Top Three Quizzical Quotes at State of the Planet

coal on it's way to a converyer belt for export

coal at terminal getting ready to export

#3. “The Amazon Rainforest is not being used for sugar cane for ethanol. This is absolutely wrong! The Amazon region is far from the consumer centers and ports to ship. It needs water in the soil. It is a stupidity to grow cane in the Amazon rainforest. It is stupidity. We will never destroy the Amazon rainforest for sugar cane biofuels.”

- Roberto Rodrigues, former Brazilian Minister of Agriculture, Co-Chairman of the Interamerican Ethanol Commission (IEC)

Note: When a student came up to ask him if he would go on record saying that, he dodged the question by not answering it. As far as I am concerned, he went on record saying that when he got up to talk. - SRO

#2. “It’s cheap as dirt to dig up coal.”
- Klaus S. Lackner, Ewing-Worzel Professor of Geophysics at Columbia

Note: It’s as cheap as coal to dig up coal…unless you ask those that are being affected by mountaintop removal. - SRO

#1. “Clean coal” as part of a solution in memo to the upcoming President.

- Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute of Columbia

Note: He also directly quoted his book review in The Economist in the Presidential memo, which said, “If everyone were as sensible as Jeffrey Sachs…” - SRO

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About Summer Rayne

Summer Rayne is an entomologist and environmental scientist by training. She's worked on issues ranging from mine reclamation to sewage sludge. In 2000, she slung her hiking boots to her travel pack and embarked on a journey of cause-related modeling to push sustainabilty through fashion and the mainstream media. She travels the world working on sustainable development programs, helping highlight innovative initiatives, consults on sustainable business, and rocks the runways for eco-conscious designers and companies. Keep an eye open for her on Discovery Network's new channel, Planet Green launching this June 2008.

1 Response to “Top Three Quizzical Quotes at State of the Planet”

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1 Ryan Mar 31st, 2008 at 10:12 pm

Perhaps Mr. Rodrigues is either surprisingly uninformed or perhaps has been imbibing his product:

“In Brazil, for instance, only a tiny portion of the Amazon is being torn
down to grow the sugarcane that fuels most Brazilian cars. More
deforestation results from a chain reaction so vast it’s subtle: U.S.
farmers are selling one-fifth of their corn to ethanol production, so
U.S. soybean farmers are switching to corn, so Brazilian soybean farmers
are expanding into cattle pastures, so Brazilian cattlemen are displaced
to the Amazon. It’s the remorseless economics of commodities markets.
“The price of soybeans goes up,” laments Sandro Menezes, a biologist
with Conservation International in Brazil, “and the forest comes down.”

The Clean Energy Scam
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1725975,00.html

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