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R Jan/Feb/March 2002
newsletter of the Sierra Club Prairie Group
==========
Jan/Feb/March 2002 Prairie
Flyer
PRAIRIE GROUP GENERAL
Meetings Jan/Feb/Mar
at the Illinois Disciples
Foundation
Corner of Springfield and
Wright, Champaign
7:30 pm, Wednesday,
January 9, 2002
Daniel Lindstrom, Urbana
naturalist and nature photographer
Between the Pacific and
Caribbean coasts lies Costa Rica, rich in
species of flowers, trees,
birds, and animals. It is a land of
vibrant culture, rivers
flowing through jungle, rainforests and
cloudforests, mangrove
swamps, farms, banana plantations, cattle
ranches, and volcanoes. Come
see all these and more at this unique
slide show based on Daniel
Lindstrom's recent trip.
7:30 pm, Wednesday,
February 13, 2001
Find out how you can get
involved in protecting your community and the planet, meet some new people, and
have some fun, too! (We’ll even have
snacks.)
We have been hearing a great
deal in recent weeks about the importance of national
security ? and rightly so
since the tragedies of September 11th. The Sierra Club
believes that clean air,
safe drinking water, and the protection of wild places
are also absolutely vital to
ensuring safe and healthy communities all across the
country. In this time of
uncertainty, people all around the nation are looking for
ways to contribute to their
community, getting to know their neighbors,
volunteering, and donating
much needed funds to worthy causes.
Maybe you are among the many
people looking to give some time and energy to make
this community, the country,
and, yes, even the world, a better, safer place.
You’re already a member of
the Sierra Club, so we know you care about clean air
and water, special places,
and healthy ecosystems.
Join us for our General
Membership meeting this February 13 (day before Valentines Day), when we will
be hosting a “Winter Madness” fair. Find out how you can get involved in
protecting your community and the planet, meet some new people, and have some
fun, too!
Whether it is hosting a
letter-writing party to help influence our decision-makers,
writing articles for this
newsletter to help educate our membership regarding important
environmental issues, or
just assisting in building a larger community of environmentalists
in the region, we welcome
you.
If you aren’t sure what you
might like to get involved in, that’s O.K., too. Just
come and visit with us. We
will happily share with you the many opportunities the
Sierra Club offers for
members to get involved. Read on for a brief description of
some of these opportunities:
MEMBERSHIP Committee:
People involved with
the membership committee keep records of who attends meetings, ensure
availability of
membership brochures at meetings and other functions, poll members
about their
interests, serve as 'hospitality chair' and greeter at meetings, and provide
assistance for efforts to recruit new members and activists. Further details
can be elaborated on in a one-on-one conversation.
These activities can be
handled by a single (busy) person, or they can be assigned to several different
people in a Membership Committee.
POLITICAL Committee:
The Political Chair provides
guidance in evaluating political issues and positions,
planning and conducting the
endorsement and support of candidates for public
office, in cooperation with
the Illinois Chapter. The Chair should be aware of
environmentally sensitive
legislative proposals, and call for letter-writing
campaigns and lobbying when
appropriate.
CONSERVATION
Committee
There are also
numerous opportunities in conservation committee task
forces on a wide
array of issues, such as clean air, clean water,
sprawl, energy,
biotechnology, environmental justice, etc. If you have
a favorite issue,
please let us know so we can help link you up with
other members who
share your interest and are eager to make a
difference for the
environment locally, in Illinois and around the
world
We welcome any volunteers
who would like to work on any of these committees!!
7:30 pm, Wednesday, March
13, 2001
Kirstin Replogle,
Sierra Club National Environmental Justice Committee, Chair
Corporations, which
are not people but are, instead, artificial entities created by our laws, have
grown so powerful that they are deforming our culture and making a mockery of
our government, exploiting people and the land in the process. How did
corporations gain this power? How do they use this power to exploit? And most
importantly, what can we do about it? Kirstin will present some historic
background on corporate power and offer beginning steps activists can demand to
return power to where it belongs - in the hands of the people.
By Richard L. Bishop
The key to understanding the
impact of making ethanol from corn is to compare all of the energy inputs to
the energy yield. The process inputs are in the form of petroleum products to
fuel tractors and trucks, natural gas for fertilizer, and coal for
distillation. In addition, the manufacture of machinery and construction
materials use an appreciable amount of energy. The balance is somewhat
contentious; in 1979, when the Federal tax rebate was passed, there seems to be
general agreement that the inputs and the output were about equal; during the
next few years there were some substantial improvements in efficiency, but as
late as 1994, an official of the Illinois Farmers Union, John Little, proudly
contended that the output was 25% more than input. On the other hand, a leading
authority on such analysis, Professor David Pimentel of Cornell University,
still claims that the balance is negative. In spite of continuing research on
improving efficiency, there have been no claims from proponents that dramatic
improvements have been made in the past 10 years. Thus, it is generous to
assume that at best the energy equivalent of 4 gallons of ethanol is required
to produce 5 gallons. It is reasonable to ask then, if the use of corn ethanol
can ever be justified economically, since that energy profit of one gallon for
5 produced must pay for a large amount of labor and capital investment.
