Mark Edwards, PhD, Arizona State University

Burning 100 million tons of our primary food for fuel is unsustainable and wastes non-renewable resources, especially water. Growing massive amounts of corn represents ecological suicide as it drains trillions of gallons of non-replenishable groundwater, spikes food and fuel prices, decimates food exports and threatens millions with starvation from a food cascade.

Biowar I inflicts costs, casualties and catastrophe in a magnitude far greater than a conventional war. Taxpayers are forced to pay $43 B annually to subsidize erosion and pollution of our air and water for a tiny, 2.4%, replacement of foreign oil. America has insufficient disposable cropland, water or energy to waste on a policy that fails its objectives.

Compared with biofuel alternatives:

• Corn requires more water, land, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides

• Severely pollutes air, soils, rivers, lakes and well-water

• Degrades and erodes soils at the rate of 6 tons per acre

• Grows slowly and produces a low energy biomass yield, 3%

Corn ethanol is not sustainable. It consumes too much water, land, fertilizer and energy. The direct and indirect costs of the ethanol industry are neither sustainable nor sensible for farmers, consumers, taxpayers or food support recipients.

Biowar І offers sustainable alternative to corn ethanol, algae which does not compete for food cropland, uses 0.001 as much water and creates an ecologically positive footprint. Algae is over 30 times more productive than corn and can be made into higher value products such as jet fuel and green diesel. The coproducts from algae, proteins and carbohydrates, may have more value for food, medicines, animal feed and low energy input fertilizers than the oils used for making jet fuel. See more about Biowar І at www.biowar1.com .

• Biowar I Summary and FAQ

I’m reading the book ‘Native to Nowhere’ for a class of mine and it’s talking about how many suburbs have hurt people’s sense of community and place. I’m just starting the book, but it got me thinking about Arizona and how many people here don’t seem to feel like they are part of a community. I have to admit I hardly know my neighbors. I was wondering if there were any developments that specifically are designed to create a community, a sense of belonging. Surprising I found a few here in Arizona. So far with a little Google searching I found three cohousing communities. Cohousing doesn’t mean they all share a house, but they are closer then your average suburb. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition.

A cohousing community is a kind of intentional community composed of private homes with full kitchens, supplemented by extensive common facilities. A cohousing community is planned, owned and managed by the residents, groups of people who want more interaction with their neighbours. Common facilities vary but usually include a large kitchen and dining room where residents can take turns cooking for the community. Other facilities may include a laundry, pool, child care facilities, offices, internet access, game room, TV room, tool room or a gym. Through spatial design and shared social and management activities, cohousing facilitates intergenerational interaction among neighbours, for the social and practical benefits. There are also economic and environmental benefits to sharing resources, space and items.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohousing

On top of these developments catering to a sense of community it seems most of them also incorporate a lot of sustainable living practices. Most of the houses are built to be very energy efficient, have greywater systems installed, and have water harvesting equipment installed. They use non- or low-toxicity building materials to protect their health as well. Community gardens, pools, and parks also serve to make the community more tight.

Tucson’s Desert Living recently did a profile on of these communities called Stone Curves. Click here to watch it online.

Here’s a list of cohousing communities I found in Arizona:

• Milagro – Tucson
• Sonora – Tucson
• Stone Curves – Tucson
• Manzanita Village – Prescott

Not in Arizona, but had to share this picture.

Earthships, cleaning toxic waste with mushrooms, and dumpster diving. Actually the first two are really cool and there are some really nice looking Earthships out there, and cleaning up toxic waste with mushrooms is ingenious. Dumpster diving is definitely too extreme for me. Read all about these over at Mental Floss.

I snapped this picture on my way to work just off of Mill Ave in Tempe. I love seeing all the birds every morning, it’s amazing how many of them are out. Quite a beautiful site!