So I was recently shown this article by a good friend of mine! Now, this is an incredibly important read by everyone pretty much, especially those interested in biofuels.
But this isn't completely damning of Jatropha, as the article explicitly states. All it states is that there was significant hype about Jatropha (much of which was unfounded-which is true), and several of the methods tried (mainly replacing Jatropha as a food crop and growing it sans fertilizers and adequate rain) failed. One of the prominent "myths" busted was that Jatropha does not need many nutrients to grow. While not false per se, Jatropha certainly needs an adequate amount of nutrition and water in order to achieve yields that are useful economically. That's why promoting Jatropha to farmers as a "you don't have to do anything it'll make money" kind of solution is very bad-not only because it'll fail and hurt the farmers, but also because that will seriously hinder future attempts to introduce Jatropha in different fashions in the future (along with ruining trust between foreigners and locals-on the Project Jatropha site, and in other blog posts, we've talked about the trust issue).
While it certainly is important to distinguish the hype from fact regarding Jatropha, the article itself states that there are alternative methods for growing Jatropha that should not be ruled out-such as small scale hedges among poor farmers (which is what Project Jatropha advocates). In addition, the article mentions that further research about Jatropha is needed to determine its future viability (of which the article claims it has, although more research is definitely needed).
All in all, important information. It may not be the news people want to hear, but it must be heard nonetheless.
Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/08/22/159391553/how-a-biofuel-dream-called-jatropha-came-crashing-down
Sincerely,
Adarsha
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Phase IV of Project Jatropha-with pictures!
Pictured above are Bala and international volunteers (from England) planting Jatropha seedlings in the rural school mentioned in my previous blog post (this school is located 30 minutes away from Pondicherry, which is in the state of Tamil Nadu). The Jatropha seedlings were purchased with funds provided by Dr. Anuradha Rajput, who is the General Manager for the Bangalore ICON Laboratories. These photos are from Phase IV of Project Jatropha-where we are expanding to rural schools (in this, in the school Bala was working with), advocating fruit gardens and Jatropha planting. We've found out that the youth are particularly responsive to these efforts-many of them have rarely seen fruit in their lifetimes, and they particularly love the opportunity to grow plants (that are not tobacco) for non-business purposes. Wherever we've planted and given fruit plants to youth, they've maintained excellent care of the plants and show great enthusiasm. It's always heartening to see a kid stand next to a plant they have taken responsibility for and gesture to show how much the plant has grown in a certain amount of time. This is why we're also seeing if Jatropha can be incorporated into our efforts-hopefully, the kids will have equal enthusiasm for taking care of Jatropha! The Jatropha is primarily being grown as a hedge crop again (this also helps protect the fruit plants from being eaten by roaming cows and goats), but if everything goes well, we hope to have the kids sell the Jatropha seeds they collect. Again, that's a long term goal and it remains to be seen if everything will work out, but we're hopeful!
~Adarsha
An update from Bala from Pondicherry
Hello readers of this blog, and random people of the internet!
If you all recall, last summer, when Apoorva and I were in India, we went to the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, and visited Pondicherry. The reason was that earlier that year, we had been in contact with a man named Bala, who graduated as an engineer many years ago in India. After he graduated from college, he decided that instead of going abroad and working there, his talents would be more needed back in his home town of Pondicherry. Earlier, Bala had been trying to work with rural school children in a village 30 minutes away from Pondicherry by providing them with rural gardens and the like. However, he had some logistical issues, including funding. He contacted us back in 2010, and in the summer of 2012 we had enacted our plans. We went to Pondicherry and together, we purchased various young fruit saplings and helped plant them-with the help of a group of international volunteers from around the world (who Bala had managed to round up a while earlier)-in a local school. Afterwards, we contacted Labland Biotechs to see if they could give Bala some agronomic training regarding Jatropha.
Just a few days ago, we received some photos from Bala-the ones in this blog post are of him receiving agronomic training from Labland Biotechs. Over the course of 6 days, Bala witnessed and learned a good deal. At Labland Biotechs, Bala got to see various Jatropha plots on farms and in larger facilities, learning the various methods and needs of Jatropha. In addition, Bala got to see and practice firsthand the biofuel extraction and biodiesel conversion processes. Tissue culturing, seed harvest, seed processing, storage, and byproduct management were among the other things that Labland Biotechs showed Bala.
If you have any questions or comments/constructive criticism, feel free to post in the comments section or shoot me an email if you so desire! The next blog post will be about Project Jatropha's Phase IV, and how it has been initiated-pictures included!
~Adarsha
If you all recall, last summer, when Apoorva and I were in India, we went to the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, and visited Pondicherry. The reason was that earlier that year, we had been in contact with a man named Bala, who graduated as an engineer many years ago in India. After he graduated from college, he decided that instead of going abroad and working there, his talents would be more needed back in his home town of Pondicherry. Earlier, Bala had been trying to work with rural school children in a village 30 minutes away from Pondicherry by providing them with rural gardens and the like. However, he had some logistical issues, including funding. He contacted us back in 2010, and in the summer of 2012 we had enacted our plans. We went to Pondicherry and together, we purchased various young fruit saplings and helped plant them-with the help of a group of international volunteers from around the world (who Bala had managed to round up a while earlier)-in a local school. Afterwards, we contacted Labland Biotechs to see if they could give Bala some agronomic training regarding Jatropha.
