Dear Dr Barry - thank you once again for enlightening me about the evil going in our world. The sheer volune of exploitation and cruelty is overwhelming and most people just do not bother to research into where what they buy comes from and the implications of their consumer choice is having on tribal peoples, forests and wildlife. Does the work of the World Land Trust and Rainforest Concern by buying forest land etc really make a difference? I send donations to both. Can we really be effective against such corruption and violence? Here in Europe, those like myself are concerned that the EU will become a monster, either fascist or communistic with total control of our lives and environment. A recent directive wanted ALL our phone calls and emails to be recorded to help police fight terrorism. It is so difficult for concerned people to maneouvre (have I spelt that correctly?) their opinion effectively and fast enough and to provide the funds fast enough to outwit the industrial lobbies. To your credit, you are providing guys like what I am a chance to do something. It is great to see all the names from all over the world supporting your initiatives, but why does the good guy or gal not win? Why do we let the financiers use our money to destroy the world. The new religion is the environmental conscience and that proves to me that Man has an in-built ethical system outwith religion and politics.

Keep sending the emails and I'll try and respond - getting old now.

I wish this information could have been disseminated to all who still does not believe that this global warming is created by us, human being. Thanks for this highlight

You are a kook site. You are a misguided fringe of society. People with thinking like yours is like a cancer that will eventually kill the world. Get a real job and contribute to the good of humanity.

David Fairbanks
dfairbanks@stillwatermill.com
Stillwater Mill

If we choose to keep doing the very things we are doing now by maximally growing the global economy in the noticeably finite world we inhabit, something horrendous will occur eventually. What concerns me most is that current gigantic scale and anticipated growth rate of the global economy will precipitate, sooner rather than later, an unimaginable wreckage of human civilization and/or the catastrophic collapse of the ecology of the planetary home we are blessed to inhabit.

Ten years ago, I worried about my grandchildren facing such an awful set of circumstances. Then a few years ago, it appeared children would be put at risk after my generation had completed a fool's errand in which a few million fortunate individuals took so many resources for themselves and left billions of unfortunate children with a ravaged Earth. Such a possibility troubled me because self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe leading my not-so-great, avaricious and arrogant generation -- a single generation on a mission -- have adamantly advocated that we commandeer, consume and hoard a "lion's share" of Earth limited resources and, in that process, have perversely condoned the relentless degradation of Earth's environs and the reckless dissipation of the planet's scarce resources....come what may for the children, coming generations, biodiversity, Earth's body and its environs.

Real hope is connected to doing things differently from the way we are doing things now by making ecology primary and economy secondary.

False hope {and wishful thinking} is regularly associated with keeping the global economy primary and Earth's ecology secondary; with doing things just the way they have always been done while fully expecting things to turn out differently from the way they have uniformly occurred in past experience.

ok. realy? ethanol will hurt the enciroment? I can understand your feeling for respect to earth and its resources, but eleminating the use of clean burning fuel because you have to use land to get it, is shooting yourself in the foot. Even if right now the whole world eleminates the use of nonrenuabel resources, people would still slash and burn the rain forest. As long as man can use nature to make a living we will milk her dry. To face these problems we must address them seprately. Ethonal can still be used to lower the production of greenhouse gasses, but local regulations are what will protect the rainforest. You cannot try to fix everything at once. We must take a few small steps.

Today is Earth Day, but all that matters to the self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe managing the global economy are their personal conspicuous consumption, obscene hoarding and maintenance of exotic, patently unsustainable lifestyles.

Given its present leviathan scale and the fully anticipated rate of unbridled industrial expansion, globalization of humankind's political economy could soon become unsustainable on a planet with the size, composition and frangible environs of Earth. At some point in space-time.... perhaps sooner rather than later.... if we keep doing precisely what we are doing now by over-consuming Earth’s limited resources, overproducing unnecessary stuff worldwide, and overpopulating our planetary home, then the children could be confronted of some sort of unimaginable threat: the collapse of civilization, the likes of which only Ozymandias has witnessed.

