Willie Nelson's new biodiesel and farming book
TUCSON -- Country singer and activist Willie Nelson has a new book out about biodiesel and the future of the American family farm.
As an enthusiastic biodiesel user, I am interested in reading it. You may also want to.
Comments
Biodiesel is the latest cause celebre, with politicians promoting it as the savior of the Iowa farmer. This is nothing short of pandering.
My concern, being a biodiesel supporter, is that in order to meet strong demand, there will be a strong market for genetically -engineered crops like corn and soy.
And, just fyi, I recently saw a news segment on Willie Nelson and his bio-fuel company (I think on 60 minutes), and he is actually taking a financial hit right now. He is genuinely behind this because it is the better environmental choice when faced with petroleum and the very non efficient ethanol fuel.
Our biodiesel in Tucson is soy-based and only the by-product of the processed soy is used for the fuel. The other parts of the soy can be used for food.
You are right, that local fuel would be best. There are folks right now in Tucson working on making that happen.
My dream car would be hybrid/solar diesel.
Brazil uses sugarcane, which produces a higher yield per acre. (but then Brazil is also destroying rain forests at an alarming rate to do so). I am not against biodiesel, just against the whole notion that corn is the way to go. It is the farm lobby and congressmen/women from the farm states that are pushing legislation promoting corn as a fuel source, regardless of the science.