Some one needs to do it! Who's with me? Standing up for the Earth!

[twentynine]

Sure we got a problem down here.

But if you think more goverment is the answer, I gaurantee you is headed in the wrong direction.

This state (La.) has been waiting for federal approval to build sand berms to protect the marsh SINCE the spill occured, got LIMITED approval Thursday.

Oh yeah! We need more gioverment involvement.

Ethanol--- I guess none of you have had phase seperation problems, water/fuel problems have ya'll. The stuff is junk.

 

[PeepsInc]

Quote:
The problem isn't just down there (LA) my friend. It's heading up the East Coast at a rate we don't really know. After That it will head toward Europe & the Arctic. This problem will be Global. We need help from several governments. This oil spill makes all natural disasters look miniscule. Look how much money got pumped into Haiti relief.

 

[twentynine]

Nevermind--- no use!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

Quote:
AMEN!!!

 

[r00stercogburn]

the govt is the only answer we have - BP has lied at every turn and they are still trying to save their oil pocket --not our oceans.

 

[Xodrana]

The government is not going to save us there is too much money from oil lobbys given to all our officials. We must save ourselves. There are so many improvements in all alternative energies and we all can do something to utilize one or more of these tecnologies or we will die .

 

[melody123]

Ethanol is NOT the answer.

It destroys motors, as someone who's had to replace several very expensive irrigation pumps, I hate ethanol.

Ethanol lowers gas mileage, sometimes by 10-20%.

To get ethanol, it takes more than a gallon of gas/diesel. (tractors, fertilizer, sprays, transportation, etc.)

The corn to make the ethanol is not grown in an enviornmentally friendly manner. Corn needs a lot more nitrogen than other crops. Which, in large quantities, can pollute the water and destroys the soil.

Ethanol makes NO sense, economically, energy wise, or environmentally.

The problem is that people who claim to be for the environment, have banned any drilling except in the really deep water. Oil companies would rather drill in shallower water, instead of the extremely deep areas where we have bannished them to. If this had happend in shallow water, then we would be looking at a much smaller and more manageable disaster. Instead of the multistate disaster that we have now. So congratulations environmentalist, YOU caused this!

And the government is only making it worse. We can't use proven techology to remove 80% of the oil from the water. Louisiana is begging to be allowed to protect their own coast, because the federal government won't give them approval. The federal gov. is controlling this whole thing, and they are failing miserably.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
The food prices shooting up for corn is due to government stupidity. Did you know that farmers are paid by the government to NOT grow crops? They do that to keep the prices from dropping to the point where big farming corporations can't make a profit! Obviously it helps small farms too, but I think we all know who lobbyists work for...

The government many years ago had what was called a set aside program where they paid us to let a certain amount of acerage lie idle for a year. That program no longer exists. The CRP program does pay farmers to plant native grasses on marginal cropground that in most cases should never have been broken out of sod and farmed to begin with. There has been talk that that program will probably be ending.

Only about 5% of corn grown in the US is for human consumption. The rest is used for industrial purposes e.g. making ethanol or feeding livestock. I once read an article that said that if the entire US switched over to vegetarian diets, the farms could easily feed everyone in the US with plenty to spare (there's about a 90% loss of energy for each step in the food chain. We only get about 1% of the energy that plants get from the sun when we eat meat, but would get 10% if we ate vegetables instead). Everyone doesn't need to go vegetarian to make a huge difference - just reducing meat consumption by half would increase the available food supply drastically.

The biggest problem with ethanol as a fuel is that it will corrode gas pumps much faster than gasoline. (85% ethanol "flex" fuel that some cars use require different gas pumps than regular gasoline). The cost of changing the infrastructure to support ethanol cars would be in the billions. I would rather have my tax dollars spent on changing how the systems work than having to try and stave off more disasters like the one happening right now

My biggest problem with ethanol as a fuel is that corn is a very inefficient crop. It strips away nitrogen from the soil very quickly and provides less food per acre than other crops. Fortunately soy beans have plenty of food and industrial uses so farmers can simply plant soy beans in corn plots once every few years to replenish the nitrogen without relying on chemical fertilizers (soy beans have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria that can convert nitrogen in the air with a form that is bio-available to all other life). Corn is used for ethanol production because it is very cheap to make ethanol from it. Until the process of making ethanol with more efficient crops becomes cheaper, ethanol as a fuel will be cost prohibitive without heavy government funding.
You are correct in soybeans not needing as much fertilizer as corn, but they do require it. I'm not sure why you think corn provides less food than soybeans do. There is not a crop we grow that you can grow more bushels to an acre than you can with corn. 200 bushel per acre corn is not unusual while our soybeans average about 50-60 bushels per acre. All corn does not end up as a food product, but neither do soybeans. I still think the government should spend more time and effort on ethanol and less on bailing out the oil system left and right.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
I agree.. this spill is breaking my heart.. i cant stand to see all those sea animals suffer.

 

[MandyH]

I hate to see al the people of LA and MS suffer. Most have lost their livelihood because of this mess. AND if the government hadn't blocked them putting up barricades a month ago, the oil would be contained.