the daily dirt: project walmart, cotton for fuel

the daily dirt Current Topic:  Cotton
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I just overheard the waitress in this coffee house say, "The wold is retarded." Yes.  That seemed like a decent opening thought for today's entry on the daily dirt.  I remember hearing that Jimmy Carter put solar panels up on the white house roof during the energy crisis of the 70s, and Ronald Reagan took them down.  



This is Project Walmart and we're talking about Organic Cotton this week.  Walmart is the largest buyer of organic cotton in the world.  Not bad, but they could do more.  On the other hand, the more you dig deeper into the story of cotton, the sadder the story gets.  To get the picture, just remember the South before the end of slavery in America, add toxic pesticides and you've got the global picture.  Before you surf on to another page somewhere on the web that is not as depressing as this one, let's go back to those solar panels on the White House - stick with me.

I'm sure you've heard the saying, "If it aint broke, don't fix it."  Well that may be true, but what if everything could be improved?  What if, let's say ... you could make renewable energy from cotton waste?  How could you move the political and economic machine towards getting that technology in place?  Let's dig deeper.

Cotton gin trash can be compressed into briquettes that delivers a Btu output comparable to wood. Now get this, the BTUs can be increased by adding a small amount of crude cottonseed oil to the compressed waste material.  Basically that means we can turn trash into cheap fuel that is better than wood.  Want to know more?  Here is a link to a powerpoint on it from St. Joseph Heating Solutions:  click here

I scoured the web to find something positive to say about Cotton after searching for quite a while to try to find something that could inspire my readers.  Buying organic cotton is definitely a good way to improve the environmental and social catastrophes that plague this industry.  Converting cotton waste to energy sounds like a really good idea, and the political climate is right for this right now.

So, think about who is in power right now.  We have a president that is very vocal about the green economy and alternative fuels.  We are living in a moment where solar panels might seem appropriate on the roof of the White House.  This moment seems right for innovation, job creation and new technologies. But we may only have a 3 year window of opportunity to make our voices heard.  Wouldn't it be great if the White House was heated with organic cotton waste briquettes?  Sounds crazy when they already have a perfectly good heating system that aint broke. 

Maybe it just needs a little improving.