Home-Made BioFuels (Formerly Known as Moonshine)-Are we entering a new age of rum running?

Make Fuel at Home With Portable DIY Refinery

Wired.com has posted an article by Chuck Squatriglia about a company offering what amounts to homemade stills to produce ethanol. From the article:

 

People were making ethanol at home long before there were cars. They called it moonshine. With gas prices going through the roof and everyone worried about global warming, a California company is betting people will jump at the chance to use the same technology to turn sugar into fuel for less than a buck a gallon.

E-Fuel Corporation has unveiled its EFuel 100 MicroFueler, a device about the size of a stacking washer-dryer that uses sugar, yeast and water to make 100 percent ethanol at the push of a button.

Maybe because we like to daydream here at Organicanews, but we are envisioning a day when the “war on drugs” and the “war on terror” takes a backseat to a new war on a growing menace–a “war on bootleg ethanol”. Think it can’t happen? I don’t know. Wait until it grows to the point where it can challenge the existing military-industrial-energy complex, and then we’ll see. It might not get that far–consider how quickly the recording industry responded to online downloads. But we at Organicanews are imagining a day when the BATF is kicking in doors and taking axes to casks of  . . . illegally produced fuel. Are we paranoid? Only on lazy Friday afternoons: I’ll take 20 gallons of white lightning, and top of my flask while you’re at it.

Read the whole article at http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/05/make-your-own-e.html

 

Tesco’s DNA Tracking Vendor Commences U.S. Operations: Another Example of Objective Testing of Product Characteristics, Including Organic Status

USA Today is reporting the commencement and expansion of U.S. Operations for Ireland based IdentiGEN Ltd., who offers DNA testing of meat products to ensure compliance with contract specs. The company also claims to be able to verify the organic status of meats such as beef, although it is unclear from the article how DNA testing can verify that meat was raised in an organic environment. DNA tests nature, and organics is nurture, or so it seems to us at Organicanews. What are we missing? More details on this point would be helpful. But while the question of how DNA testing can verify organics is murky, one thing remains clear: the strong and persistent attempt to objectively verify organic status and other label claims. Purity vs. process. The tension inherent in consumer expectations of purity in product and the current regulatory regime for organics which focuses on purity in process will continue to widen. Will this cause a slow or wholesale migration in the regulation towards consumer expectations or will this ultimately lead to a catastrophic loss in consumer confidence in organics? We believe that everyone needs to be doing a better job of talking about the entire spectrum of benefits that organics bring ( such as carbon sequestration, carbon reductions, etc.), rather than focusing narrowly on a concept of product purity. More on that later, in the meantime, read the article by Associated Press Reporter Brian Charlton online at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/genetics/2008-05-07-dna-traceable-meat_N.htm

 

 

“Veganism – the new front in the battle to cut carbon?”

Melissa Hancock at www.realbusiness.co.uk quotes Alex Bourkes, founder of Vegetarian Guides, as laying out the case succinctly: “Burning fuel to produce fertiliser to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it – and clearing vegetation for grazing – produces nine per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide. So there is a strong environmental argument in favour of veganism.” Read the entire article at:  http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/news/carbon-footprint/5264336/veganism-the-new-front-in-the-battle-to-cut-carbon.thtml

Aurora Organic Dairy provides $500K Grant to Colorado State University to Research, Educate, and Promote Organic Dairy Operations in the State of Colorado

The innovative program is intended to increase the number of organic dairy operations in Colorado, improve practices, and teach students through on-farm internships about this critical alternative model of dairy farming.  The release quotes Aurora Chairman and one of the founders of Horizon and Wild Oats, Mark Retzloff on the need for research and education in organic dairy operations:

“Certainly there’s a lot of information we’d like to have more in-depth,” said Aurora chairman Mark Retzloff, one of the founders of Horizon Organic Dairy and Wild Oats. “The research is important to us.”

Retzloff said he believes Colorado’s climate is well suited to increase organic farming, and the best way to increase the number of farms is to “grow” new farmers.

