From:

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but gasoline might

Researchers make breakthrough in creating gasoline from plant matter, with almost no carbon footprint

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/nsf-mdg040708.php

“Reporting in the cover article of the April 7, 2008 issue of Chemistry & Sustainability, Energy & Materials (ChemSusChem), chemical engineer and National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER awardee George Huber of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass) and his graduate students Torren Carlson and Tushar Vispute announced the first direct conversion of plant cellulose into gasoline components.”

So what does this mean to us? It means what we all know to be true. When we are forced to find a solution we will have no problems finding one. Sometimes it takes a crisis to force change.

With gas prices steadily over $3.00 a gallon and diesel prices over $3.50 things are going to start to get expensive. I think that there are a lot of us out there who do not realize that these prices are going to just be passed on to consumers. Everything will be effected from shipping large objects right down to your daily Diet Coke. There have been a small but growing population who have been crying for a solution to our rising problems. Many have been predicting just this sort of thing for years. So why did we not listen?

Well sometimes we are a bit too big for our britches. We love our big cars, and big SUV’s. We are still basically isolated from the rest of the world being our own continent (sorry Canada yous guys are great but we just are not effected by yous that much). We have begun to take things for granted. We have had a really great run, but it is time to change.

I don’t think that we have to change that much. We simply have to change our habits. We have to accept that alternative fuels are just as good as oil based fuels. Sorry Texas but it is time we mess with your oil.

So now what do we do? First we accept the fact that we have to make a few small changes. We do not have to completely overhull our lives, we just have to make a few simple and effective changes. These changes will not take away from our lives, but they will only serve to make us better. It will lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It will help our farmers to once again get what they deserve. We can once again be seen as leaders, and not fat consumers. And, if we are pushed again, we can pull back and live within ourselves.

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