IAT
NEWSLETTER
April 2006
Happy Earth Day!
*********************************************************************
"IT'S ABOUT TIME WE BEGIN IT,
TO TURN THE WORLD AROUND . . . "
*********************************************************************
ORGANIZATION INFORMATION
*********************************************************************
Co-Founder/Former President - Marcelle Orswell
(notmartha2@yahoo.com)
Co-Founder and Secretary -- Theresa Shea (Tree1A@aol.com)
Co-Founder/Webpage Designer-Sandy Clark (tybrenn@comcast.net)
Co-Presidents -- Ann Schnitz (aerie01@comcast.net)
and
Mary Ledford (eagleshorses@yahoo.com)
Web Site -- -- http://home.comcast.net/~tybrenn/iat/
back to top
*********************************************************************
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
*********************************************************************
Dear Friends,
First of all, thank you to everyone who contributed to this month's newsletter. We can't do this without the help of all of you out there! Special thanks this time go out to Carole Romanowski and Theresa Shea.
Do anything interesting/exciting/moving/special to celebrate Earth Day? We want to know about it. How 'bout writing up a short report for next month's newsletter?
My heart to yours,
Ann
*****
back to top
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
*********************************************************************
JOHN DENVER was on America Online's CENTER STAGE on 8/2/95 This is the text of the question and answer session
Question: What can I do, as only one person to help the environment?
JohnDLive: I suppose that's a question most often asked me by people who would like to make a positive contribution towards a sustainable future and a healthy environment. There are so many things that need to be done that sometimes it seems overwhelming. I try to remind everyone that no one person has to do it all, but if each one of us follows our heart and our own inclinations we will find the small things that we can do and together we will come up with enough to create a sustainable future and a healthy environment.
Question: John, of all the environmental programs you work with and belong to, is there any one in particular that means the most to you?
JohnDLive: No, I think all of them are an opportunity for people out of their own interest and their own inclinations to make a contribution to a better world, better quality of life for all living things. I think it's so important that we always remember that nature, environment, wild places and wild things are a big part of what makes us who and what we are as human beings. To deny this is to deny our own heritage, our own spirit, and our own souls. We must learn to live in a sustainable fashion in a way that promotes the incredible diversity of life in this world rather than decreasing it mindlessly. We must not allow people to destroy those things which are so precious and cannot be replaced.
back to top
*********************************************************************
FUNDRAISER
*********************************************************************
Nothing to report this month
back to top
*********************************************************************
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
*********************************************************************
April 28-30, 2006 - PA Friends of John Denver – Annual Spring Retreat - Bitter Goose Lodge $55 -
Deposit of $20 required. Make checks or money orders payable to Susan Spohn / 628 Hemlock Street
/ Pittsburgh, PA 15202 Info: < spohn@infionline.net >
April 29, 2006 - UK - Friends of John Denver Spring Denver Day 10:00am - 5:30pm Village Hall, Walton on the
Hill, Stafford, Staffordshire ST17 OLD lookingforspacerg@yahoo.com / Send a SASE to Rose Gwilt /29 Oldcroft
Road / Walton on the Hill / Stafford ST17 OLS Tickets: L6 each
May 6, 2006 - San Diego, CA - Phil Christie - San Diego Folk Heritage Concert / Solo Acoustic Show
Venue: TBA http://www.philchristie.com
May 13, 2006 -- Londonderry, NH -- Friends With You: A John Denver Tribute at the Tupelo
Music Hall at 8:00pm. National recording artists Chris Collins, Mark Cormican, Kevin Delmolino
and Paul Swanton will perform many of Denver's tunes as well as some of their own compositions.
Proceeds from this Music With Heart series event will benefit the American Heart Association.
Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased on-line by visiting the Tupelo Music Hall at www.tupelohall.com
or by calling 1-888-688-7356 For additional information contact Richard at 603-654-2396 or www.nhfjd.org
May 20, 2006 - U.K. - Country Roads Walk - A walk is being planned in Northamptonshire. 10:00am Red Kite
Centre, RSPB Barn, Top Lodge in the Rockingham Forest. It is a 4 mile walk.
http://lookingforspace.bravehost.com/index.html rockymountain.high@ntlworld.com or
01485 570911
May 20, 2006 - Covina, CA - Mack Bailey & Chris Nole at the Fret House / 309 N. Citrus Avenue in Covina
8:00pm (626) 339-7020 Tickets $15
May 21, 2006 - Altadena, CA - Mack Bailey & Chris Nole at the Coffee Gallery Backstage 2029 N. Lake 7:00pm
(626) 398-7917 Tickets $20
May 23, 2006 - Tuesday, 8 pm at Monterey Live, 414 Alvarado Street, Monterey, CA 93940: A John Denver Tribute Concert by Mack Bailey and Chris Nole: tickets $15 in advance, $18 at the door. www.montereylive.com Please check out www.mackbailey.com and www.chrisnole.com At the time of the concert, the magic carpet is in total bloom for a mile in Pacific Grove… magenta pink as far as the eye can see.... if you haven’t been to the Monterey area to see this, consider taking a supergreat vacation! Local info: jht@spamarrest.com or 831-373-7780
May 25, 2006 - Thursday, 8 pm at Don Quixotes, 6275 Highway 9, downtown Felton, CA 95018; A John Denver Tribute Concert by Chris Nole and Mack Bailey; tickets, $12 in advance, $14 at the door; for tickets, call 831-603-2294 This place is near where John’s last CD photos were taken: the steam engine and the caboose at Roaring Camp, Felton.
June 17, 2006 - Baltimore, MD * 2nd Bi-Annual "Nightingala" "A Musical Tribute to John Denver
" Concert for John Hopkins School of Nursing. / Peabody Conservatory of Music / 1 Mount
Vernon Place / Peabody Concert Hall 8:00pm / 6:00 - VIP "Great Chefs" Reception in the
Peabody Library *
http://www.musicunites.com/Schedule.htm
July 1, 2006 - UK - Country Roads Walk - 6 mile walk in Haworth Yorkshire. 10:00am Meet at the car park at
the Haworth Church and the Bronte Parsonage Museum. http://lookingforspace.bravehost.com/index.html
rockymountain.high@ntlworld.com or 01485 570911
July 2-9, 2006 Cruise Alaska with Jim Curry / "Alaska & Me Cruise" - Jim Curry will perform
John Denver's Alaska songs and hits in concert with a full band. 800-826-6732 http://www.cruisemust.com
/ sales@cruisemust.com
http://www.jimcurrysmusic.com 7 day cruise $50 deposit needed by January.
July 15-22, 2006 Princess Cruise to Alaska with Christopher Westfall
http://www.newbeginningtour.com It will feature a lot of sing-a-longs, including many favorites sung
by John Denver. 732-282-3108
http://www.chriswestfall.com
August 4, 2006 * Estes Park, CO * Brad and Kathy Fitch and their band will present a tribute to John Denver.