It is difficult for me to see how the human family moves forward to assure a good enough future for our children and coming generations if many people with clear vision, coherent minds, ethical sensibility and a capacity for intellectual honesty and moral courage do not become more vocal and clamorous now. By so doing, the deafening silence enjoined upon many too many "talking heads" in the mainstream media by an astonishingly small group of super-rich, ideologically-driven 'benefactors' and their cronies…. all with too much wealth, power and undeserved status…. most assuredly will be overcome.

Only our silence now regarding the chance of human over-consumption, overproduction and overpopulation activities overspreading the surface of Earth and becoming patently unsustainable can defeat the family of humanity, I believe. Silence is an actual enemy to be most feared now because of the clear and present danger elective mutism presents to future human wellbeing and environmental health.

Perhaps a day will come when our children might ask us three questions, "What did you know; when did you know it; and on what date did you begin speaking out loudly, clearly and often to save humanity, life as we know it, and the environs of the planet we are blessed to inhabit?"

I wrote this letter to my representatives in Congress. I want people to know the younger generation (my generation) cares about environmental issues and is not a bunch of slackers. Please tell me what you think:

Dear Congress,
My name is Daniel Knickelbein and I am 17 year-old high school student from Oak Park, Illinois. I guess you could call me an “environmentalist,” based on the fact that I believe that global warming is a serious threat to mankind and I believe in the conservation of natural lands and resources in their purest form. But I don’t think I can be labeled as a crazy left-winger because, well, who doesn’t like clean water, or land available for fishing or hiking, or restoring natural forests to their original beauty.
The reason I am writing this letter is because I believe that starting TODAY, the United States Congress must act to pass serious climate change legislation, and must also recognize that we must conserve the few natural lands we still have left in this country.
The science on global warming is unmistakable. When 97 percent of climatologists in this country believe that global warming is man-made and will have serious effects on our world, we must act to do something about that. It is unfathomable to me how some of you in Congress can not address this issue, while you sit and bicker about party ideals.
For those who say that addressing climate change and global warming will hurt the economy, you must think again. As many economists and scientists point out, a “green” economy is an investment in the future, sort of like beginning to tackle the large deficit that has been passed down by many presidents. Now some of you skeptics will say that I am an affluent suburban teenager who has no idea what it is like to experience financial hardship that you say will be cause by tackling global warming. Please think again. My father was a chemist employed at his dream job for 20 years, but when the recession hit, his lab was forced to fire him because of lack of funding. While I am currently by no means poor, my father’s misfortune has left our family in a somewhat difficult situation.
Now, we have any opportunity to help millions of other Americans like my father. If our country (you guys and girls in Congress) decide to invest in my future with green technologies, my father might be able to work again. And yes investing in renewable energy and green technology is MY future. Long after all 535 of you are gone, I would like to live in a safe and prosperous planet, not a planet where I have to worry about where I find my next meal, or my next glass of water. If we continue to allow global warming to go unchecked, that scenario is not exactly science fiction, it could and very well may become reality.
So today, on the 39th Earth Day, I ask every single member of Congress to consider their priorities as some of the most powerful people in the United States. Do you wish to leave your children and grandchildren in a safe and prosperous world? Should we leave them in a place that is dangerous and unhealthy? Should we allow the few remaining natural lands to be destroyed for a profit? These are questions that I hope you will consider when voting on a climate change bill. The only thing I ask of all of you is to please read my letter, and to consider what I have said.
I also want to give thanks to every single one of you for the service you do for your country. I am very lucky to be able to live in a country where I can write this letter freely, and a country where I am able to express my opinions without afterthought.
Please consider what I have said in this letter.
Sincerely,
Daniel Knickelbein

Dear Daniel Knickelbein,

Keep going. Great things will begin to occur when many people like you speak out loudly, clearly and often. Please know that you have my complete support.

