To: Pil-pc-oceania NETWORK <pil-pc-oceania@lists.permacultureinternational.org>, PermacultureInternational NETWORK <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc: info@grain.org
Subject: [permaculture] Agrofuels (aka biofuels) and phytoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons
Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2007 13:07:52 +1000
The latest issue of "Seedling", a journal published by GRAIN
http://www.grain.org/ is solely devoted to information about the
emerging, or should I say stampeding, industry for the production of
agrofuels precipitated by the oil crisis and global warming. Also
previously known as "biofuels", the team at Seedling is now suggesting
that biofuels have indeed become "agrofuels" as they join cattle
ranching, monocultural food cropping, genetic modification and other
unsustainable activities that are collectively known as modern
agriculture. The entire July 2007 edition of Seedling is now available
online in English at http://www.grain.org/seedling/?type=68.
Translations into French and Spanish will be made available in
September and October.
Phytoremediation is basically biochemical/ecological engineering or
plant-assisted remediation of degraded sites, a practice well-known to
permaculturists, that captures the essence of synergistic relationships
between plants, micro-organisms and the environment . The University
of Saskatchewan's Department of Soil Science has developed an excellent
website full of information about phytoremediation of soils
contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons including methane, ethane,
propane, benzene, toluene, fluorene, ethylbenzene, xylene, naphthalene,
phenanthrene, anthracene, benzopyrene and creosote. A quick browse of
their comprehensive database leads me to believe that many of the plant
species permaculturists are already using for remediation such as
legumes and sunflowers are particularly beneficial for mopping up the
mess caused by manufacturing and transportation of modern fuels. I
note too that Zoysia, a no-mow grass recommended as a lawn substitute
in permaculture systems, is also on the list:
http://www.phytopet.usask.ca/index.html is well worth a look for anyone
interested in this topic.