Long's Peak Inn on Colorado Hwy 7, just south of Estes Park. Benefit for the Rocky
Mountain Nature Association www.rmna.org * (970) 586-0108
http://www.cowboybrad.com
August 12, 2006 - Hesston, PA - "Rocky Mountain High in the Alleghenies - 3rd Annual Tribute to
John Denver" 6:00pm - 10:00pm at Raystown Lake in Hesston. Performers will include Christopher
Westfall, Tim Dabbs, Mark Cormican and others. Free, donations accepted. /
spiritwsconnections@yahoo.com;
http://www.geocities.com/spiritwsconnections
Weekends - Every Friday & Saturday - Branson, MO * "John Denver Lives" - Dinner
5:00pm & performance 5:30pm-6:30pm $24.95 Hillbilly Inn & Dinner
Theatre / Hillbilly Inn Motel / 1166 West Highway 76 / Branson, MO 65616 info@hillbillyinn.com *
1-800-535-0739 www.johndenverlives.com
* rodphil549@aol.com
(thanks to Emily Parris and the Rocky Mountain High newsletter for many of these dates; thanks too,
to Karen Tupek for keeping us up to date with Mack Bailey’s schedule, Judy Therrien for
information on Chris Westfall’s engagements, and Deb Sanderson for news of events in California)
REMINDER::: The John Denver Memorial Peace Cloth is available
for all JD-related events. Please email peaceclothinfo@yahoogroups.com for more information,
or see our website at www.johndenverpeacecloth.com
back to top
*********************************************************************
LETTERS & POETRY
*********************************************************************
From Ellen (Ellens104@aol.com):
I sent an email to GM asking why their EV1 is sitting in the American History Museum in Washington DC collecting dust, instead of on the road during the high rise of gas prices -- along with GM workers out of work. It is an electric car. And picked up trash. When in Washington, go the museum and check it out.
Ellen
*****
From Carole Romanowski (whispjesse@ aol.com):
Free-A-Tree 2006
John Denver encouraged us to plant trees through his Plant-It 2000 program. Now the county where I live is encouraging a Free-A-Tree program for vine-covered trees to save those planted.
According to an article in my local newspaper, foreign vines have taken over some wooded areas in the suburbs where I live - Westchester County, NY . They are strangling the trees and shrubs by keeping them from getting any light.
Therefore, our state Dept. of Transportation and the Westchester County Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Conservation created a volunteer program - Free-A-Tree -with cutting sessions this Spring and into next Fall. Spring is the best time to cut the vines (invasives) because they're easy to spot, are dormant, and are tick-free. Volunteers will bring garden shears, scissors, handsaws, work boots and heavy gloves to do the job. Student volunteers must be at least 16 years old and have a parental permission note. If invasives are being cut along a parkway, the Dept. of Transportation will provide vests and hard hats to increase volunteers' visibility for safety.
If you spot invasives (vines) in your area obscuring trees and taking over expanses of wooded areas - either on parkway greenbelts or in parks, call your state Dept. of Transportation or your county Parks Dept. to suggest they set up a volunteer program to "free the trees" - and volunteer your time! - to protect the trees and John Denver's Plant-It 2000 program for the future.
*****
From Theresa Shea (TREE1A@aol.com):
HERE IS A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE I HAD IN MY OWN HOME TOWN.
There were several articles in the local paper about the recycling program in the town. After reading them, I felt I needed to get involved because from what a lot of citizens were saying, I thought they were missing the point. So I went to the Town Council and asked to be put on the committee to study the recycling program in the town, a process that we, as a committee, thought would only take one month. In the end, it took us a year, I am happy to say that I feel a lot was accomplished. I also know that a lot more needs to be done and this is something that needs constant attention and work for success.
To make a whole year short, I can tell you the starting point was that the town wanted the citizens to recycle more to save the town money, for trash costs us all to dispose of. The plan they wanted to adopt was called "pay as you throw", so that if you threw out less trash, you paid less, and the person who threw out more bags paid more. But I said, "Wait -- how is that fair if we have taxation and on the local level, for example, you pay for schools and yet some people have no children in school, but they still have to pay." So trash is trash and everyone has it, but let’s see if we can get everyone to do more.
In the end we did not change the system, for I proved that the town had done nothing to show the citizens how to properly recycle. The way the trash system runs (and in most towns, it is the same) is that you put out your trash in a separate bin from the recyclables. But, what no one really looks at is the fact that two things happen. One, once you put your trash and recycle bin on the curb, you no longer own any of it, the hauler does. And two, the hauler has to have a buyer for the products you put out to recycle. If he does not, guess what? Your recyclables go back into the trash! At this point, I reminded the committee why I had joined, for many did so because they did not want to pay more for their trash. I told them my reasons were that in keeping with the IAT promise to try to remember the things John was involved in and to support those types of projects when you can. And I always think of his words from the Wildlife Concert Interview, “What can I do”, well you can do any little thing -- it does not have to be big, it can just be what you feel is doing your part. Of course, they said "Well, we can’t all be John Denver followers", and I said, "Fine," but it’s a valid point.