Sincerely,

Steve Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population, est. 2001

Saving the Earth and life as we know it will not be difficult at the moment the self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe among us, the ones possessing a lion's share of the world's wealth as well as bought-and-paid-for powermongers, decide to regard the Earth and its environs at least as important as the status, privileges, wealth and power which are derived from their conscious manipulation of the global economy for their and their cronies' selfish interests.

Daniel Knickelbein wrote:

.....And yes investing in renewable energy and green technology is MY future.....

Indeed it is, dear Daniel.

And this 60-year-old grandmother and all of her family and friends hear you loud and clear.

Concern for and, yes, anxiety about YOUR future are what keep us elders going in the face of the seemingly interminable foot-dragging and "bickering" to which you refer in your letter to Congress.

James Hansen has been traveling all over this country for the last year or so to speak directly to the public on the importance of facing our problems and DOING something about them. He has said many times that a sustained, broad-based GRASS ROOTS effort by the public is the only force that will catalyze our representatives to act in accord with reality and stop their protracted, ridiculous denial of the increasingly obvious.

The generations ahead of you simply do not have the right to leave you and your peers and YOUR children with a damaged and depleted planet.

Keep going, Daniel. You have a lot of support. Thank you for sharing your letter.

Best,

Deborah

Dear Daniel,

Just so you know how completely I share you concern and support what you are doing, please see the following letter I sent you to my US Representative on February 1, 2009.

The Honorable David E. Price (D-NC)
U.S. House of Representatives
2162 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3304

Dear David,

Because we are neighbors and there is a matter of personal concern to me, I am contacting you on this occasion at your home address. This letter is copied to your office in Washington, DC.

In our time, the USA is a leader of the international community of nations comprising the family of humanity. This worldwide family is confronted with numerous looming economic challenges and formidable ecological threats. Of all challenges to human well being and environmental health, there may be no threat so large and oppressive as the one presented to humankind by the projected unbridled growth of absolute global population numbers in the first half of Century XXI.

President Barack Obama has made a commitment to rely on the best available scientific evidence in policymaking and action planning rather than be guided by preternatural theories, ideologically-biased factoids, purely political convenience and excessive attention to economic expediency.

With these circumstances in mind, I have joined the “Global Population Speak Out” Project (gpso.wordpress.com). This project is featured in Science Magazine (Science Volume 322, Issue 5902 p. 655 “Return of the Population Bomb”). People from around the world have pledged to speak out loudly and clearly about the challenges that could soon be presented to the world by the skyrocketing increase of human population numbers on Earth. My project is a simple, straightforward one: to send you this letter. As my Congressman and a respected scientist, I am asking you to consider revolutionary scientific evidence that appears to advance our understanding of human population dynamics. A 30 minute presentation of this research by an outstanding scientist from Chapel Hill (and a colleague of yours at Duke University) can be reviewed at the following link (www.panearth.org). At least to me, the evidence in the presentation by Russell Hopfenberg, Ph.D., “World Food and Human Population Growth,” has potentially profound implications.

If it pleases you to do so, examine the evidence.

Thanks for the great work you have been doing over many years for the citizens of Chapel Hill and the 4th Congressional District as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sincerely,

Steve

Whether industrial corn is used for biofuel or to feed hogs and cows its still a waste of land. To decrease erosion and save topsoil with its carbon and nitrogen resource, much of this corn farmland in the USA should be returned to grass and trees. Cattle could be grazed on their natural food which is grass and allowed to roam and have quality existence. Tree using wildlife such as deer, squirrels and birds would also benefit. And carbon would be absorbed. This could be done with a huge expansion of the Conservation Reserve Program under the Farm Bill and the US dept of Agriculture.