He said the dairy’s partnership with CSU will help expose future farmers to new techniques and options that the historically tradition-bound farm industry has been slow to adopt.

“That’s why it’s exciting working with these younger people who are open-minded to new ways of doing things, new technology,” Retzloff said. “Organic productions can really flourish where we are. That’s exciting.”

 

Colorado State University describes the grant and its genesis on their website at http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/CSUZONE01/80509001/1002/CUSTOMERSERVICE02.

 

Bush set to veto $300 billion farm bill

San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carolyn Lochhead is reporting that Bush administration officials have stated that the President, citing budget chicanery within the bill, designed to hide an increase in spending and increased subsidies for farmers, has indicated in no uncertain terms that he intends to veto the bill.

 

In reality, the bill, as is usually the case, was a Frankenstein monster of conflicting priorities. Provisions designed to encourage pesticide use were at odds with a commitment to promoting organic farming as a way to address the carbon/global warming nexus, and at a time when food prices have hit historic highs in prices and record lows in availability, the bill planned on increasing food stamp and nutrition programs and subsidies for farmers.

 

However, the President’s threat of veto has been warmly received by many who found the bill wanting, including some unlikely supporters of the President’s  decision ( or perhaps more accurately critics of the bill) such as the President of OxFam America:

“Faced with a mounting food crisis at home and abroad, Congress had the opportunity through the farm bill to shift funds from wasteful agricultural subsidies for large-scale farms to food aid to meet the needs of the poor,” said Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, an overseas poverty and development group. “But instead, congressional leaders settled on a bill that will continue to be costly to taxpayers, undermine our rural economy, damage our trade relationships and hurt the world’s poorest farmers.”

 

 

 

Read Lochhead’s article at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/09/MN1110JA53.DTL

 

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CARBON REDUCTION LABELING PROGRAM USED BY TESCO AND OTHER COMPANIES

First, FoodIngredientsFirst.com has a good overview of Tesco’s carbon foot print labeling for its products: “Tesco is one of eight partners to commit to using the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Reduction label and momentum on this important issue is growing week by week. We hope today’s announcement will further catalyse action from other manufacturers and retailers to drive more and more carbon out of their supply chains and products.” Read the article at http://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/newsmaker_article.asp?idNewsMaker=17092&fSite=AO545&next=6

 

Then of course, visit the Carbon Trust Carbon Reduction Label website at http://www.carbon-label.co.uk/

 

The main website is: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/default.ct

 

A press release dated Feb. 4, 2008 and released by Carbon Trust describes other companies trialing the Carbon Trust standards in operations and production: “ The new partners and products to trial the draft PAS 2050 standard are as follows:

                          British Sugar plc – Granulated White Sugar

                          Colors – South African fruit supplied to UK retailers

                          Continental Clothing Company Ltd – EarthPositiveTM apparel

                          Coors Brewers Ltd – Carling Lager

                          Danone Waters UK Limited – Evian and Volvic Mineral Water

                          Mey Selections – Mey Selections Luxury All Butter Shortbread, Mey   

                          Selections Heather Honey and Mey Selections Blossom Honey

                          Morphy Richards – Covering a total of 12 Comfigrip, Turbo Steam and

                          Precise Steam irons

Included in this new wave of partners will be two SME pilots and three business-to-business pilots as well as a range that will further test the scalability of the PAS 2050. The information from the trials will be fed into the development of the standard to ensure that it is both scientifically rigorous and applicable for businesses across a wide range of industry sectors.

The Carbon Trust is now trialling the PAS 2050 with approximately 75 product ranges and 20 companies including existing partners Aggregate Industries, Boots, The Co-operative Group,
Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola, Halifax, innocent, Kimberly-Clark, Marshalls, Mϋller Dairy UK Limited, Scottish & Newcastle, Tesco and Walkers.