So here we were at the crossroads, with only two possibilities? Either -- throw out your trash bags and put out the recycle bin or throw out your trash and recycle more so that you put out one less bag and a little more to recycle? To me, this was not even a basic change -- it was the same system. Oh yes, recycle more but you're still putting it on the curb and for what? To save $25.00 dollars a year?
So they said to me, "Well, what’s a better system?" I said, "Education, for one." So we started a new committee to educate the citizens on how to recycle more efficiently. We also went to local groups like Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, and gave them information to pass on. We also went to all the local schools. We got the schools to recycle and we also had two new schools open and we made the town recycle all the trash -- from the building of it to the new furniture and books coming in, including all the boxes. The whole town hall now recycles and when we have public events going on like a parade, we have recycle trash cans. We also have permanent recycle trash bins at the parks and up in the center of town. I mean think about it, you go to the local 7-11 and buy a drink and then do what with the container, throw it in the trash. No, we want it recycled.
But here is the interesting part about what I think John meant when he said even if its just a little thing you do. I told the committee, "Just because someone puts out a recycle bin, should I give them a star?" Sorry but I don’t feel that does enough. For example, I do not put out my soda or beer cans at the curb, which by the way, remember, the hauler keeps all the money from those -- Yes, he keeps the five cents from every can for himself and he charges the town to take it away!
This is what I do with my soda and beer cans: I either save them for my elderly father to cash in or give them to schools. I was told that they make three to four thousand dollars a year from collecting the soda cans. There are many more examples I can give you but the whole point is that if I am out and about at these places anyway, why not make the extra effort to not only recycle but to help others and make things better for someone? To just put out a trash bag and a recycle bin only helps to clean my house. I want to make sure that my efforts go further and reach more people. Everyone can do this, it is not hard.
And it does not take more of your time. So when we use the word "Conscious", we have to ask ourselves if we really being conscious. Are we aware of all of the choices, and are we making the best ones we can, not just for ourselves but for everyone? In the end, I am one person and if I can help just one other person, then that’s a start.
Bottom line, to recycle is good, but why put money into a hauler’s pocket? Spread your efforts to help others, look around and see what other outlets are out there for others to benefit by recycling.
Good Luck, and the next time you run that recycle bin to the curb, ask yourself if your are doing enough to help save this earth and to help others.
P.S. In the end, the trash program in town stayed the same, although nationwide, towns are moving towards a "pay as you throw" program. We also got a lower rate for the burning of the trash and everyone in town’s bill went down $50.00 a year. Now, that’s not a lot but, before the committee started, the town said they were raising the bills $100.00 a year!
Also, we got the town to open a special escrow account so over a period of time, there will be greater dividends.
*****
From Carole Romanowski (whispjesse@aol.com):
We Are One
She ushers forth from a gentle breeze
Growing with passion too late to rescind
Swaying saplings in nature's dance
She is the wind.
He descends with a tempest's fury
Satiating thirst on the barren plain
Carving rivulets and swelling streams
He is the rain.
They are brushed with a rainbow's hue
Brilliant jewels in sunlit hours
Tossed by the wind, sprinkled with rain
They are the flowers.
It swoops down with an eagle's stance
On rock ledges to alight upon
One with the flowers, the wind and the rain
It is the spirit of John.
back to top
*********************************************************************
CONSCIOUS CHOICES – TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SAVING $, TIME AND THE ENVIRONMENT
*********************************************************************
Top 12 Ways You Can Reduce Global Warming, Save Energy, Money and the Environment
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, here are 12 simple ways to do your part to start making a difference. According to the EPA, a typical U.S. household generates 45,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year.
