGreen Studio at Tuff Soul. SewGreen
>>> supports its activities in part with proceeds from sales of donated
>>> fabric,
>>> yarn, needlecraft notions, and used sewing machines. The items are sold
>>> at
>>> very affordable prices to encourage reuse. SewGreen also donates
>>> materials
>>> to other organizations that will reuse them.
>>>
>>> Free gatherings called Sew & Tells will be held in the new studio, and
>>> low-cost community sewing classes will be offered in February. As the
>>> program grows, it will present other hands-on workshops, talks, and
>>> events
>>> to encourage a rediscovery of sewing and handcrafts as sustainable,
>>> self-reliant skills.
>>>
>>> SewGreen is an independent not-for-profit program that receives partial
>>> support from the Tompkins County Solid Waste Division. For more
>>> information
>>> on SewGreen and upcoming events at the new studio, visit
>>> www.sew-green.orgor contact Wendy Skinner, SewGreen Coordinator at
>>> coord at sew-green.org, 607-277-7611.
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
>>> SustainableTompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>>> http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
>>> free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Executive Director
>> Ithaca Festival 2008
>> www.ithacafestival.org
>>
>> Public Arts Commissioner
>> City of Ithaca, NY
>>
>> Marketing Committee Member
>> State Theatre
>> www.stateofithaca.com
>>
>> 315.729.0829
>> _______________________________________________
>> RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
>> SustainableTompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>> http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
>> free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
>>
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 8
>Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 11:52:41 -0500
>From: Anthony Guarneri <anthony at anodynesolutions.com>
>Subject: [SustainableTompkins] ithaca Forward Jump on board event
>To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
>Message-ID:
> <F9A49525-DBE0-422D-8646-8CE7E6400DFE at anodynesolutions.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
>
>
>Are you a young professional looking to contribute your talent,
>resources and ideas to a local organization? If so, don't miss [ithaca
>Forward]'s 3rd annual Jump on Board event! Jump on Board is designed to
>connect individuals with Not-for-Profit organizations that are seeking
>volunteer leaders for their Boards of Directors. Representatives from
>more than 50 Not-for-Profit organizations are expected to be on hand and
>will be available to discuss their board service opportunities with you.
>
>Date: Thursday, February 7th
>
>Time: 5:30-7:30pm
>
>Location: Women's Community Building, 100 W. Seneca St. (downtown
>Ithaca)
>
>Light refreshments will be served
>
>For more details or to register for this event, please visit:
>http://ithacaforward.org/component/option,com_extcalendar/Itemid,42/extm
>ode,view/extid,38/
>
> Hope to see you there!
>
>Jodie VanVleet
>
>Visitors Center Manager
>Ithaca & TC CVB
>www.visitithaca.com <http://www.visitithaca.com/>
>"Ithaca is Gorges"
>607/272-1313
>800/28-ITHACA
>
>
>
>
>
>___
>
>Anthony Guarneri
>President
>Anodyne Solutions, Inc.
>A Mortgage Field Servicer
>www.anodynesolutions.com
>PO Box 603
>Ithaca, NY 14851
>607-229-2562 (c)
>607-697-0300 (w)
>607-330-1173 (f)
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 9
>Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:42:42 -0800 (PST)
>From: Patricia Haines <levelgreeninstitute at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] SewGreen Opens Studio Space
>To: Sustainable Tompkins County listserv
> <sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
>Message-ID: <940314.13800.qm at web62114.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
>Jake:
> I've given Vicky Kaiser the information on the NYS Cultural Tourism Initiative marketing funding program - she can fill your group in. I'd also like to ask you all to consider including Earth Day/Earth Week (Center for Environmental Sustainability) and National Dance Week, which is a program of Level Green that has been organizing a annual week of dance-related events at the end of April for 11 years now.
>
> So good to have last week's time with you - p
>
>simplylovelife <yesjake at gmail.com> wrote:
> Great news Wendy! Gotta love the love from kindred establishments; keep the
>network evolving in a positive direction.
>
>Looking forward to making my own knit cap, my grandma would be proud!
