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56 comments on How do these people sleep at night?

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Boof on December 8, 2005 - 7:35am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
I think Monbiot is overreacting. There are laws against inappropriate land use, admittedly not implemented too often by conservative governments. Here are several ways that biofuels can reduce conflict with other land uses
  1. use non-food biomass such as cellulosic ethanol and the Choren diesel process
  2. eat less meat and more vegetable protein
  3. genetically engineer biofuel crops that can thrive on land not suited to farming or parks
  4. substitute renewable electricity in transport such as plugin hybrids, electric trains, trams/trolleys  and hydrogen via hydrolysis
  5. produce more backyard food to enable broadacre fuel crop farming
  6. assess carbon tax on the before and after net emissions
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davidsmi on December 8, 2005 - 12:21pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
All fine suggestions, they just miss one important point - the production of biofuels will not follow your plan, but will be governed by "the market." Right now that means giant plantations of palm oil in SE Asia and sugarcane in Brazil, most of which is being planted at the expense of rainforest and productive food land.

Your suggestions all require some sort of planning and forethought, not really the strength of our market based economy.

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step back on December 8, 2005 - 12:29pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
"The Market" knows all, sees all, and does right by all.

(just kidding.)

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Dan Ur on December 9, 2005 - 9:04am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Meat that is fed by feed lots and other corn or grain fed systems.

But there are better methods of feeding animals for human consumsion.  The problem is that we can't eat as much meat as we are doing so today.  We have to eat more sustanible meat, and that means less.

But to totally take meat out of our diet is a no go, for the masses of people.

Reducing the masses of people on the plant might be a good thing, how to go about that is the issue, we need 10% fewer people in the next decade, not 5% more.

Death always seems to lurk around the corners or our discussions.

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Dan Ur on December 9, 2005 - 9:08am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
The best human protein is Whey that comes from milk.  we could make all the beef cattle milk cows and do away with the hamburger joints of the world, alone with the KFC's of the world, that leaves us most fish, which we have depleted to such a level that we might as well just deplete our own herd to make up the shortfall.  

 Oh gloomy day,  the human population falls by 10%.  

 Sorry, but as peak oil hits, we also hit peak food, no matter what we do.

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56 comments on How do these people sleep at night?

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