- Change Five Lights
Replace your five most frequently used lights or the bulbs in them with ones that have earned the Energy Star.
- Heat and Cool Smartly
Change air filters annually, have your system checked annually and using a programmable thermostat are all easy things to do.
- Inefficient Appliances
Get rid of old, energy inefficient appliances and replace with newer energy-efficient models. Wash your laundry in warm or cold water, instead of hot.
- Reduce and Recycle
Reducing your garbage by 25 percent will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,000 pounds per year. Recycle aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic, cardboard and newspapers.
- Don't Give Energy Away
Caulk and weather strip around doors and windows to plug up leaks.
- Take the Green Way
Leave your car at home two days a week, walk, bike, take public transit.
- Buy Products That Have the Energy Star
Over 40 kinds of products carry the Energy Star symbol for energy efficiency - including home electronics, lights, heating and cooling equipment and appliances. Visit the Energy Star web site (www.energystar.gov).
- Slow the Flow
Consider finding a car that gets more miles to the gallon than your current vehicle.
- Make the Right Move
If you spend hours driving to get to work you could save some time and money by moving closer to work.
- Be a Turnoff
Turn off your lights, TV, stereo and computer when not in use.
- Trim Your Load
When driving, keep your car tuned up and tires properly inflated to save on fuel costs as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
- Keep Your Water Heater Cozy
A water heater more than five years old, wrap it in insulation, keep the thermostat no higher than 120 degrees F
back to top
*********************************************************************
WEBSITES OF INTEREST
*********************************************************************
None this month
back to top
*********************************************************************
FOR SALE
*********************************************************************
Peace Cloth Items!
Don't forget to check out www.johndenverpeacecloth.com (Peace Cloth Store) for exclusive John Denver items. All proceeds benefit The John Denver Memorial Peace Cloth. We now have a shopping cart to make your purchases easier!
Also -- if you shop online, please visit our virtual mall: www.johndenverpeacecloth.onecause.com -- every sale at a store in the mall returns a donation to the Cloth. The Peace Cloth now has eScrip -- please see our website for more information.
*****
If you're looking for something special for a special someone, come check out what Wildlife Creations (http://www.geocities.com/wldlifecreation) has to offer!! We have many items relating to John Denver and other items that would make fantastic gifts for people you know and love! Or gift someone who is hard to buy for, something that they will talk about for years! From keychains, snowglobes, t-shirts, potpourri jars and more!!! We're sure you'll find something! And remember, whenever you purchase from Wildlife Creations, you're not only giving a gift to someone you know, but to the Windstar Foundation and also the National Wildlife Federation, in John's memory, for wolf education as all proceeds are given to them. Wildlife Creations is now offering a feature product.
Checkout the website for this month's offering! For more information, you can email us at
wldlifecreation@wildmail.com.
In this healing time...
Thank you for helping to make the world
a better place in which to live,
Diana and Susan
Wildlife Creations
http://www.geocities.com/wldlifecreation
*****
From Sherry Cook <backhomagain@yahoo.com>
*UPDATE*
Hello friends!
I will still donate a portion of my Mary Kaye proceeds to Windstar, so please contact me directly through my e-mail from now on (backhomagain@yahoo.com).
Peace and joy,
Sherry :)
back to top
*********************************************************************
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS
*********************************************************************
From The New York Times:
WITH BIG BOOST FROM SUGAR CANE, BRAZIL IS SATISFYING ITS FUEL NEEDS
By LARRY ROHTER
Published: April 10, 2006
PIRACICABA, Brazil - At the dawn of the automobile age, Henry Ford predicted that ''ethyl alcohol is the fuel of the future.'' With petroleum about $65 a barrel, President Bush has now embraced that view, too. But Brazil is already there.
This country expects to become energy self-sufficient this year, meeting its growing demand for fuel by increasing production from petroleum and ethanol. Already the use of ethanol, derived in Brazil from sugar cane, is so widespread that some gas stations have two sets of pumps, marked A for alcohol and G for gas.
