[getsmart-l] Biofuel source

[Gloria Boxen]

http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/347040

An environmental secret                  TheStar.com - comment - An environmental secret             
                                                                                                                                                                               March 18, 2008      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Re:Harvest dreams
March 16
Whatever you do, don't let the public know about hemp. If farmers worldwide grew hemp instead of corn, we wouldn't be in this mess, and if the public ever found out that the looming food/fuel shortage was unnecessary and planned, they might revolt.


You see, hemp produces more ethanol per acre than corn, and does so at a lower cost and with less damage to the soil; one acre of hemp can produce up to 1,000 gallons of methanol in just four months. In warmer climates, than could mean 3,000 gallons per acre, per year. If the U.S. were to sow just 10 per cent of its current farmland as hemp, for example, it wouldn't need to buy any foreign oil. Think about that.


The hemp tops go to food, and the stalks go for fuel, fibre and building materials, so it is like growing two crops in one field. Hemp will even grow on damaged, exhausted or marginal soil, so we don't need to use our prime farmland to grow car fuel. We could even reclaim thousands of acres of unused and abandoned land, and create jobs.


Hemp doesn't need the chemical fertilizers and pesticides that other crops need, which saves fuel and lowers soil runoff pollution. Hemp fuel burns clean, which would lower air pollution and reduce associated health and environmental issues. Hemp also refreshes the soil, so putting it into rotation with other crops will actually heal – not deplete – the soil.


So why do we keep using corn for fuel when hemp is cheaper, better, healthier and cleaner? Because governments don't want to "send the wrong message to youth" about marijuana.


Russell Barth, Nepean, Ont.



  
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