Just a few days ago, we received some photos from Bala-the ones in this blog post are of him receiving agronomic training from Labland Biotechs. Over the course of 6 days, Bala witnessed and learned a good deal. At Labland Biotechs, Bala got to see various Jatropha plots on farms and in larger facilities, learning the various methods and needs of Jatropha. In addition, Bala got to see and practice firsthand the biofuel extraction and biodiesel conversion processes. Tissue culturing, seed harvest, seed processing, storage, and byproduct management were among the other things that Labland Biotechs showed Bala.
If you have any questions or comments/constructive criticism, feel free to post in the comments section or shoot me an email if you so desire! The next blog post will be about Project Jatropha's Phase IV, and how it has been initiated-pictures included!
~Adarsha
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Why the environmental movement needs to stop (irrationally) hating and instead embrace safe nuclear power
Alright, I’m going to say something that will undoubtedly stir up controversy given that this is a subject of hot contention among the environmental/sustainability movement.
I believe that nuclear power, used in a safe, controlled manner, will be absolutely critical in creating a more sustainable future for us all.
Certainly, this statement will incite anger and doubt among many who know me as a sustainability advocate. But I firmly believe that my support for carefully regulated nuclear power and a sustainable future are NOT mutually exclusive. Not at all.
There are those who believe that nuclear power is inherently dangerous, and that it has no place whatsoever in a clean-energy based future. I respectfully disagree with those people. Wind, solar, hydroelectric, along with other sources of renewable or clean energy, will all play large roles in power generation in the future. But a steady, safe (when done right) source of clean energy like nuclear power will be absolutely critical in replacing the massive amounts of coal that are currently used as the primary mode of power generation.
My claim that nuclear power is “clean” or “safe” will also cause controversy-but when made and inspected correctly, modern nuclear reactors have an absurdly low risk of failure. People will be quick to point out Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, but 3 incidents out of nearly 50 years of nuclear power....where all three were caused by incredibly extenuating circumstances and outdated reactor technology. Our efforts should be focused on preventing oil spills, fracking, and other dangerous activities that occur with far more regularity than nuclear accidents.
Cleaning and disposing of nuclear waste certainly is an issue, but technologies such as breeder reactors can help solve that problem while generating massive amounts of clean power.
Simply put, I believe that continual blocking of nuclear power will seriously hurt the transition away from dirty fossil fuels and only exacerbate anthropogenic climate change (while also hindering the transition to a more sustainable future).
For more reading, which goes more in depth on my beliefs, I highly recommend checking out these two articles: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/are_fast-breeder_reactors_a_nuclear_power_panacea/2557/
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/shunning_new_nuclear_power_plants_will_lead_to_warmer_world/2510/
If you have comments, questions, or want to argue with me, feel free to send me emails/post such inquiries in the comments.
~Adarsha
I believe that nuclear power, used in a safe, controlled manner, will be absolutely critical in creating a more sustainable future for us all.
 |
| Yea, pretty much this. Sans the Fallout vibes that the text gives me. |
Certainly, this statement will incite anger and doubt among many who know me as a sustainability advocate. But I firmly believe that my support for carefully regulated nuclear power and a sustainable future are NOT mutually exclusive. Not at all.
There are those who believe that nuclear power is inherently dangerous, and that it has no place whatsoever in a clean-energy based future. I respectfully disagree with those people. Wind, solar, hydroelectric, along with other sources of renewable or clean energy, will all play large roles in power generation in the future. But a steady, safe (when done right) source of clean energy like nuclear power will be absolutely critical in replacing the massive amounts of coal that are currently used as the primary mode of power generation.
My claim that nuclear power is “clean” or “safe” will also cause controversy-but when made and inspected correctly, modern nuclear reactors have an absurdly low risk of failure. People will be quick to point out Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, but 3 incidents out of nearly 50 years of nuclear power....where all three were caused by incredibly extenuating circumstances and outdated reactor technology. Our efforts should be focused on preventing oil spills, fracking, and other dangerous activities that occur with far more regularity than nuclear accidents.
Cleaning and disposing of nuclear waste certainly is an issue, but technologies such as breeder reactors can help solve that problem while generating massive amounts of clean power.
Simply put, I believe that continual blocking of nuclear power will seriously hurt the transition away from dirty fossil fuels and only exacerbate anthropogenic climate change (while also hindering the transition to a more sustainable future).
For more reading, which goes more in depth on my beliefs, I highly recommend checking out these two articles: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/are_fast-breeder_reactors_a_nuclear_power_panacea/2557/
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/shunning_new_nuclear_power_plants_will_lead_to_warmer_world/2510/
If you have comments, questions, or want to argue with me, feel free to send me emails/post such inquiries in the comments.
~Adarsha
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