The subsidies for the
process which keep the producers in business are nearly invisible and certainly
understated. The major one is the Federal tax rebate for gasohol (10% ethanol)
of 5.4 cents per gallon. This goes directly to the retailers, because they
collect the full Federal tax from consumers and deduct that amount from what
they remit to the IRS. In turn, the producers can charge the retailers more for
the gasohol, so indirectly it amounts to a subsidy to the producers. It does
not seem that much is passed on to the farmers. If we cast this subsidy in
terms of corn input, we find that it is truly extraordinary: $1.35 per bushel.
The conversion is based on using two factors, the amount of gasohol it takes to
account for a gallon of ethanol (10) and the amount of ethanol yielded by a
bushel of corn (2.5). But it does not end there, because many states have their
own tax rebates, and there are tax breaks for the construction costs of the
producers. For example, in Illinois the state share of sales tax on gasoline is
5%, of which 30% is forgiven for gasohol; that is, 1.5% of the retail price is
another subsidy. Of course, this varies with the (very volatile) price. To
calculate the subsidy per bushel requires backing out the pre-sales-tax price
of gasoline (multiply by .93), multiply by .015, then by the same factors 10
and 2.5 as before: the result is a little more than 1/3 of the pump price. When
gas is $1.50 per gallon, these direct subsidies are $1.85 per bushel, which is
practically the same as the price of corn!
The use of ethanol has both
positive and negative effects on the environment. It has become the preferred
oxygenation additive to gasoline because the alternative, MTBE (methyl
tertiary-butyl ether), has been found to contaminate groundwater. Both
additives are effective in reducing harmful emissions from gasoline, mainly,
volatile organic compounds, oxides of nitrogen, and carbon monoxide. While
ethanol used in this way gives a valuable improvement in air quality in large
cities (e.g., Chicago, Milwaukee), the poor overall energy balance means that
there is increased emission of those same compounds and others in the growing
and production regions. The use of coal without scrubbers in the distillation
is particularly dangerous and an ethanol plant in Peoria has been fined for
excessive emissions. Moreover, there are some emissions, of esters, which are
not on the list of compounds required to be controlled, but are hazardous and
are actually increased when ethanol is added. Also the global warming aspect is
not addressed, since the active emission, carbon dioxide, is not toxic and can
only be controlled by using less hydrocarbon fuel of all kinds. For hydrocarbon
fuel the carbon dioxide production is roughly proportional to the energy
output, so the fact that ethanol production requires 80% of its energy yield
means that the global warming effect is much larger than for other fuels.
(Perhaps it is not 80% higher, since the production and transportation of
gasoline and diesel fuel also has an energy input of about 20% of the energy
output.)
In summary, the use of
ethanol as an additive for reducing harmful emissions may be the lesser of two
evils, but we should continue to push for more environmentally friendly means
of air quality control, particularly conservation through more efficient
vehicles and alternative transportation. The use of ethanol as a primary fuel,
such as the 85% ethanol-15% gasoline mixture that many advocates propose, is a
bad mistake on all grounds: it should not be considered a renewable fuel, but
rather an excessively expensive method of converting coal, natural gas, and
diesel fuel into another liquid fuel, which would greatly increase the overall
air pollution and accelerate global warming.
Save the Shawnee!
by Lily Mueller-Marcus, a
sophomore in LAS who attended the November 14th General Meeting of the Prairie
Group
On Wednesday, November 14, I
went on a wild goose hunt looking for the Illinois Disciples Building on Wright
and Green in order to hear Doug Chien's presentation on the Shawnee National
Forest.
Arriving a few minutes late,
but not before the commencement of the slide show, I slide in a seat in the
front amoungst the members of the Prairie Group of the Sierra Club. The room
was boiling hot, and I was frustrated from searching for the building for so
long. In other words, I was not expecting to enjoy or even be interested by
Doug Chien's talk. Fortunately, I proved myself completely wrong.
Before Doug's talk, I'd
heard of the Shawnee Forest, but had no idea that it is located in Southern
Illinois. It's name has a ring and romance to it that I would not have
associated has being Illinoisian, but grouped it rather with places like the
Galapagos, or Cosa Mel. I soon learned that the Shawnee Forest spreads over
277,000 acres as far south as one can go in Illinois. Doug's collection of
gorgeous slides caught my attention immediately and held it thoroughly throughout
the presentation. Doug began his talk by explaining how the Shawnee Purchase
Boundary is far larger than what we own. The Shawnee Forest is highly
fragmented because individual land-owners are reluctant to sell their land. It
came up in the Q & A section that this area is the "Appalachia"
of Illinois. Since Southern Illinois is extremely poverty-striken, people are
reluctant to sell their land.
