Continuing some of the themes being discussed under "Herbicides, " I wanted to bring up for discussion the topic of growing food as fuel. Some of the large monocrop productions of foods like soybeans or corn have potential as fuel sources that could help relieve our dependence on fossil fuels. However, monocrops like these also use immense amounts of pesticides and, ironically, fertilizers derived from petroleum products! Corn could potentially be processed into ethanol and soybeans into biodiesel. However, what would this mean for food supplies if farmers could get more for their crop as fuel than as food. Also, is it really that much better to pollute our earth with herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers than with the pollutatns from burning fossil fuels?

I posted a survey under "Herbicides" that continues this discussion. Would you like to express your thoughts on biofuels? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Check out the survey:

http://forums.bellaonline.com/showflat.php?Number=22907174

Check out the San Diego EcoCenter on Alternative Fuels for an amazing educational program for youth. The EcoCenter will be expanding to adult education in the near future, but in the mean time there are lots of links and educational materials from their website.

www.sdecocenter.org

To find the edcuational links and materials go to "Education." The focus is alterantive fuels, but there is also general information on energy, urban planning, and environmental science.