>
>Warm regards,
>
>Jacob
>
>On Jan 17, 2008 3:49 PM, Wendy Skinner wrote:
>
>> Sustainable Sewing Program Opens Classroom Space
>> Grand Opening January 26 Features Reuse Sale
>>
>> SewGreen, an Ithaca-based community program that encourages reuse and
>> sustainability in sewing and needlecrafts, is partnering with Tuff Soul to
>> open a studio for classes and workshops. Tuff Soul is a locally owned retail
>> clothing store that sells vintage and organic apparel. A portion of the
>> store, located at 516 West State Street in Ithaca, has been redesigned as a
>> permanent activity space for SewGreen events.
>>
>> A fabric and fiber reuse sale will be held 11 am to 4 pm, January 26, to
>> celebrate the grand opening of the SewGreen Studio at Tuff Soul. SewGreen
>> supports its activities in part with proceeds from sales of donated fabric,
>> yarn, needlecraft notions, and used sewing machines. The items are sold at
>> very affordable prices to encourage reuse. SewGreen also donates materials
>> to other organizations that will reuse them.
>>
>> Free gatherings called Sew & Tells will be held in the new studio, and
>> low-cost community sewing classes will be offered in February. As the
>> program grows, it will present other hands-on workshops, talks, and events
>> to encourage a rediscovery of sewing and handcrafts as sustainable,
>> self-reliant skills.
>>
>> SewGreen is an independent not-for-profit program that receives partial
>> support from the Tompkins County Solid Waste Division. For more information
>> on SewGreen and upcoming events at the new studio, visit www.sew-green.orgor contact Wendy Skinner, SewGreen Coordinator at
>> coord at sew-green.org, 607-277-7611.
>> _______________________________________________
>> RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
>> SustainableTompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>> http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
>> free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
>>
>
>
>
>--
>Executive Director
>Ithaca Festival 2008
>www.ithacafestival.org
>
>Public Arts Commissioner
>City of Ithaca, NY
>
>Marketing Committee Member
>State Theatre
>www.stateofithaca.com
>
>315.729.0829
>_______________________________________________
>RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for:
>SustainableTompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
>free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
>
>
>
>- fostering sustainable community through collaborative initiatives in hospitality, education and the arts, in the 150 year-old democratic spirit of the Danish Folk School
>
>---------------------------------
>Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 10
>Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:18:52 -0500
>From: Daniel Roth <dnr6 at cornell.edu>
>Subject: [SustainableTompkins] Events: Interspecies Co-Production and
> Other Interventions
>To: Sustainable Tompkins County listserv
> <sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org>
>Message-ID: <47950C3B.5090802 at cornell.edu>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>
>*ISS Contentious Knowledge Project Update
>
>/This Week's Events
>/Thursday, January 24
>/Interspecies Co-Production and Other Interventions
>/*4:30 p.m., Kaufman Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall
>
>Beatriz <http://www.beatrizdacosta.net/> da Costa
><http://www.beatrizdacosta.net/> (Professor of Arts Computation
>Engineering, UC Irvine) will discuss her recent work addressing air
>pollution and environmental justice. As an interdisciplinary artist and
>researcher, da Costa is particularly interested in the role an artist
>might occupy when operating at the intersection of art, science and
>activism. Her /PigeonBlog/ project is a collaborative project between
>homing pigeons, artists, engineers and pigeon fanciers engaged in a
>grassroots scientific data gathering initiative designed to collect and
>distribute information about air quality conditions. A current related
>project entitled /AIR /(a project by Preemptive Media)/, /enables
>interested humans to build and design their own air pollution sensing
>devices and find out more about the air quality condition in their own
>neighborhoods. In 2006, together with biologist Tau-Mu Yi, she attempted
>to design carbon monoxide sensitive yeast cells expressing color upon
>exposure to ambient air elevated carbon monoxide concentrations. da
>Costa will discuss these and other projects, exemplifying her attempts
>to bridge disciplinary discourses and practices in the pursuit for
>social change.
>
>*Friday, January 25
>/A Conversation with Beatriz da Costa
>/*Beatriz da Costa <http://www.beatrizdacosta.net/>, Professor of Arts
>Computation Engineering, UC Irvine
>9:30-11 a.m., 146 Myron Taylor Hall (ISS Conference Room)
>This informal seminar is an opportunity for the public to discuss
>Beatriz da Costa's recent research with her.
>/Pastries will be served.