This fragmentation is very
unfortunate because since this area of Illinois is unglaciated, it contains
five different geological areas, and is incredibly biologically diverse.
At the end of the 70s, the US Forest Service designated nine sections of the
Shawnee as possibilities for wilderness area designation.
It wasn't until 1990 that
the US Congress graced seven of these areas with permanent status as
wilderness, saving them from development forever. There are three more proposed
areas now. If these three are added, the wildnerness-protected sections will
only be about 15 % of the Shawnee Forest.
One major problem, even in
the designated areas, is the profusion of off-roading vehicles. Drivers tear
through the forests, ripping up precious soil and plants, disturbing the
creatures in their home. Unfortunately, the forest service, which is
unbelievibly under-staffed with only three rangers for the entire area, is not
much help. These rangers have weekends off, and one of them has been sighted
off-roading in these areas. There is hope though. In the past three months
there has been some movement in legislation.
I am so grateful that I
witnessed this presentation. The slides took my breath away. It gave me an
increased sensitivity to, and respect and gratitude for Illinoisian natural
beauty. I hope to visit the Shawnee this spring and observe the exquisite,
exotic landscape with my own eyes. I wish that everyone I know could have seen
it, too. I believe that if only more people knew about the Shawnee and its
dilemmas, the problem would be quickly solved. So I will do my best to spread
the word of the Shawnee, I owe to the earth, to Illinois, and to myself.
Forest Glen Winter Hike
Saturday, January 19,
2002, 10:30am
Meet at the ranger office at
Forest Glen County Preserve in Vermilion
County south of Danville,
Illinois on Saturday January 19, at 10:30 am.
Be ready with warm clothing
and good boots for off trail hiking and some
basic orienteering and route
finding. The hike will end before the park
closes at 4:30 PM. Bring a
lunch and water. Contact Jack Kuehn:
(217)356-7206,
j-kuehn@shout.net for more details and to sign up for the
trip.
Meet at Mammoth Cave
National Park south of Lexington Kentucky on Thursday evening,
April 25, 2002. Tour Mammoth
cave if you like, then hike a loop, spending
Friday and Saturday nights
on the trail. Dinner and breakfast provided
Friday morning through
Sunday morning. Supply your own lunches, snacks and
equipment. $30 to cover
expenses. Contact: Jack Kuehn: (217) 356-7206,
When you purchase these from
the Prairie Group, you get a discount off the
retail price AND help raise
funds for the local group!
For 2002 the Sierra Club is
publishing two calendars: the engagement format
(about 6 by 8 inches, one
page per week with a photo on the facing page),
and the wall calendar (one
photo per month).
To buy calendars, and to
volunteer to help with calendar sales, contact
Trent Shepard
<tshepard@prairienet.org>, 217-344-2822.
http://illinois.sierraclub.org/prairie
To receive legislative and
local notices/alerts, subscribe to the Prairie
Group listserv by sending a
message to:
LISTSERV@LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG
Include this one-line
command in the message body:
SUBSCRIBE
IL-PRAIRIE-ALERTS Yourfirstname Yourlastname
(The following events are
not sponsored by the Sierra Club Prairie Group,
but are listed as a service
to our members.)
Ted Tourlentes
Chair*, Newsletter Co-Chair
217-344-0867, ted@net66.com
Jim Beauchamp
Vice-Chair, Membership Chair
217-344-3307, j-beauch@uiuc.edu
Jeannine Wisnieswski
Secretary*, Publicity Chair
217-344-4741, jwisnwsk@uiuc.edu
Karen Beauchamp
Treasurer
217-344-3307,
Alice Englebretsen
Newsletter Co-Chair
217-367-7344, englebre@uiuc.edu
George Gore
Chapter Delegate, List-Serv Chair
geo_gore@yahoo.com
Jack Kuehn
Outings Chair
217-356-7206, j-kuehn@shout.net
Dick Bishop
Political Chair, Newsletter
Co-Chair, r-bishop@uiuc.edu
217-328-6379
Kirstin Replogle
Member at Large
217-344-3809, kirstin.replogle@sierraclub.org
Trent Shepard
Publication Representative
217-344-2822, tshepard@prairienet.org
OPEN
Conservation Chair
OPEN
Environmental Education
OPEN
Chapter Delegate, Alternate
OPEN
Fund Raising
OPEN
Membership Co-Chair
OPEN
Program Chair
OPEN
Publicity Chair
* These positions are available in January, 2002. All the Open positions are available now. If interested please contact Jim Beauchamp at j-beauch@uiuc.edu or 217-344-3307.
Note: The Excom list is valid until December
31, 2001. Check the website at www.illinois.sierraclub.org/
prairie/ after that date for updated listings.
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