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Are these people still advocating diverting food crops to making ethanol from corn?

Hi Brian, I'm reading the book now so don't have a answer to your question (yet). Maybe we can read it together and then talk about the issues and proposals. What do you think? It's a free download or you can pick it up at Local Hero.

Let me know on the ethanol point. Why would you adocate the book if you haven't read it?

It is very telling that in Lester Brown's PLAN B 2.0 , he only includes one paragraph on nuclear power. Here it is -

"Although nuclear power has been getting some press attention as an alternative to fossil fuels, electricity from nuclear power plants is costly. On a level playing field with no taxpayer subsidies, nuclear power is dead. If utilities pay the full costs of nuclear waste disposal, of insurance against accident, and of decommissioning plants that are worn out, the expense of nuclear power will take it out of the running. And with international terrorism on the rise, the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to attack combined with their use by countries as a steppingstone to the acquisition of nuclear weapons virtually eliminates nuclear fission as a future energy source

He's obviously an anti-nuclear nut. More of the same of what has gotten us into the situation we are in now. Forcing us to burn more coal, and paying $5.00 to $6.00 per gallon gas in the next few years, trading our kids education for higher fuel prices.

Brian, do you know who Lester Brown is?

I think you are smart enough to realize you should not dismiss someone simply because they do not agree with your views. I have read the writings of this great man for decades. Four your eddification, here is a glimpse into Lester Brown's background.

Lester Russell Brown was born in 1934. He is an environmental analyst who has written over twenty books on global environmental issues. His works have been translated into more than forty languages. He is the founder of the Worldwatch Institute and founder and president of the Earth Policy Institute which is a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C.

One of his best known works is the book Kenley recommends: "Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble".

Lester Brown is the recipient of forty honorary degrees and a MacArthur Fellowship, among numerous other awards, Brown has been described by the Washington Post as "one of the world's most influential thinkers."

BRIAN, HERE IS A MORE DETAILED BIOGRAPHY ON LESTER R. BROWN

The Washington Post called Lester Brown "one of the world's most influential thinkers." The Telegraph of Calcutta refers to him as “the guru of the environmental movement.” In 1986, the Library of Congress requested his personal papers noting that his writings “have already strongly affected thinking about problems of world population and resources.”

Brown started his career as a farmer, growing tomatoes in southern New Jersey with his younger brother during high school and college. Shortly after earning a degree in agricultural science from Rutgers University in 1955, he spent six months living in rural India where he became intimately familiar with the food/population issue. In 1959 Brown joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service as an international agricultural analyst.

Brown earned masters degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Maryland and in public administration from Harvard. In 1964, he became an adviser to Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman on foreign agricultural policy. In 1966, the Secretary appointed him Administrator of the department's International Agricultural Development Service. In early 1969, he left government to help establish the Overseas Development Council.

In 1974, with support of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Lester Brown founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. While there he launched the Worldwatch Papers, the annual State of the World reports, World Watch magazine, a second annual entitled Vital Signs: The Trends That are Shaping Our Future, and the Environmental Alert book series.

Brown has authored or coauthored 50 books. One of the world's most widely published authors, his books have appeared in some 40 languages. Among his earlier books are Man, Land and Food, World Without Borders, and Building a Sustainable Society. His 1995 book Who Will Feed China? challenged the official view of China’s food prospect, spawning hundreds of conferences and seminars.

In May 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide a vision and a road map for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy. In November 2001, he published Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth, which was hailed by E.O. Wilson as “an instant classic.”His most recent book is Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.

He is the recipient of many prizes and awards, including 23 honorary degrees, a MacArthur Fellowship, the 1987 United Nations' Environment Prize, the 1989 World Wide Fund for Nature Gold Medal, and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize for his "exceptional contributions to solving global environmental problems." More recently, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Italy, the Borgström Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, and appointed an honorary professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Degrees
B.S. Rutgers University (Agricultural Science) (1955)
M.S. University of Maryland (Agricultural Economics) (1959)
M.P.A. Harvard University (Public Administration) (1962)

