Friday, September 12, 2008

"if i could get anything done, maybe i'd hold still"

I read a lot, but I don't read books much. I read zines. However, recently something came over me, and I decided to read a book. And I even read it in less than a month (the last book I read took me at least a year to finish). It was pretty short though, but who's keeping track?
The book I read is called Biodiesel Power by Lyle Estill. In it, Lyle talks passionately about his experience with the biodiesel movement and community. He began as a backyard brewer and evolved into the founder of a biodiesel co-op (called Piedmont Biofuels) and a prominent voice for the biofuels industry. Certainly biofuels are not without controversy, especially these days with all of the handouts and subsidies offered by our current administration to Big Agriculture and Big Oil for their participation in biofuels (and of course the moral dilema of using farmland to grow fuel instead of food), but Lyle understands sustainability, and his passion for biodiesel is rooted in that. That's what makes his views so intriguing and relevant. I highly recommend this book and will soon be reading Lyle's other book, Small is Possible, which I'm sure will be just as good, if not better.

A quote from the final chapter:
"Biodiesel is great fun. It's empowering. Nothing feels better than tooling down the highway with the knowledge that you are free. Free of Chevron. Free of Mobil. Free of George Bush. Free of the Saudis. Free of the whole sorry lot. I realize full well that hydrogen is the place to be, but I'm stuck on vegetable oil. It's here now. It works. It's renewable. It's sustainable. It smells good. It creates jobs in the United States. And there is no war required to get it."

Bonus quote:
"I find myself unwilling to abide sheer stupidity."

Also, check out Lyle's Energy Blog.

1 comment:

Maaike said...

Does that mean you're ready to read "Small Gods"? It doesn't have anything to do with the environment, although one character makes bonsai mountains, but it is a great spiritual journey. The beginning has a reference to lettuce.