Monday, March 24, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
A rant on bio-fuels
One of the things that has worried me for sometime is the whole concept of “biofuels”. In its most simple form it means turning organic materials, such as sugar cane or wheat, into fuels such as ethanol or bio-diesel.
Or even more simply, you are turning food into petrol.
What a horrific idea. We have close to a billion people who don’t have enough food to eat, and “filling the tank of an SUV with ethanol requires enough corn to feed a person for a year”.
No wonder the price of food, even in SA, is going through the roof!
What is happening here is that you are linking the price of oil with the price of food, or another way to look at it is that you are linking the value of agricultural land with that of energy.
And if you make energy / fuel with your agricultural land, you will make more money. Finish and klaar. So then, why grow food for people? Much better to grow food for fuel. And even in SA, this is being promoted by the bio-fuels strategy.
This is a major problem, for as we run out of oil, there will be a strong move to bio-fuels, which will drive up the food price. UNLESS we can move away from energy based on fossil fuels and biofuels from agricultural land.
So think of this next time you fill your car. Because you are using that petrol, someone elsewhere is making bio-fuel to replace it, and some else will starve.
Or even more simply, you are turning food into petrol.
What a horrific idea. We have close to a billion people who don’t have enough food to eat, and “filling the tank of an SUV with ethanol requires enough corn to feed a person for a year”.
No wonder the price of food, even in SA, is going through the roof!
What is happening here is that you are linking the price of oil with the price of food, or another way to look at it is that you are linking the value of agricultural land with that of energy.
And if you make energy / fuel with your agricultural land, you will make more money. Finish and klaar. So then, why grow food for people? Much better to grow food for fuel. And even in SA, this is being promoted by the bio-fuels strategy.
This is a major problem, for as we run out of oil, there will be a strong move to bio-fuels, which will drive up the food price. UNLESS we can move away from energy based on fossil fuels and biofuels from agricultural land.
So think of this next time you fill your car. Because you are using that petrol, someone elsewhere is making bio-fuel to replace it, and some else will starve.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Plug into Sustainability
Last week I was plugged into the Matrix.
Or that is what the experience felt like. I was in a place absolutely focused on thinking about HOW we look after this planet, how we help poorer countries to develop without destroying our ecosystems completely, how to get developed countries to cut back before they REALLY destroy our environment!? What do we do when OIL begins to run out (and it has, in all likelihood, begun to run out)? How do we deal with cities that may soon have 50% of the worlds population, consume 80% of our resources, and allow millions (if not billions) to live in most awful slums?
The place I was at last week was the Sustainability Institute, just near Spier. I started my MPhil in "Renewable and Sustainable Energy", with the 1st module - Sustainable Development. It was such an information download and challenge to our conventional resource usage paradigm that I felt like I was in another world. A world where my eyes were (further) opened to the damage we, as humankind, are doing to the planet, and where I could imagine that maybe, just maybe, if we did what God mandated us to do, to care for this planet, that we might not destroy ourselves this century.
Got me thinking about my own input and output patterns when it comes to resource usage and waste. It is not often that I have stopped to think about WHERE all the stuff that goes into my life each day comes from. My "ecological footprint" (go do this assessment!) is probably around 17 hectares - the amount of land required to support all the STUFF I consume (average in SA is around 1.7). If everyone lived like me, we would need a whole lot more Earths - NINE of them! And all the garbage that comes out of my life? Where does that all go? What is the environmental cost? More than I would like to imagine.
Have you ever stopped to think about it?
The way we price environmental resources are all skew. Their intrinsic value as a God created resource is left out. So the cost of so many things - electricity, fuel, waste disposal, is way too CHEAP! It needs to be priced properly. And we need to cut back. And we need to start doing it soon, else all of a sudden, as resources run out (such as oil), supply and demand will cause those resources to become so expensive so fast that we might not be able to adapt fast enough.
But there is hope...
One of the most delightful things of last week was the Group Project that I was involved in. Getting COMPLETELY out my comfort zone, I decided to join the Early Childhood Development group, where we did a study of how one can do interventions into young childrens lives that help them develop in a sustainable way. It was amazing to see how, in a rural community that suffers from a legacy of abuse, both physical and with alcohol, how positive interventions CAN make a difference in the life of a child. It only takes a few to make a big difference.
If you would like to see the videos or photos I took, let me know!
Today was another change - I started my new job at at Alt-e Technologies! How exciting to be given an opportunity to be involved in practically applying Renewable Energy technology solutions in our city of Cape Town. Watch this space, and send me all your leads if you know anyone wanting to improve their energy footprint!
And if you could like to do something, then, at the very least, install a solar water heater, and start recycling your waste!
Or if you are VERY brave, unplug completely - ditch the car and find another way.
Or that is what the experience felt like. I was in a place absolutely focused on thinking about HOW we look after this planet, how we help poorer countries to develop without destroying our ecosystems completely, how to get developed countries to cut back before they REALLY destroy our environment!? What do we do when OIL begins to run out (and it has, in all likelihood, begun to run out)? How do we deal with cities that may soon have 50% of the worlds population, consume 80% of our resources, and allow millions (if not billions) to live in most awful slums?
The place I was at last week was the Sustainability Institute, just near Spier. I started my MPhil in "Renewable and Sustainable Energy", with the 1st module - Sustainable Development. It was such an information download and challenge to our conventional resource usage paradigm that I felt like I was in another world. A world where my eyes were (further) opened to the damage we, as humankind, are doing to the planet, and where I could imagine that maybe, just maybe, if we did what God mandated us to do, to care for this planet, that we might not destroy ourselves this century.
Got me thinking about my own input and output patterns when it comes to resource usage and waste. It is not often that I have stopped to think about WHERE all the stuff that goes into my life each day comes from. My "ecological footprint" (go do this assessment!) is probably around 17 hectares - the amount of land required to support all the STUFF I consume (average in SA is around 1.7). If everyone lived like me, we would need a whole lot more Earths - NINE of them! And all the garbage that comes out of my life? Where does that all go? What is the environmental cost? More than I would like to imagine.
Have you ever stopped to think about it?
The way we price environmental resources are all skew. Their intrinsic value as a God created resource is left out. So the cost of so many things - electricity, fuel, waste disposal, is way too CHEAP! It needs to be priced properly. And we need to cut back. And we need to start doing it soon, else all of a sudden, as resources run out (such as oil), supply and demand will cause those resources to become so expensive so fast that we might not be able to adapt fast enough.
But there is hope...
One of the most delightful things of last week was the Group Project that I was involved in. Getting COMPLETELY out my comfort zone, I decided to join the Early Childhood Development group, where we did a study of how one can do interventions into young childrens lives that help them develop in a sustainable way. It was amazing to see how, in a rural community that suffers from a legacy of abuse, both physical and with alcohol, how positive interventions CAN make a difference in the life of a child. It only takes a few to make a big difference.
If you would like to see the videos or photos I took, let me know!
Today was another change - I started my new job at at Alt-e Technologies! How exciting to be given an opportunity to be involved in practically applying Renewable Energy technology solutions in our city of Cape Town. Watch this space, and send me all your leads if you know anyone wanting to improve their energy footprint!
And if you could like to do something, then, at the very least, install a solar water heater, and start recycling your waste!
Or if you are VERY brave, unplug completely - ditch the car and find another way.
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