Is the Answer to Renewable Energy and Global Warming Beneath our Feet?
World demand for fuel is increasing, but so is the demand for food--and it's creating stiff competition for fertile farmland. What should take precedence for our productive acreage: food-based biofuels or food grown for consumption? And how safe are current biofuels if their cultivation increases pollution from fertilizers and pesticides and their conversion contributes to greenhouse gases?
If current production methods are inadequate, what are our other options? Could the answer to renewable energy and global warming be right here in the heartland, in the prairie beneath our feet?
Listen to Professor David Tilman's January 2007 presentation to a packed Headliners house by downloading the audio (mp3 file).