Certain types of biodiesel are less harmful to the ecosystem if reclaimed from used cooking fryer oil. This isn't the same as the majority of corporate interests in biodiesel like ADM, Cargill, ConAgra, Monsanto, etc.. and other biotech corporations looking to gain a monopoly on the alternative fuel markets..
What is the effects of the already existing corporate monopolies on corn, soy and wheat on small farmers both in the U.S. and Mexico? The Cargill/ADM/ConAgra monopoly on land, water and taxpayer money devastates the ecosystem, farmers and crop diversity. Former Mexican farmers are coerced into working for slave wages for the same U.S. based agribusiness corporations that caused their eviction from their maize (corn) farms at home..
"As a 2006 study by Elanor Starmar and Tim Wise at Tufts Univ. revealed, U.S. taxpayer subsidies for corn, soybeans, and other commodity crops basically facilitated the rapid expansion of factory farms and the penetration of foreign markets, all the while lining the pockets of corporate agribusiness. Runaway U.S. corn exports under NAFTA bankrupted millions of Mexican peasants, driving them off their land and across the border, while making an entire nation precariously dependent upon imported food. With the agrofuel boom, though, competing fuel demands for these food crops has led to unprecedented price hikes for consumers worldwide.
Earlier this year the cost of tortillas in Mexico skyrocketed 400% in a matter of weeks, triggering angry protests. U.S. corn farmers received billion in taxpayer subsidies between 1995 and 2004 to make up for below parity market prices, insuring record profits for the grain cartel. Now, the U.S. is spending another billion annually on taxpayer subsidies for agrofuels. ADM and Cargill have already threatened to import sugarcane ethanol from Brazil if taxpayer incentives for domestic corn-based ethanol are not sufficiently “competitive.” So much for the notion that agrofuels will bring about greater energy security.
In a March 13th 2006 press release leading up to their national convention in Chicago, Jim Greenwood, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), proclaimed that a new wave of genetically engineered technologies “will end our national addiction to oil.” Monsanto and Cargill recently joined with Renessen to develop a GMO maize specifically geared towards ethanol production, while Monsanto and Votorantim are hoping to debut GMO sugarcane for the Brazilian ethanol market by 2009. Given the insatiable demand for fossil fuels and synthetic fertilizers to grow such biotech crops, though, Greenwood’s prediction seems a bit farfetched. As Steve Calvin noted in the Jan. 24th, 2003 issue of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, “Ethanol made from large-scale corn cropping is about as close to being a renewable resource as World Wrestling Federation wrestling is to being an Olympic event."
article found @;
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20071104044443377 Who are the only two political candidates speaking out against NAFTA based foreign policy that benefits corporations over small farmers, workers, etc..? The two most ignored, slandered and outcast by their respective parties and the corporate media; Dennis Kucinich (D) and Ron Paul (R). Rudy "9/11 Firehat Hero" Giuliani (R) has all but labeled Ron a pro-terrorist Al-Queda sympathizer after Ron explained 9/11 as a "blowback" from decades of U.S. occupation and interference in Middle Eastern foreign policy. Dennis Kucinich is cast out by the Democrats for being a "militant left winger" who won't badmouth Iran and "UFO theorist" because he asks questions about the infamous top secret U.S. military instalation NTS Area 51 (Nevada Test Site). This Area 51 is within a few miles of a proposed nuclear waste storage facility in a tunnel constructed under Yucca Mt. (against the wishes of the Western Shoshone legitimate landholders, BTW) by Bechtel Nevada corporation, i and any other sane person would be asking questions also..
Someone puts corporate media spin on UFOs and Area 51 issue in greater context;
"At the debate last night, whenever Dennis Kucinich mentioned impeachment, everyone would freeze. Then, as if he had never said the word, the panelists continued with their questions, speaking as if the word were never uttered. It is they who fear the Unconventional! But it is a disservice to the American people not to put all of the issues out on the table. Dennis Kucinich has seen a UFO, 14% of Americans have, but better yet, he IS the UFO – the Unconventional Force of Opposition to politics as usual. While Dennis Kucinich intimidated Russert with his real opposition to their mainstream, half-Republican, half conservative Democrat ideas – the nation continues to see Dead People coming to their resting place from the Outer Space of Iraq. It is time that we talk about that, Mr. Russert!"
blog found @;
http://action.dennis4president.com/blog/view/id_2598/ Seriously, what is the U.S. military doing at NTS Area 51, and when can the public get disclosure? What about the residual radioactive dust from previous nuclear testing and the cancer rates found in downwinders??
"The United States developed and tested nuclear weapons during the Cold War with most of the above ground United States nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site from 1951 to 1963.
As a result of these tests, potentially health-harming radioactive materials were released into the atmosphere and produced radioactive fallout, according to information from the National Cancer Institute.
