10/20/2008

Fuel and food costs

We are addressing the concerns of one of our constituants regarding fuel and food costs. Our foreign policy will be published tomorrow.
Freedom and I have been looking at fuel and food costs...boy howdy are they horrible! I don't know how Joe the Plow Horse is going to make ends meet. fuel prices are bad, even though they have taken a slight drop. I am concerned about fuel prices for several reasons. How are our drivers (the DORs) supposed to take us on trips to the mountains, clinics, and other interesting places with gas prices so high? I know I tease about my DOR and her clinics, but I get to show off at them and I want to go! If fuel prices stay so high then the price of food will stay high also. Higher hay costs means more horses without proper feed, homeless, or at risk of being sent out of the country for slaughter. We can not have this! I have a few things that might help with fuel costs.
Joe the Plow Horse and his buddies would love to be kept busy helping humans farm the old fashioned way. They work for feed, water, and fair treatment. Not only will farmers save on fuel costs, they will also be reducing the emissions that cause global warming.
The other thing that can be done is the active harnessing of the methane gas emissions from cows. We simply fit all cows with methane gas collecting backpacks. We all know what gas factories cows are, why not put that to use? It will help reduce our depenece on foreign fuel sources. Methane will produce electricity by burning it as a fuel in a gas turbine or steam boiler. Compared to other hydrocarbon fuels, burning methane produces less carbon dioxide for each unit of heat released. Methane, being the simplest hydrocarbon, produces more heat per mass unit than other complex hydrocarbons. In many cities, methane is piped into homes for domestic heating and cooking purposes. In this context it is usually known as natural gas. Methane in the form of compressed natural gas is used as a vehicle fuel, and is claimed to be more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels such as gasoline/petrol and diesel. Research is being conducted by NASA on methane's potential as a rocket fuel.
Freedom and I are also encouraging humans to have a "ride your horse to work day" once a week. The fuel savings from that one day alone would be enough to feed all of the horses at Joe's TB Friends each month.

Food costs are getting out of hand! How much are we expected to pay for simple grass hay, not to mention the pelleted feed that the senior horses need. Joe the Plow Horse works hard and is struggling to keep food in the manger. Here is a sampling of the prices in Washington State: 3rd cutting orchard grass-$250 per ton at the stack, 4th cutting alfalfa-$250 per ton at the stack, 2 string oat hay-$200 per ton at the stack, 3rd cutting alfalfa-$250 per ton at the stack, first cutting timothy $ 220.00 per ton at the stack, 2nd cutting timothy aasking $ 250.00 per ton at the stack. There is a large amount of hay from Washington State that gets exported to Europe for $500 per ton at the dock. I believe that we need to place restrictions on the amount of hay that is allowed to be exported. I also believe that corn should be used for food purposes and not for alternative fuel (we already addressed the fuel issue with the cows). By keeping corn in the food market rather than for fuel the price of corn based products would drop.
These are just just a few of the options that we are looking at to help address the fuel and food price problem.
Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR

2 comments:

Rambling Woods said...

Jack..This is a more well thought out energy plan that either of the major candidates have. I really love the methane gas idea and the photo. You and your buddies are lucky to have a loving DOR. The 4 legged can be the first to suffer when prices get high. My cats have been ill and one needs two teeth extracted tomorrow. There have been some serious vet bills that I am lucky I can pay for. But some folks aren't that lucky... I think you have some wonderful ideas and present them very well...

Jackie said...

Jack, this is a wonderful energy plan.

Now I am here Jack to ask you to help bunches and bunches of us blog for peace.

Jack's first tag. You can even use it as part of your campaign.

http://shinade.blogspot.com/2008/10/peace.html

I do so hope you have time it's a wonderful project.

Hugs:-)

 

Designed by Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates