Blame It on the Bossa Nova?
If so, maybe we'd better get our hips into it. Brazil breaks its dependence on foreign energy sources:
Three decades after the first oil shock rocked its economy, Brazil has nearly shaken its dependence on foreign oil. More vulnerable than even the United States when the 1973 Middle East oil embargo sent gas prices soaring, Brazil vowed to kick its import habit. Now the country that once relied on outsiders to supply 80% of its crude is projected to be self-sufficient within a few years.
Developing its own oil reserves was crucial to Brazil's long-term strategy. Its domestic petroleum production has increased sevenfold since 1980. But the Western Hemisphere's second-largest economy also has embraced renewable energy with a vengeance.
Today about 40% of all the fuel that Brazilians pump into their vehicles is ethanol, known here as alcohol, compared with about 3% in the United States. No other nation is using ethanol on such a vast scale. The change wasn't easy or cheap. But 30 years later, Brazil is reaping the return on its investment in energy security while the U.S. writes checks for $50-a-barrel foreign oil.
"Brazil showed it can be done, but it takes commitment and leadership," said Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. In the U.S. "we're paying the highest prices at the pump since 1981, and we are sending over $100 billion overseas a year to import oil instead of keeping that money in the United States…. Clearly Brazil has something to teach us."
Ya think?
Here's the deal. We're at war, in no small part--okay, completely--because our oil somehow ended up under a bunch of other people's land. Were we to make as concerted a push as the Brazilians we could be self-sufficient in energy, and in a lot less time than thirty years. Here's another bit of the story that for me says it all:
"If we would have spent one-hundredth of the money that we have spent to send tanks around the world to protect our oil supplies … we would already be using cellulosic ethanol," said Michael Bryan, chief executive of BBI International, a Colorado-based bio-fuels consulting company.
Anything less than energy independence is un-American. The more dependent we are on foreign sources for anything let alone energy, the more vulnerable we are. Public policy that promotes a vulnerable America for the financial benefit of certain industries is just this side of treason. Read this article. And call your congress members.
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That is very interesting.
I know nothing about the subject but this article made for some very clear information, to me.
I do think the "transistion" period for us Americans would be the worst part. Getting people to "jump on the bandwagon" and committ to change. We are spoiled in that manner. The majority just want things to happen instead of committing to the long haul and seeing it through. The first bump and we would hear cries of failure instead of haning on and waiting it out.
Very interesting information. I am passing it on to several people I know.
We MUST make some changes soon or I do fear for my kids and grandkids. What will they see in regards to the U.S. being so dependant for such necessary things.
Jana
Look how fast hybrids have caught on
They can' t keep them in stock! They can't build them fast enough! And who had to sacrifice for that?
What finally made the difference in Brazil, according to this piece, is the development of "flexible" cars that could take either gasoline or ethanol as fuel. That leaves the choice up to the individual, and with gas so expensive, Brazilians are being smart shoppers and choosing ethanol.
Jimmy Carter, as maligned as a president as he so often is, tried to start us down this path in the '70s. We ignored him. Where would we be if we hadn't? Probably not in Iraq.
Lynn Siprelle, Editor
Yes, the hybrid is a good start.
I just hope people keep on buying them and really see that they are making a difference. DH and I have discussed our new car (not in the near future mind you) but it being a hybrid.
Not that I am comparing recycling to this but this is one example that comes to mind. We have recycling pick up. All you have to do is put the stuff in a neat little bin and set it on the curb. Do you know how many people on my street of say 30 houses I see recycle? THREE! Me and 2 other neighbors. Now how frustrating is that!?! This is helping us save some of our planet and you people are to lazy to put your dang newspaper and milk jug in the recycling bin!
I am just skeptical that people, by choice, will do anything! Unless they are forced to see the real danger of being dependent on oil in some far off land I don't think MOST, not all but, MOST people really give it a thought. And how some have not already seen the danger is beyond me but Brazil had some force to say this is what we are doing so do it. So the people did and now 30 years later they are seeing results. I just fear that we are such an instant gratification society we won't hang on for the long haul. Or when one flaw is shown we will ditch the whole effort.
Don't get me wrong. I love the grand ole U.S. of A. and I am proud to live here but I do get frustrated with the lack of resposibility we show at times.
As for Jimmy Carter, the man is a good soul. President material, maybe not, but he is made far more good things happen after being president than most. He has truly made an impact in the world in many ways.
Jana
Pocketbook
I'm surprised your block doesn't recycle. For us, and for our neighbors, it's a pocketbook issue. Recycling pickup is free; garbage pickup isn't. So the more you put in the bins the less you pay for pickup. My parents are rabid about it; they recycle EVERYTHING they can, and they're not the greenest folk in the world. It's a pocketbook issue.
Similarly, alternative energy will catch on when it becomes clearly cheaper. Gas is never going to be cheap and plentiful again. It just isn't. Hybrids are a bit more expensive on the front end but save a lot at the pump, and so they'll become more and more popular, especially since you don't have to DO anything. If alternative energy like ethanol could get a public boost (ie a little government funding) it would be preferable for more than just green reasons sooner than you'd think. My god, we're the most advanced country on earth. If BRAZIL can do it, you'd think we could.
I'm not talking about anything "feel-good" here. No tree-hugging. I'm talking about the survival of the country. No country is a leader that imports its most critical need, whether it's food, raw materials or energy. To not move on this is un-American. To keep us dependent on other countries is un-American. To sacrifice our soldier's lives, now and definitely in the future as this becomes more and more of a problem is un-American. To send billions of dollars to overseas oil producers (who turn around and use that money against us I might add) when we could be developing a homegrown solution and making that money ourselves--that's DEEPLY un-American!
Lynn Siprelle, Editor
Maybe that is the incentive!
We pay $12 a month on our water bill for garbage and recycling. That doesn't change according to what you put out. We can put out 12 cans and they will empty 12 cans. I wish it were more of an incentive to recycle and cut the garbage down. DH goes mad about how much I recycle. I am always pulling stuff out of the garbage and saying "we can recycle this" or "the kids can use this for art. DRIVES him mad with a smile!
I do hope the alternative energy catches on with the public AND the government. It is a very important step for us in the ways of the future. It is frustrating how some people, IE politicians, can not think it is something we need to act on NOW! NOW people! If it took 30 yrs for Brazil we need to get a move on with the program!
Jana
wow!
We're allowed a certain can size every week. Everything over that we have to pay extra. So every bit we can put in the recycling means we save money, because otherwise we're putting out more than a single can a week. How many of you get unlimited garbage?! That's wacky! Where does the municipality put it?!
Lynn Siprelle, Editor
Oh we have a nice big garbage dump just outside the county!
Makes for a nice smell if you live out that way! Makes me sick everytime I pass it, thinking how much COULD have been recycled!
Jana
We also have set days were you can place heavy trash out,
freezers or large appliances and then we have a brush day for large limbs and such!
Jana
ethanol
I always thought the issue with ethanol was that it wasn't efficient enough to produce (requiring petroleum products to produce, etc.). Brazil solved that problem?
Ethanol on the way
I confess I am not knowledgeable about the production of ethanol, but this being a big ag state it is sold and promoted here. In fact I have a lot of hope because it is not a partisan issue at all -- our way-conservative/personally-close-to-Bush governor has made ethanol a big issue because it is really good for our state, and I imagine it would be the same across the midwest. So I think there is hope. (How does our state get a way conservative governor and the most liberal senators? Might as well ask how we got the professional wrestler.
)
Regarding trash, we have the same deal as Lynn, or similar. Trash is contracted privately, which is insane. So technically every house on the block could have a different trash collector. And you pay by the size of the bin you use. You pay extra for anything that doesn't fit. Recycling is free, a city or county service. And *everyone* does it. Of course, we've had free recycling for as long as I can remember, so maybe it took a while to catch on. I know it existed in 88, for example, which is when I moved to MN the first time. I am almost physically unable to throw away recyclables. When we travel somewhere with no recycling, I seem to leave bottles and cans lying around rather than tossing!
Shaun
Trash pickup
We have several different trash services here, too, each with similar but slightly different rules, sizes, and prices. (We live in an unincorporated area of our county.) The one my neighbor uses charges $15 a month, but I'd rather save the money and take my trash to the container site myself--it's only about 10 minutes up the road, if that, and I can compost most of the nastiest kitchen waste and not have to haul it. I'm not sure if the trash haulers collect recyclables separately--they may not. At the container site they recycle newspaper, glass, cans, and a couple of kinds of plastic, so I just take it all up there and drop it in the appropriate bins.
I thought ethanol was partly made from corn, which was why corn-producing states liked it? I think I've also read something about someone who was running a car on the fat from fast food deep-fat fryers (and the exhaust smelled like french fries!) Don't know any particulars on either ethanol or the other, though.
Ethenol is made out of corn,
Ethenol is made out of corn, milo, and even wheat. Just think of what you need to make moonshine.
We are actually thinking of diversifying a little and are planning on planting about 600 or so acres of milo. We planted 1,000 acres of haygrazer hay last year and had a kick-butt crop. Unfortunately, the market bottomed out, what we could sell we got half of what it was worth. Which is why we want to try a little bit of something different. Thing is, milo is not a big cash crop. It's a cash flow crop, which means it will keep our heads above water, but won't do much else, like pay off some major bills. But, that is better than the 3,000 tons of hay that just sits there in the field without a buyer.
Milo can be a dryland crop. Meaning if you can get enough rainfall, you don't need irrigation. Around here, corn MUST have irrigation, and for us, it's too expensive to pump out that much water. We have no problem with wheat crop, though, with irrigation (and some folks without). But we (meaning us, not everyone around here) raise our wheat for hay, not grain.
We also have an ethenol plant in town. When I was living in the dorms and the breeze was from the southwest, the town smelled like stale beer. LOL! Well, if it blew from the southeast, it smelled like cow manure from some of the local dairies. LOL! And from the north, smelled like roasting peanuts from the local peanut plant.
There, I found a way to contribute to this thread! LOL!
ooh, yeah, ethanol plants
I lived near one in Michigan. STINKY. No worse than oil refineries though.
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