PLANET IN PERIL

Manitoba Wildlands newsletter - 07 August 09 New research exposes the health risks of wind energy turbines including heart disease, vertigo, panic attacks, migraines, increased heart rate and sleep deprivation. ======== COMMENT: Hi Larry While browsing your page and links I noticed an article about Wind Turbine Syndrome, and Dr. Nina Pierpont. There seems to be many doctors who disagree with Pierpont, and the basis for her arguments. Anyhow, I live in Prince Edward County, Ontario, which seems to be the Ontaro hub of NIMBYism with regard to wind energy development, here. Many in our local group helped groom the final version of our position on this issue. http://www.countysustainability.ca/WindTruth.htm ) Thought you might be interested. That is quite an extensive web page you run! Well done. Don Chisholm

by George Monbiot, the Guardian, UK The US Environmental Protection Agency wants to boost the ethanol blend in fuels in a misguided bid to cut emissions. Click headline for more. Also read "Bursting the Ethanol Bubble" here. A field of wheat, a main feedstock for ethanol in Canada.Photo by L.P.

July 15, 2009 - By Jay Whetter - FarmForum.ca Canadian Bioenergy is working with Archer Daniels Midland to integrate a biodiesel production plant in with ADM’s canola crush plant at Lloydminster, Alta. Click headline for more. ================= Editors' note - And the beat goes on. It matters not that, at least this "current generation" of fuels made from food, fails society in so many ways: Not to mention its tendency to make the world food crisis even worse. As long as giant corporations like ADM can continue to profit mightily from government grants and government "mandates" which require us to buy their products whether we like it or not, that seems to be all that matters. Read related article here. =============

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2009) — Global yields of most biofuels crops, including corn, rapeseed and wheat, have been overestimated by 100 to 150 percent or more, suggesting many countries need to reset their expectations of agricultural biofuels to a more realistic level. Read more here>> (Photos by l.p.)

Check it out! (Credit: LM Glasfiber)

Reviewing biofuel policies and subsidies; Annual report weighs opportunities and risks of biofuels 7 October 2008, Rome - Biofuel policies and subsidies should be urgently reviewed in order to preserve the goal of world food security, protect poor farmers, promote broad-based rural development and ensure environmental sustainability, FAO said today in a new edition of its annual flagship publication The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2008. (also see post directly below and my article "Bursting the Ethanol Bubble" in older posts.) L.P .

A secret report by the World Bank finds biofuels are contributing way more to the current world food crisis than has ever been suggested before! Read more..... (Also see my article, "Bursting the Ethanol Bubble" by scrolling way down to older posts.) L.P.

WINNIPEG. Apr.29th - '08 - The awful consequences of the biofuel craze now sweeping the planet, were starkly brought to light at a public forum at the University of Winnipeg this evening. (Car/Combine rendering courtesy of  the Government of Manitoba।)   Called "Crops, Cars and Climate Crisis," the forum featured four notable experts on the topic. They all referred to the dramatic and disastrous food price increases that are devastating the world's poor and which are being aggravated by the diversion of so much food into vehicles. One of the guest speakers was Javiera Rulli, of "Base Investigaciones" in Paraguay. She told of an assault taking place on the environment, human health and human rights of citizens of that South American country। It is all due to the transformation of the small nation to monoculture crops for the production of "biofuels" or "agrofuels" to power vehicles, rather than to feed people, she sai

The case against food-based fuel  by Larry Powell Many of us have met interesting people on airplanes. I'm no exception. In 1997, I was returning from Brazil, where, as a freelance reporter, I had covered an environmental conference. Sitting next to me on the flight was Elizabeth May (above), now leader of the federal Green Party . She had been at the same conference, representing the Sierra Club of Canada. Even then, her environmental credentials were impressive As we chatted, I proudly told her how I always burned ethanol gasoline in my car, because it was better for the planet. I felt rather deflated when she informed me that it takes more energy to produce a liter of ethanol (at least the North American kind) than you save when you burn it! Much of the literature I have since read, supports Ms. May's position. David Pimentel(r.). "The most persistent, articulate and scathing critic of the biofuels industry." (columnist) Pimentel, of Cornell Univer