In his State of the Union address in January, Mr. Bush backed financing for ''cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but wood chips and stalks or switch grass'' with the goal of making ethanol competitive in six years.
But Brazil's path has taken 30 years of effort, required several billion dollars in incentives and involved many missteps. While not always easy, it provides clues to the real challenges facing the United States' ambitions.
Brazilian officials and scientists say that, in their country at least, the main barriers to the broader use of ethanol today come from outside. Brazil's ethanol yields nearly eight times as much energy as corn-based options, according to scientific data. Yet heavy import duties on the Brazilian product have limited its entry into the United States and Europe.
Brazilian officials and scientists say sugar cane yields are likely to increase because of recent research.
''Renewable fuel has been a fantastic solution for us,'' Brazil's minister of agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, said in a recent interview in São Paulo, the capital of São Paulo State, which accounts for 60 percent of sugar production in Brazil. ''And it offers a way out of the fossil fuel trap for others as well.''
Here, where Brazil has cultivated sugar cane since the 16th century, green fields of cane, stalks rippling gently in the tropical breeze, stretch to the horizon, producing a crop that is destined to be consumed not just as candy and soft drinks but also in the tanks of millions of cars.
The use of ethanol in Brazil was greatly accelerated in the last three years with the introduction of ''flex fuel'' engines, designed to run on ethanol, gasoline or any mixture of the two. (The gasoline sold in Brazil contains about 25 percent alcohol, a practice that has accelerated Brazil's shift from imported oil.)
But Brazilian officials and business executives say the ethanol industry would develop even faster if the United States did not levy a tax of 54 cents a gallon on all imports of Brazilian cane-based ethanol.
With demand for ethanol soaring in Brazil, sugar producers recognize that it is unrealistic to think of exports to the United States now. But Brazilian leaders complain that Washington's restrictions have inhibited foreign investment, particularly by Americans.
As a result, ethanol development has been led by Brazilian companies with limited capital. But with oil prices soaring, the four international giants that control much of the world's agribusiness -- Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge and Born, Cargill and Louis Dreyfuss -- have recently begun showing interest.
Brazil says those and other outsiders are welcome. Aware that the United States and other industrialized countries are reluctant to trade their longstanding dependence on oil for a new dependence on renewable fuels, government and industry officials say they are willing to share technology with those interested in following Brazil's example.
''We are not interested in becoming the Saudi Arabia of ethanol,'' said Eduardo Carvalho, director of the National Sugarcane Agro-Industry Union, a producer's group. ''It's not our strategy because it doesn't produce results. As a large producer and user, I need to have other big buyers and sellers in the international market if ethanol is to become a commodity, which is our real goal.''
The ethanol boom in Brazil, which took off at the start of the decade after a long slump, is not the first. The government introduced its original ''Pro-Alcohol'' program in 1975, after the first global energy crisis, and by the mid-1980's, more than three quarters of the 800,000 cars made in Brazil each year could run on cane-based ethanol.
But when sugar prices rose sharply in 1989, mill owners stopped making cane available for processing into alcohol, preferring to profit from the hard currency that premium international markets were paying.
Brazilian motorists were left in the lurch, as were the automakers who had retooled their production lines to make alcohol-powered cars. Ethanol fell into discredit, for economic rather than technical reasons.
Consumers' suspicions remained high through the 1990's and were overcome only in 2003, when automakers, beginning with Volkswagen, introduced the ''flex fuel'' motor in Brazil. Those engines gave consumers the autonomy to buy the cheapest fuel, freeing them from any potential shortages in ethanol's supply. Also, ethanol-only engines can be slower to start when cold, a problem the flex fuel owners can bypass.
''Motorists liked the flex-fuel system from the start because it permits them free choice and puts them in control,'' said Vicente Lourenço, technical director at General Motors do Brasil.