Books
Man, Land and Food (1963)
Increasing World Food Output (1965)
Seeds of Change (1970)
World Without Borders (1972)
Man and His Environment: Food (with Gail Finsterbusch) (1972)
In the Human Interest (1974)
By Bread Alone (with Erik Eckholm) (1974)
The Twenty-Ninth Day (1978)
Running on Empty (with Colin Norman & Christopher Flavin) (1979)
Building a Sustainable Society (1981)
The World Watch Reader (edited by Lester Brown) (1991)
Saving the Planet (with Christopher Flavin & Sandra Postel) (1991)
Full House: Reassessing the Earth’s Population Carrying Capacity
(with Hal Kane) (1994)
Who Will Feed China? Wake-Up Call for a Small Planet (1995)
Tough Choices: Facing the Challenge of Food Scarcity (1996)
Eko Kezai Kakume: Environmental Trends Reshaping The Global Economy (1998)
The World Watch Reader (edited by Lester Brown and Ed Ayres) (1998)
Beyond Malthus: Nineteen Dimensions of the Population Challenge (with Gary Gardner and Brian Halweil) (1999)
Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth (2001)
The Earth Policy Reader (with Janet Larsen and Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts) (2002)
Plan B: Rescuing a Planet under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (2003)
Outgrowing the Earth: The Food Security Challenge in an Age of Falling Water Tables and Rising Temperatures (2005)
Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble (2006)
Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (2008)

Book Series
State of the World, annual 1984-2001 (project director and senior author)
Vital Signs: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future, annual 1992-2001 (project director and senior author)
Environmental Alert Series, 1991-2000

E-Series

Worldwatch Issue Alerts, May 2000-February 2001
Eco-Economy Updates, May 2001- (released by email and fax)

Magazine
Publisher of World Watch Jan/Feb 1988, bimonthly, thru 2000

Author of numerous articles

Papers
“Worldwatch The Politics and Responsibility of the North American Breadbasket”
“Twenty-Two Dimensions of the Population Problem” (with Patricia McGrath and Bruce Stokes)
“World Population Trends: Signs of Hope, Signs of Stress”
“Spreading Deserts: The Hand of Man” (with Erik Eckholm)
“Redefining National Security”
“The Global Economic Prospect”
“The Worldwide Loss of Cropland”
“Resource Trends and Population Policy: A Time for Reassessment
The Future of the Automobile in an Oil-Short World” (with Christopher Flavin)
“Food or Fuel: New Competition for the World’s Cropland
Six Steps to a Sustainable Society” (with Pamela Shaw)
“U.S. and Soviet Agriculture: The Shifting Balance of Power”
“Population Policies for a New Economic Era”
“Soil Erosion: Quiet Crisis in the World Economy” (with Edward Wolf)
“Reversing Africa’s Decline” (with Edward Wolf)
“Our Demographically Divided World” (with Jodi L. Jacobson)
“The Future of Urbanization: Facing the Ecological and Economic Constraints” (with Jodi L. Jacobson)
“The Changing World Food Prospect: The Nineties and Beyond”
“The Agricultural Link: How Environmental Deterioration Could Disrupt Economic Progress”
“Beyond Malthus: Sixteen Dimensions of the Population Problem” (with Gary Gardner and Brian Halweil)

Monographs
The Japanese Agricultural Economy (1961)
An Economic Analysis of Far Eastern Agriculture (1963)
The Social Impact of the Green Revolution (1971)
The Interdependence of Nations (1972)
The Global Politics of Resource Scarcity (1974)
Our Daily Bread (1975)
Human Needs and the Security of Nations (1978)

Currently
Founder, President and Senior Researcher, Earth Policy Institute
Advisory Committee: Institute for International Economics
Advisory Council: Environmental & Energy Study Institute
Member: Cosmos Club
Member: Council on Foreign Relations
Board Member: Institute for Sustainable Development (Poland)
Advisory Council: International Fund for Agricultural Research
Vice Chairman: Advisory Comm. of the US-China Assoc. for Envir. Ed.
Advisory Committee: Eco-Policy Center, Rutgers University
Board of Advisors: International Fund for China’s Environment
Advisory Committee: United Nations Foundation
Advisory Board: Center for a New American Dream
National Advisory Board: Population Connection
Treasurer & Board Member: Farview Foundation
Advisory Committee, Internews
Advisory Council for Excellence in Environmental Engineering: Sierra Club
Steering Committee, The Ecological Cities Project (Univ. of Massachusetts)
Board of Patrons, International Network of Green Planners
Advisory Board, Green House Network
Fellow, World Business Academy
Endorser, Restore the Earth proposal
Member, Advisory Committee, Ecology Channel
Director, Japan for Sustainability
Honorary Advisor, The Institute for Environmental Culture (Japan)
Advisor, Earth Focus, World Link TV's environmental news program
Member, Advisory Board, The Race to Stop Global Warming
Member, Global Advisory Board, The Globalist
Member, Board of Directors, Habitat Media
Advisory Council Member, Global Footprint Network
International Advisory Panel, The Kyoto World Cities Challenge
Friends of the Earth Advisory Board
Member, Romanian Academy of Sciences
Honorary Advisor, National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Japan
Editorial Board, Solutions: Whole Systems Design for a Sustainable and Desirable Future
Advisory Council, Child Honoring (founded by Raffi Cavoukian)

