March, 2008
The Right Way to Go Green
Matt Mitchell
After reading assessments of “climate change” theory ranging from skeptical to outright hostile in almost every edition of the Frontier, this confession will likely confuse a lot of people. But if my fellow staff members don't share these positions, at least I have to come clean about my views on environmental issues. Not only do I believe that climate change exists, but I believe that the federal government has a moral obligation to fight pollution on behalf of its citizens because of its Constitutional mandate to protect our right to property. And on top of that, we are compelled to seek alternatives not only to foreign petroleum as sources of energy consumption, but that we must begin to look past internal combustion as a primary form of energy production.
Pour some sugar on me
In the meantime, however, we must accept the fact that we're probably going to be driving internal combustion engine-based cars for a long time, and should consider expanding access to clean biofuels as a means of reducing our demand for petroleum. Today the federal government has cast its lot with corn-based ethanol as the biofuel of choice. However, one decade and billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies later, all Washington has to show for their support of Iowa's proudest export is an astronomical jump in the price of dairy and beef and a rapidly expanding environmental crisis in the Gulf of Mexico from the sudden increase in nitrogen-based fertilizer that corn requires to grow.
The fact of the matter is clear: the promise of corn-based ethanol is the biggest hoax since the idea that gun bans on campus prevent school shootings. Today America is now growing more corn than it has since World War II. The increased use of corn for making ethanol has cut into the supply of corn needed for feeding livestock. If you're wondering why it costs $4.29 to buy a gallon of milk at Publix, look no further than the millions of acres of Midwest farmland being cultivated for a crop that takes more energy to produce ethanol than the amount of energy that ethanol yields. Ethanol in itself is a promising and desirable alternative to petroleum. But there are better options than corn out there that unfortunately have gotten the shaft due to their unfortunate distinction of not being the principal cash crop of the first Presidential campaign event in American politics. Sugarcane and industrial hemp are the two most efficient sources of usable ethanol in available in America. With knowledge comes improved policy; let us strive to fix the mistakes of our elders and promote these effective transition fuels to help boost our economy and protect our planet in the process.
Like bathtub gin, all you need to make ethanol from a plant is any part of the plant with a fair quantity of cellulose or other complex sugars. And also like bathtub gin, ethanol is produced by distilling and refining the sugar produced by the crop. For equal quantities of corn and sugarcane used for refinement and the same amount of energy exerted in distillation, sugarcane produces eight times the amount of ethanol than corn. Last year, America boasted over 40 million acres of land currently used for corn cultivation. With sugarcane, we can produce the same amount of usable ethanol with a mere 5-7 million acres, and be able to use far more of that crop for sugarcane ethanol, with far less sugarcane going towards livestock or food consumption.
What is most intriguing about sugarcane ethanol is that Florida is an ideal agricultural setting to start growing sugarcane for ethanol distillation in earnest. With warm, humid weather year-round, heavy precipitation and fertile soil throughout the interior of the state, sugarcane farming can begin quickly, creating potentially thousands of jobs on plantations and distilleries and refineries for people of all skill sets. The ethanol produced can be used to fuel cars, power grids and even some marine vessels. And most importantly, sugarcane ethanol will be cheaper and produce fewer carbon emissions than gasoline. This local solution to high gas prices and foreign energy dependence will protect our environment, enhance our national security, and help Florida's economy in the face of a national recession.
Roll up a fatty of energy independence
I was enjoying my winter recess back home in Sarasota when I came across an interesting bunch of articles about industrial hemp and its utility as a source of renewable energy. Now we're not talking about the kind of hemp some folks might use to get high; this isn't the stuff you're going to find on the streets. Part of that reason is, well, it's considered “marihuana” under the current language of the Controlled Substances Act. The other reason is that unlike other forms of hemp and pot, industrial hemp has very low levels of delta-9 tetrahydocannabinol (THC), the hallucinogenic component of cannabis plants that get you high and make those 15 Krystal burgers you just ate taste really good. If you tried to smoke enough industrial hemp to get baked, you would be more likely to get a blistering headache and see those Krystal burgers flushed down the toilet than see a pack of buffalo riding across your living room.
But what's infinitely more interesting about industrial hemp is a little-known fact about its usefulness as a source of energy. Did you know that industrial hemp, not sugarcane or corn, is the cleanest, most efficient source of usable biofuel currently grown in the United States? Farmers in the Dakotas have known this for years, as well as other growers of industrial hemp across the country. Hemp is an easy crop to grow, and is not terrifically soil-intensive; heck, you can even grow it hydroponically if you want to (grow it in water tanks without soil). However, under current federal drug laws, this source of energy is being denied to the American people.
Under the Controlled Substances Act, industrial hemp, a plant with negligible hallucinogenic qualities is treated in a manner legally equivalent to marijuana and hallucinogenic forms of industrial hemp. Since that law was enacted in 1970, new research advances have shown the value of industrial hemp for American energy were it made legal, yet Congress has to date refused to address this outdated aspect of the law in favor of not appearing “soft on drugs”. But in this age of high energy prices, dangerous dependence on foreign powers for our energy, and inane energy policies from Washington, I don't see how America can afford to have lawmakers who truly are soft on affordable energy.
Supporters of these drug laws rightfully argue that they exist to keep us safe. However, as long as industrial hemp remains illegal, the Controlled Substances Act is denying America another means of keeping the American people safe from the dangerous foreign actors in the energy market that seek to bring us to our knees using our own dependence on them for energy as leverage. Legalizing energy independence is the first step towards breaking that leverage and diversifying American energy production by expanding America's own production capacity. In the House, Congressman and occasional Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-Tex.) has introduced a bill that will adjust current definitions of marijuana to exclude industrial hemp from current sentencing schemes for drug possession. This bill will legalize industrial hemp and finally open up another door of opportunity for Americans to have access to a safe, affordable and most importantly American method of energy production.
Industrial hemp will not be the end-all be-all for energy independence; we must keep on track for expanding domestic production in markets like sugarcane, hydrogen cells, nuclear power and microgeneration. But in the meantime, we need to use every biofuel available as a transition source until long-term solutions become more marketable. It's time for freedom to work for the American people again, and time for the American people to make the promise of independent and affordable energy a reality. Just make sure not to smoke it all away first. I wasn't kidding about the nasty headache.