When we look at sustainable issues and deciding what those are going to be. We have to be smarter about how we use our land for this purpose. As the article states is this really going to be a long term answer to the problem? No it is not. The land that will be used to plant these additional crops to meet the demand of the US will end up destroying natural habitats and prairies. Due to urban sprawl, we have already devastated these natural habitats, which are vital to the ecological balance. The other consideration when taking these lands, is what was already stated in an earlier comment, “soil erosion”. Are we considering mitigation practices when we decide to change natural habitats to more corn fields or roadways, etc. Stopping the erosion of soils is a crucial step when you are talking about flooding and other hazards that can occur. This is more than planting corn as a possible sustainable solution, we have to consider the long term affects of these decisions.

Dear Dr. Glen Barry,
I am writing to you because in the recent alert

'Biofuel from Corn Ethanol Is Not Renewable, Does Not Address Climate Change'

apparently failed to highlight AFAICT the fact that modern energy intensive agriculture is merely a means of converting petroleum into crops.

1 kg of oil is needed to produce every kg of food! “In the United States, 400 gallons of oil equivalents

[~ 9.5 barrels or 1,500 litres] are expended annually to feed each American (as of data provided in 1994).”
This is only the energy used ON THE FARM!

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/climatechange/seminars/climateqanda/ccqa6_lardelli_web.pdf page 7

(From “Eating Fossil Fuels”, by Dale Allen Pfeiffer Dale © Copyright 2004, From The
Wilderness Publications, www.copvcia.com)

In more detail:

In the United States, 400 gallons of oil equivalents are expended annually to feed each American (as of data
provided in 1994).7 Agricultural energy consumption is broken down as follows:
• 31% for the manufacture of inorganic fertilizer
• 19% for the operation of field machinery
• 16% for transportation
• 13% for irrigation
• 08% for raising livestock (not including livestock feed)
• 05% for crop drying
• 05% for pesticide production
• 08% miscellaneous8
Energy costs for packaging, refrigeration, transportation to retail outlets and household cooking are not
considered in these figures.

To give the reader an idea of the energy intensiveness of modern agriculture, production of one kilogram
of nitrogen for fertilizer requires the energy equivalent of from 1.4 to 1.8 liters of diesel fuel. This is not
considering the hydrocarbon feedstock.9 According to The Fertilizer Institute (http://www.tfi.org), in the year
from June 30 2001 until June 30 2002 the United States used 12,009,300 short tons of nitrogen fertilizer.10
Using the low figure of 1.4 liters diesel equivalent per kilogram of nitrogen, this equates to the energy content of
15.3 billion liters of diesel fuel, or 4.04 billion gallons.

http://www.mountainsentinel.com/content/eatingfossilfuels.pdf

Please forgive me if I have misunderstood, but I felt that your important work might be be better understood if the

bioethanol scam were properly recognised for what it really is - a giant confidence trick.

Yours faithfully,

Christopher Sauvarin

I never really thought about how corn could affect us negatively. I’m only 16 so I don’t watch the news on a daily basis but every time I see it they’re always praising ethanol from corn. In fact I’m quite embarrassed because out of my friends I tend to be the most critical thinker but I did not even realize that growing the corn for ethanol would cost more than its worth. There's going to be a lot of change in the world for the next few decades; economically, environmentally, politically, technologically, and views will change as well. We’ll think different and act different because we need to. The world is changing for better, but for the worse at the same time. I know I can only do a few things to help these issues but until the world thinks collectively nothing will get done. We need to all do our part for our health and the health of this planet.

Corn for ethanol isn’t a quick fix but I’m really a fan of wind power and hybrid/electric cars. What I think we need to do is improve the average mpg of mass transportation systems and then have more people use those transportation systems available to them. If not alternative fueled cars or mass transportation at least car-pooling could help some. I just think ethanol was a distraction and something the media kept feeding us as a slogan. People think: “Oh, corn grows on the ground perfect, we’ll have plenty of that” but, I think few people didn’t take the time to realize all the costs financial and environmental used in transportation, labor, and growing including myself.