Formerly

International Agricultural Analyst: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Adviser to the Secretary: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Administrator, International Agricultural Development Service
Senior Fellow: Overseas Development Council
Faculty Member, Salzburg Seminar in American Studies, 1971, 1974
President, Worldwatch Institute (1974–2000)

Awards
U.S. Department of Agriculture Superior Service Award, 1965
Arthur S. Fleming Award, “The Ten Outstanding Young Men in Federal Service,” 1965
Who’s Who
U.S. Jaycees, Ten Outstanding Young Men in America, 1966
Rutgers University, Cook College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, George Hammell Cook Distinguished Service Award, 1976
National Wildlife Federation Special Conservation Award, 1982
UNEP Environmental Leadership Medal, 1982
Lorax Award, Global Tomorrow Coalition, 1985
MacArthur Fellow, John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 1986–1991
United Nations Environment Prize, 1987
Gold Medal — Worldwide Fund for Nature, 1989
Rutgers Hall of Fame, 1990
A. Bizzozero Award, University of Parma, 1991
Humanist of the Year, The American Humanist Association, 1991
Windstar Foundation Award, 1991
Gold Medal — Pro Mundo Habitabili award of King Carl XVI Gustaf, Sweden, 1991 (awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences)
Delphi International Cooperation award, 1991
CerviaAmbiente Prize, Italy, 1992
Robert Rodale Lecture award, 1992
Environmentalist of the Year, Tokyo Jaycees, 1992
Certificate of Special Recognition, Association of American Geographers, 1993
Cover biography in Current Biography, 1993
Blue Planet Prize, Asahi Glass Foundation, 1994
J. Sterling Morton Arbor Day Award, 1995
Selected as one of 50 Great Americans by Marquis Who’s Who, 1995
Public Service Award, Federation of American Scientists, 1995
Distinguished Achievement Award, Helyar House Alumni Assoc., Rutgers Univ., 1995
Selected as one of the “100 Who Made a Difference” by The Earth Times, 1995
Selected as one of Audubon Society’s “100 Champions of Conservation,” 1998
Award from Circulo de Periodismo Cientifico de Venezuela, 1999
Rachel Carson Environmental Achievement Award from National Nutritional Foods Association, 2000
People of the Century, chosen by The Daily Journal, New Jersey, 2000
100 Notable Alumni, University of Maryland, 2000
Bruno H. Schubert Foundation environmental award, Germany, 2001
Natural Business Leadership Award, 2002
Excellence Advisory Award, International Fund for China's Environment, 2002
Presidental Medal, Italy, 2003
Honorary Professor, University of Shanghai, 2003
One of the 500 Most Influential People in the United States in Foreign Policy, World Affairs Council of America, 2003
Third Place, Men’s 70-74, Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run
Georg and Greta Borgström Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry, 2005
Claire Matzger Lilienthal Distinguished Lecturer, California Academy of Sciences, 2005
One of 30 Global Visionaries, Planet magazine, 2005
Honorary Professor, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lester R. Brown permanent exhibit, Cook College, Rutgers University, 2005
Bridgeton High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame, 2005
Heifer All-Star (Heifer International Annual Award), 2008

Literary Awards

Christopher Award for By Bread Alone
Ecologia Firenze (Italian literary award) for The Twenty-Ninth Day
A.H. Boerma Award, FAO, for writings on the world food problem
Best Translation award from the Ministry of Culture, Iran, for Full House (Farsi edition)
Top Ten Book award, TheGlobalist,com, for Eco-Economy
Top Ten Book award, TheGlobalist,com, for Plan B
Best Nonfiction Book award from the Peka Institute, Iran, for Eco-Economy (Farsi edition)
Book of the Month award, Omnipedia, for Plan B
Book of the Week award, TheGlobalist.com, for Outgrowing the Earth
2005 Book award, National Library of China, for Plan B (Chinese edition)