Today, less than three years after the technology was introduced, more than 70 percent of the automobiles sold in Brazil, expected to reach 1.1 million this year, have flex fuel engines, which have entered the market generally without price increases.
''The rate at which this technology has been adopted is remarkable, the fastest I have ever seen in the motor sector, faster even than the airbag, automatic transmission or electric windows,'' said Barry Engle, president of Ford do Brasil. ''From the consumer standpoint, it's wonderful, because you get flexibility and you don't have to pay for it.''
Yet the ethanol boom has also brought the prospect of distortions that may not be as easy to resolve. The expansion of sugar production, for example, has come largely at the expense of pasture land, leading to worries that the grazing of cattle, another booming export product, could be shifted to the Amazon, encouraging greater deforestation.
Industry and government officials say such concerns are unwarranted. Sugar cane's expanding frontier is, they argue, an environmental plus, because it is putting largely abandoned or degraded pasture land back into production. And of course, ethanol burns far cleaner that fossil fuels.
Human rights and worker advocacy groups also complain that the boom has led to more hardships for the peasants who cut sugar cane.
''You used to have to cut 4 tons a day, but now they want 8 or 10, and if you can't make the quota, you'll be fired,'' said Silvio Donizetti Palvequeres, president of the farmworkers union in Ribeirão Preto, an important cane area north of here. ''We have to work a lot harder than we did 10 years ago, and the working conditions continue to be tough.''
Producers say that problem will be eliminated in the next decade by greater mechanization. A much more serious long-term worry, they say, is Brazil's lack of infrastructure, particularly its limited and poorly maintained highways.
Ethanol can be made through the fermentation of many natural substances, but sugar cane offers advantages over others, like corn. For each unit of energy expended to turn cane into ethanol, 8.3 times as much energy is created, compared with a maximum of 1.3 times for corn, according to scientists at the Center for Sugarcane Technology here and other Brazilian research institutes.
''There's no reason why we shouldn't be able to improve that ratio to 10 to 1,'' said Suani Teixeira Coelho, director of the National Center for Biomass at the University of São Paulo. ''It's no miracle. Our energy balance is so favorable not just because we have high yields, but also because we don't use any fossil fuels to process the cane, which is not the case with corn.''
Brazilian producers estimate that they have an edge over gasoline as long as oil prices do not drop below $30 a barrel. But they have already embarked on technical improvements that promise to lift yields and cut costs even more.
In the past, the residue left when cane stalks are compressed to squeeze out juice was discarded. Today, Brazilian sugar mills use that residue to generate the electricity to process cane into ethanol, and use other byproducts to fertilize the fields where cane is planted.
Some mills are now producing so much electricity that they sell their excess to the national grid. In addition, Brazilian scientists, with money from São Paulo State, have mapped the sugar cane genome. That opens the prospect of planting genetically modified sugar, if the government allows, that could be made into ethanol even more efficiently.
''There is so much biological potential yet to be developed, including varieties of cane that are resistant to pesticides and pests and even drought,'' said Tadeu Andrade, director of the Center for Sugarcane Technology. ''We've already had several qualitative leaps without that, and we are convinced there is no ceiling on productivity, at least theoretically.''
back to top
*********************************************************************
NEWSLETTER NEWS
*********************************************************************
If you would like to submit articles, news items, stories, poetry, or any other pertinent information to IT'S ABOUT TIME, please e-mail any of the IAT staff. The submission deadline for the next edition is May 19, 2006. Please be sure to include any contact information so that members can e-mail or snail-mail for further details.
*********************************************************************
The contents of this newsletter are entirely at the discretion of the "It's About Time" staff. Contributions, as always, are welcomed, although inclusion is not guaranteed. All contributed material may be subject to editing for content and length.
*********************************************************************
". . . IT'S ABOUT TIME WE START TO LIVE
IT,
THE FAMILY OF MAN,
IT'S ABOUT TIME
AND IT'S ABOUT CHANGES . . .
AND IT'S ABOUT TIME."
**************************
back to top
|