>
>*Next Week's Events
>*/*January 28, 2008
>/Hybrid Intellectuals: Think Tanks and Public Policy Experts in the
>United States/*/
>/Tom Medvetz <http://www.socialsciences.cornell.edu/0609/Medvetz.html>,
>ISS Postdoctoral Associate
>4:30 p.m., 374 Rockefeller Hall
>/Sponsored by Science and Technology Studies
>
>/*February 1, 2008
>/Graduate Fellow Research Workshop
>/*Six seed grant recipients will present their projects.
>12:00-5:00 p.m., 146 Myron Taylor Hall (ISS Conference Room)
>
>*/Upcoming Events
>/**February 4, 2008
>/Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy
>/*Arjun Makhijani <http://www.ieer.org/vitaarj.html>, President,
>Institute for Energy & Environmental Research, Maryland
>4:30 p.m., Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall
>/Co-sponsored with the Peace Studies Program, Development Sociology,
>Center for the Environment, and the Department of Government./
>
>*February 8, 2008
>/ Textbook Controversies Workshop
><http://www.socialsciences.cornell.edu/0609/Textbook.html>/*10 a.m.-5
>p.m., 423 ILR Conference Center
>/Please reply to this email to RSVP for the complimentary lunch.
>/Public controversies over textbooks, curricular reform, and school
>policies highlight the domain of education as an important arena of
>civil engagement. Education in the social sciences, such as history and
>politics, have provoked important debates about whether education is
>intended to integrate students, encouraging them to conform to
>particular community or national standards, or whether education is
>intended to provide students with an ability to be critical of their
>larger societies. These vociferous debates have pitted concerned
>parents, educators, legislators, and state-appointed officials against
>one another, with each constituency mobilizing particular groups and
>interests. This workshop focuses on episodes of political jockeying over
>what constitutes appropriate knowledge for public education,
>particularly for school-age children. The papers will consider how
>knowledge becomes contentious through these disputes, whose interests
>are served, and how public education might best promote and critique
>civil society.*
>
>*/For the current list of Spring 08 team events, see/
>http://www.socialsciences.cornell.edu/0609/events.html
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Anneliese Truame
>ISS Administrative Coordinator
>Institute for the Social Sciences
>www.socialsciences.cornell.edu
><http://www.socialsciences.cornell.edu/>Cornell University
>150 Myron Taylor Hall
>Ithaca, NY 14853
>607-255-3304
>
>
>
>--
>Daniel Roth
>Sustainability Coordinator
>Office of Environmental Compliance and Sustainability
>Cornell University
>www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu
>
>Youth Action Team Co-Chair
>US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development
>www.uspartnership.org
>
>607-254-8077 (office)
>518-727-6723 (cell)
>607-255-8461 (fax)
>
>395 Pine Tree Road, Suite 230
>Ithaca, NY 14850
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 11
>Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:27:29 -0500
>From: Sandra Repp <sjr37 at cornell.edu>
>Subject: [SustainableTompkins] Tonight! Green Building Seminar: Energy
> Efficiency for Existing Homes
>To: TC-HSC-L at cornell.edu, sustainabletompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>Message-ID:
> <6.2.1.2.2.20080122081633.01dddba8 at postoffice9.mail.cornell.edu>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>Green Building Seminar #1: Energy Efficiency for Existing Homes
>Tuesday, January 22, 7:00-9:00 pm
>First Unitarian Church Annex, Corner of Buffalo and Aurora Streets, Ithaca
>(enter from Buffalo Street)
>Want to save money and help save the earth at the same time by making your
>home as efficient as it can be? This presentation and discussion led by
>Steve Paisley will provide answers to questions about insulation,
>air-tightness, windows/doors, basements, attics, and more. Register at
>607-272-2292. Fee: $5/seminar or $25/series (scholarships available in
>exchange for volunteering). Advance payment appreciated. For more
>information, contact Tania Schusler at 607-272-2292 or email
>tms23 at cornell.edu. Seminar co-presented by Cornell Cooperative Extension of
>Tompkins County and the Ithaca Green Building Alliance.
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>SustainableTompkins mailing list
>SustainableTompkins at lists.mutualaid.org
>http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins
>
>
>End of SustainableTompkins Digest, Vol 23, Issue 10
>***************************************************
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