Honorary Degrees

Dickinson College, Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD), 1975
University of Maryland, Doctor of Laws (LLD), 1976
Franklin College, Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD), 1977
Williams College, Doctor of Laws (LLD), 1977
Rutgers University, Doctor of Laws (LLD), 1978
Glassboro State College, Doctor of Humanities (LHD), 1979
Tufts University, Doctor of Humane Letters, 1985
Clark University, Doctor of Humanities (LHD), 1988
The College of Wooster, Doctor of Laws (LLD), 1989
Ripon College, Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD), 1990
Otterbein College, Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD), 1990
University of Pisa, Italy, Doctor of Science, 1991
McGill University, Quebec, Canada, Doctor of Science, 1991
Notre Dame, Doctor of Laws (LLD), 1991
Northland College, Doctor of Public Service, 1993
St. Lawrence University, Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD), 1994
Claremont Graduate School, Doctor of Science, 1996
Villanova University, Doctor of Social Science, 1996
Westminster College (Utah), Doctor of Science, 1998
Westminster College (Pennsylvania), Doctor of Science, 2001
University of Connecticut, Doctor of Science, 2001
Ohio State University, Doctor of Science, 2001
Hitotsubashi University, Doctor of Science, 2006
Michigan State University, Doctor of Agriculture, 2006

Hi Brian, the comment below is for you.

The book Kenley and the Ojai Valley Green Coalition recommends is new. My comment below refers to Brown's earlier book, "Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble."

Brian, these are two different books.

"Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble," by Lester R. Brown (Paperback - Jan 23, 2006)

"Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization," Third Edition by Lester R. Brown (Paperback - Jan 16, 2008)

He's an idiot and a nut case who has made his living off of the BS he teaches and writes about. One of many, who has misinformed a whole generation of Americans and now we will be paying the price in the form of increased pollution, increassed energy costs, increased food costs, and higher gasoline prices. He is an elitist who could care less about the working people of this nation and the future for their children.

I think you really got my goat this time Brian! I meant to say, "the comment ABOVE is for you."

Oh, and you can add destruction of our forests, because he's a member of the Sierra Club.

See:
http://www.ojaipost.com/2007/07/tahoe_residents_seethe_at_gree_1.shtml

"Brown started his career as a farmer, growing tomatoes in southern New Jersey with his younger brother during high school and college. Shortly after earning a degree in agricultural science from Rutgers University in 1955, he spent six months living in rural India where he became intimately familiar with the food/population issue."

Hi Brian. I am reading the book with everyone else. The book was selected by a group based on the reputation and reviews (as illustrated above) of the author and the book. The book also meets the objective of the program to generate discussion on the environment.

I'd like to explore an idea with you in hopes that we can have a positive and respectful dialogue on the topic. I'm not looking for a debate, but am open to other peoples views and insights if we can do it with courtesy.

Would you be willing to read the book with an open mind and come ready to discuss it with the Ojai community?

In fact, I will be putting together a panel of experts to discuss the themes in the book for June 10 at the Ojai Library. The idea I have is to include you on the panel, particularly since you may hold an alternate viewpoint. I don't have the final say, but what do you think?

I have followed Lester Brown's dedication to evaluating the state of our planet for over a decade, and wrote to the Nobel Committee urging them to recognize him, Herman Daly, and Paul Kawkins and the two Lovins instead of Al Gore. They have all done a great deal more of the heavy lifting.

I decided to purchase this book when Medard Gabel, creator of the analog World Game with Buchminster Fuller, gave me a budget for saving the planet that totals no more than $230 billion a year (at a time when we spend $1.3 trillion waging war).

I've gone through the book and consider it to be a best in class effort, a seminal work no one else on the planet could have produced. In the author's chosen area of focus, there is no other book like this one.

Kenley,
I don't really need to read the book because I already know all about where he is coming from and his point of view. I don't see myself being courteous to people who are destroying my kids future. I can give you my views if you like.

In Comment #1 Brian asked, "Are these people still advocating diverting food crops to making ethanol from corn?"

I believe the answer is no, but maybe Kenley can check. I think these facts are from the book:

+ One 25 gallon ethanol tank takes enough grain to feed a person for a year. This means that those in hunger going to double from 600 million to 1.2 billion, as cars compete for grain.

+ Food-oil axis is developing into a triple crisis: oil, food, water. As 50% live in cities, the fuel intensity of food in the face of Peak Oil is becoming a major issue.

+ Stopping the ethanol program dead in its tracks is the single best thing US Government could do, followed my more wind farms and an end to coal plants.

Brian, I do appreciate your honest response. I would like to return the honesty and ask that you stop giving opinions on a book you haven't read. In return, I will refrain from giving my opinion on the book as well (I'm on page 20). I have merely recommended reading the book. I remember a few years ago participating in a book club where we read Ann Coulter (not really up my alley), despite knowing her world view. Fortunately, we read Eric Alterman too.

Brian: You aren't a very good salesman for nuclear power or your environmental views. I'm not going to attempt to speak for anyone else here, but trying to shame, insult, or degrade other people into seeing things your way is roughly the equivalent of putting out rotting meat and hoping that the bees will make honey out of it.