Of the third wave of pilot companies, Colors, Continental Clothing, Mey Selections and Morphy Richards will pilot the Carbon Trust’s carbon reduction label. New partner Continental Clothing is already testing the carbon reduction label to communicate the carbon footprints of its EarthPositiveTM apparel within its brochure, with the carbon footprint of a white men’s T-shirt, size large being 617g CO2. Halifax, has labelled its online Web Saver account with a carbon footprint of 204g CO2. These two companies join innocent, Boots and Walkers that have been trialling the label since early 2007. “ Read the entire press release at http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/News/presscentre/seven-new-companies-carbon-count.htm

 

 

 

Carbon farming: organic farmers store more and cost less

Food for thought in our earlier rhetorical question about why organic producers, certifiers and regulators are not touting the benefits of organic farming in relation to carbon sequestration: At least someone is trying. And it appears that the scientific proof, via a Rodale study, has been around since 2003:

 

“Queensland’s peak conservation group, Queensland Conservation (QCC) has aligned with Australia’s largest organic representative body, Biological Farmers of Australia, to re-instate claims organic farm methods can contribute to lowering Australia’s greenhouse emissions by locking up more carbon in soil.

They also say organic production will become more competitive as oil and fertiliser prices climb.

As part of its Climate Change Campaign, Queensland Conservation has referred to an extensive thirty year scientific trial by the Rodale Institute in the US which found that organic practices can remove around 7845kg of carbon from the air for each hectare farmed per annum by sequestering it in the soil.

The study found that “if all 175 million hectares of cropland in America were converted to organic practices, it would be the equivalent of taking 217 million cars off the road – or, more than a third of the world’s automobiles”.”

Why aren’t more people talking about this aspect of organics?

 

Read the entire article at http://sl.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/general/carbon-farming-organic-farmers-store-more-and-cost-less/86390.aspx

Visit the Rodale Institute website at http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/

 

Organic Center Study Reports that in 2006 More than 1/3rd of Conventional Vegetable and Fruit Samples Contained Multiple Pesticide Residues

Other findings of the report include that among the imported conventional fruits and vegetables tested for pesticide residues those with the highest Pesticide Dietary Risk Index Scores were:  Grapes: 282, Nectarines: 281, Peaches: 266, Pears: 221, Strawberries: 78, Sweet bell peppers: 720, Lettuce: 326, Cucumbers: 317, Celery: 170, Tomatoes: 142.

 Organics anyone?

Read a full article about the report at http://www.organic-market.info/bio-markt/en_inhalte/inh_index.htm?catID=0&docID=116

 

UK: Tesco under fire on organic food’s carbon footprint; Tesco’s Carbon Reduction Label criticized for not properly crediting organics for a lower carbon footprint.

“The Carbon Trust developed The Carbon Reduction Label to tell customers how much CO2 and other greenhouse gases are being produced through the lifecycle of a product, including production, transport, use and disposal. In determining the carbon footprint of Tesco’s products, The Carbon Trust has used the PAS 2050 draft standard for products’ carbon footprinting, which it is developing together with DEFRA and BSI British Standards. This draft does not include ’soil carbon’, which is why the carbon footprints of Tesco’s organic tomatoes and potatoes don’t reflect the potential extra deductions of CO2 that the Soil Association refers to.”

Of note, at least to us at Organicanews carbon foot print labeling as another example of the proliferation of label claims for consumer products. Should not organics, by very definition indicate a lower carbon footprint due to the lack of conventional fertilizers and increased carbon sequestration through the use of cover crops and compost? This is one area where organic producers, certifiers, and regulators are missing the opportunity to once again speak up on the full range of benefits that come from organic farming.  Read the entire article at www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=21072

Babies”R”Us Identifies Growing Trend in Creating ‘Green’ Baby Registries

Environmentally-Conscious Moms Seek Natural and Organic Products as They Prepare for Baby’s Arrival

“Setting up a baby registry is the first step new and expectant parents take when establishing their baby’s environment. In the past, color and pattern were key determining factors, but now, parents are increasingly interested in ensuring that their baby’s world is healthy and clean,” said Tori Binau, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Babies”R”Us. “This has translated into a trend of creating ‘green’ registries featuring natural and organic items that are good for both baby and the planet.”

Read the entire article at http://www.sunherald.com/447/story/538958.html