Draft leter to ACA on doing a story on biomass derived petrol

[Ruen]

This evening i began drafting a short letter to A Current Affair(yes i know its a ignorant show but a lot of people watch it

 

I have tried to avoid the topic of legalization for recreational medicinal or high thc fiber crops(yes i am aware that high thc crops grow better)

 

instead it is a request that they try and educate their audience that there is no reason to fear low THC hemp. yes i do know their is no reason to fear high thc hemp either but making the smaller step first would work better.

plus make it slightly less likely to be ignored (damn ignorant tv people)

 

 

id be very thankful if anyone has anything to add that they please tell me i shall be waiting atleast till tomorrow night to email it in in case i forget anything.

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

As I’m sure you are aware petrol prices are currently incredibly high and this is having a negative effect on many households. Much research has been done into using ethanol as “filler” to bulk up petrol with a less expensive chemical. But there has been much resistance to this idea due to the possibility of increased engine wear. The ethanol that is being added to fuel in Australia has been derived from biomass.

 

Biomass could also be converted into methane and methanol. This is done through a process called pyrolysis (charcoalizing) which is in essence biochemical composting. The product of this (methanol) can then be converted into high octane lead free petroleum that also contains no sulphur (lowering greenhouse emissions) and can be made from any high cellulose plant material. This is done using a process developed by Georgia Tech University in cooperation with Mobil Oil Corporation. Yes that is right - a completely renewable source of cleaner, greener petrol. Whilst it can be argued that we may as well burn up our oil reserves instead of using biomass-derived petrol, why would we want to continue to deplete our earth’s natural resources when there is a cheaper, greener renewable alternative?

 

 

This is where we encounter a problem, growing a high cellulose crop that can be converted into methanol to manufacture petroleum. The problem is the best source of biomass is an illegal plant in most countries of the world. The governments of the countries have made the plant illegal because of the major drug problem it causes. What the governments have failed to do is provide a distinction between the low drug fiber crops which have been developed in Europe from the high drug crops. As you would most probably be aware I’m referring to cannabis/hemp. If the government was to legalize the production of hemp fiber crops(grown from government regulated low THC plants) we would have a source of biomass that uses half the water per hectare as cotton yet produces two and half times the amount of biomass. Yes that is right half the water(wouldn’t that be great for the drought stricken cotton farmers)

 

 

Until there is accurate social education about Hemp as a fiber crop in its low THC forms(of which you could smoke an acre and get nothing more then a headache) though there is very little hope of a distinction being made in law to allow the mass farming of what could be the most beneficial crop on the planet.

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Edited November 13, 2006 by Ruen

[moKing]

High there Ruen,

I don't know a great deal on this topic and i can see some great benifits to farming hemp, i'm all for it but is this viable?. Farming has negative enviromental effects already, and relies on the mining, and petro chemical industry. Best of luck with all i reckon they'll have wanted you to do your homework and attack from all angles on this topic.

Edited November 14, 2006 by moKing

[Ruen]

petro chemicals are derived from oil and petrol if you can make the oil out of a reneweable resource its better

[Indycar]

Good idea, but just using bio-fuel argument won't carry much weight i feel. All they would have to do is do another report on hydrogen cars and that will deflect most good intentions you'd have put foward.

 

It needs the other benefits mentioned to carry more weight like...

 

* Feed the masses in third world countries.

* Medical benefits of MJ

* Biodegradable factors

* New Industries which create employment

* Bio-Fuel (as you already mentioned)

* Possibly new taxes for governments

* Save Forrests from being destroyed

* A renewable source that requires minimal herbacides/insectacides/fungacides to obtain a finished crop

and so on...

 

I feel by singling out just the one benefit alone won't carry the weight to punch the message thru.

 

Goodluck with it all though.

[Ruen]

yes thats true to get it legalised we'd need to educate them about all those points. but this is just a first step because if we try to feed them the whole truth at once theyll reject it or ignore it

[Frazz]

Heya Ruen .. mate youre doing a good thing here, and i reckon you are going to have to point ACA in the right direction e.g. where is a Professor or academic person who will say 'hey this is a great idea' .. gives the idea credibilty in thier eyes

 

also you send a copy ofthe letter of to 'Countrywide', think thats the name of it ABC program on Rural topics

cause if you sell the idea to the farmers ... well they have a Big say in Federal politics and they need a drought resistant crop to hold together thier soil when they cant grow wheat... planted cannabis would save millions of tons of farmers soil from being blown away, not to mention the bio-mass fuel angle ... etc, the list goes on and on ..

so many positives it makes one weep at the stupidity of the present situation regarding cannabis prohibition in all forms

 

let us know how you fare ?

 

[Ruen]

thanks for the idea frazzle ill deffinatly also forward it to stateline i think thats what you are refering to. i'm currently waiting for some people t hopefully get back to me with statistics about the ammount of celulose produced compared to the cost, size of land, etc

[Frazz]

yea stateline too but i meant Landline on ABC TV here ; http://www.abc.net.au/landline/

 

good luck to you, ... research and gain knowledge, for knowledge is power