I'm not trying to make friends with people who are ruining the environment, I'm just shaming , insulting and degrading them so others can see how destructive their ideas are. And we are witessing this destruction first hand: the destruction of our forests (Sierra Club), people starving in 3rd world countries (ethanol production), Our future being squandered away on fuel prices, More coal burning plants which contribute toxins to the atmosphere. How am I suppose to feel?

According to a front page article in the L. A. Times on April 14 of this year, the Sierra Club is leading the legal fight to stop the construction of new coal power plants in the U. S. Go Sierra Club!

Dear Brian,

I'm checking to see if you read my response (Comment #16) to the question you asked in Comment #1.

So, Brian -- are you going to start selling "Sierra Club Sucks" bumper stickers along with your bee products at the Farmer's Market every Sunday?

Gee, all the "so-called" environmentalist have been beating the drum for alternative fuels and ethanol and how great it's going to be, but now that we are starting to see all the ramifications of diverting farm land to fuel production everybody is running for cover. Al Gore is in hiding over the whole scam, I said this was a fraud a long time ago and all I heared was "oh they have this new corn enzyme that will make make gallons and gallons of cheap ethanol and we will all be diving around on bio fuel" Well it has effected food prices around the world and has done nothing to solve transportaion fuel problems.

Remember the MTBE scam? The poison that the Sierra Club and the air reasources board forced all of California to put into the gasoline for TEN years that leaked to the ground water and polluted lakes and streams? Claiming that it was suppose to "oxygenate" the gas and make it burn cleaner? Well all those same jerks that brought you the MTBE poison are still up there in Sacramento thinking up new idiotic ways to screw things up. Like attorney general Locklear, who sat on the board that required the MBTE be put in the gasoline.

I said this was a fraud a long time ago and all I heared was "oh they have this new corn enzyme that will make make gallons and gallons of cheap ethanol and we will all be diving around on bio fuel"

Brian -

Please refer to our conversation, February 7, 2007, where I specifically addressed your concerns regarding corn-based ethanol. You decided to not reply. To say that "all you heared" was regarding corn is flat-out wrong, and your willful avoidance of what was actually in the article we were discussing is negligent. You just want to tar environmentalism and the development of alternative fuels with a negative brush and not look at everything that is going on from an R&D perspective.

http://www.ojaipost.com/2007/01/the_price_of_freedom_keeps_goi.shtml

I agree with what he says about nuclear power and the fact that ethanol is a hoax. Check out my post of the tortilla crisis under the electric car post. Rising corn prices are now making tortilla more expensive in Mexico. I don't think taxing the working people who drive their cars is the answer.
Comment #22 Posted by: Brian | February 7, 2007 08:50 PM

Corn-based ethanol is a bridge to switchgrass and other highly-renewable biomass-based fuels. You just dismissed ethanol as a hoax, but the guy was specifically referring to corn-based ethanol, which is NOT viewed as a long-term solution, but rather transitory.
Comment #23 Posted by: Tyler | February 7, 2007 11:09 PM

Brian: you're an author here, so why don't you start a thread and tell us how you'd make everything better? I'll wait for that. Adios until then. This was Kenley's thread, and we kind of hijacked it.

I'm glad you mentioned switchgrass, Tyler.

He has told us how he'd make everything better, phalarope. It is: open up drilling for oil and gas domestically, from ANWR to the Gulf and everywhere in between, and fire up more nuclear plants. I'm not making a judgment in this comment, just saying that Brian has expressed his perspective many times.

...just saying that Brian has expressed his perspective many times.

I remember, but I figure if he tells the whole story again it can go either of two ways: he can either demonstrate that he finally has some sane and supportable ideas, or he'll be kind of like the eccentric 2nd cousin who wants to spend the entire family Christmas get-together trying to show people his much-annotated diagrams of Building #7 collapsing, or pixelated & artifact-laden YouTube videos of the sky over Area 51 from 20 miles away, or a photo of a mummified Oscar Meyer Smokie Link that he claims is an alien's finger.

Tyler,

I was referring to the site you linked to showing how this new enzyme was going to save the day.

http://www.lockergnome.com/news/2007/01/30/new-process-to-improve-energy-efficiency-of-ethanol-production/

http://www.ojaipost.com/2008/01/the_sky_is_not_falling.shtml

I agree that if another way to make ethanol more efficiantly could be found that could be a breakthough. I proposed to the Ojai Green group to use the arundo grass which is in the river bottom but I haven't heard anything back.