Iodine-131, which can be carried thousands of miles away from the test areas on the winds, was among the radioactive materials released by the atomic bomb tests.
Because of wind and rainfall patterns, the distribution of fallout varied widely after each test, according to the National Cancer Institute."
article @;
http://www.mohavedownwinders.com/miner2.htm There seems to be some connection between radioactive windborne dust from nuclear explosions and GMO/GE biodiesel exhaust containing Bt toxin in smog and biotech corporation's pollen drift that contaminates non-GMO/GE maize plants. Could it be NAFTA and the U.S. military? Two holy grails of U.S. corporate politics??
That both of the above candidates are oppossed to NAFTA/WTO (favor repeal) is part of the reason they are cast aside by corporate media coverage, maybe both of these truth tellers would be better off standing outside the next debate with a bullhorn like Peter Camejo of the Green party. Two roles in U.S. corporate politics; don't question NAFTA/WTO and don't question militarism. Dennis and Ron have repeatedly broken both of these election rules, and now they are being punished, made to stand outside in the rain with Nader, Camejo, Cobb and other third party "nuts" to proud to compromise their values to corporate influence. There's plenty of jokes circulating abroad about the U.S. promotion of democracy in Iraq when their presidential debates feature third party candidates being arrested outside locked doors and police barricades while Dems and Reps haw and trumpet their corporate drivel to crowds of true believers..
Are all the SF biodiesel vehicles running off of used cooking oil in their recent greasecycling program? Or will a certain percentage of the biodiesel be direct from an Iowa corn patch laced with toxic GMO/GE ingredients? How easy is it for a farmer in Iowa or elsewhere to raise maize (corn) that is non-GMO/GE when there is NO regulation for pollen drift and exposure to GMO/GE pollen on those typically windy Midwestern days?? Health effects of burning GMO/GE corn made biodiesel with Bt (Bacillus thuringensis) toxin as smog in the air? Are the lungs of inner city residents once again the test subjects of this newer technology? Or should some puppies, kittens, monkeys, rats and/or gerbils have their lungs blasted with GMO/GE biodiesel exhaust and record how quickly they suffocate??
recent movie discusses commodity effects of corn @;
http://www.kingcorn.net/ There's also the issue of certain waste disposal corporations claiming monopolies on the used fryer oil throughout several counties. Other counties have contracted out to certain restaurants and reclaim their used fryer oil. One corporation should not be given automatic access to so many fryer oil containers..
A corporation in Chico, North State Rendering, appears to gave gained a foothold on collection of used veggie oil throughout a great deal of the North CA region. Seems if a small group educates the public on how to obtain and make their own biodiesel at home, the corporate feedlots take note..
"The Chico Biodiesel Collective is finding out just how valuable the stuff can be. Last summer, the collective received a ,000 grant from the Butte County Air Quality Management District (BCAQMD) so it could continue educating people about and producing biodiesel, a clean-burning, renewable fuel made from used cooking oil. What the collective didn't initially know was that, by accepting donations of used fry grease from local restaurants, it was not only breaking the law, but also cutting into the profits of another local business.
That business, it turns out, seems to have had enough political clout to make the air quality district take back the grant money, leaving the small but feisty group with an expensive one-year lease on a new facility and a bunch of high-minded plans in limbo.
Collective leader Devin O'Keane said the air quality district rescinded the grant over the demands of North State Rendering, a local company that turns used cooking oil into poultry feed. North State charges restaurants to dispose of their grease, then processes it into feed and other products to sell at a profit.
When the company found out that O'Keane's hippie collective was trying to muscle in on its racket, it hit back, telling BCAQMD Air Quality Officer Jim Wagoner that the collective was operating illegally, lacking the necessary grease-rendering permits from the meat processing branch of the USDA. Wagoner confirmed that his office pulled the grant on the basis of information given to him by a representative of North State Rendering."
article found @;
http://www.newsreview.com/chico/Content?oid=33122 Let's try to reclaim biodiesel from the corporate monopolies who prevent local self sustaining collectives and small farmers from being able to exist. In some ways this also returns to land use issues and obtaining a moratorium on corporate GMO/GE biotech pollen from being able to contaminate the original maize (corn) landraces that were once grown in harmony with the ecosystem..
This is not to say i'm promoting petroleum, what i would offer is local control of recycled fryer oil as biodiesel, additional public transit, and improved bicycle access on regional roads, bike paths, etc.., rezoning for pedestrian friendly neighborhoods, etc..
Try vertical windmilles, rooftop versions compatible with rooftop solar cells, reintroduce the plug-in electric car (banned by auto/petrol consortium) and encourage rewards from contributing electric to the grid by reducing energy waste/loss..
PG&E monopoly needs to be broken up into regional local collectives, following the struggle at Hunter's Point w/ PG&E's decades of pollution, does anyone really trust them as neighbors anymore??