Pretty cool stuff. (Your link to their main page is broken, incidentally.) Corn, huh? If you got stranded, maybe you could munch on your gear. Seriously, though, I'm always glad to see other uses for corn besides high fructose corn syrup. Bruce has been telling me all about how corn is the devil after he listened to that Michael Pollan audio book you gave him. I once heard about a promotional item for alternate corn uses that was a ballpoint pen made entirely from corn: barrel, mechanism, ink, and all. It was supposed to be very environmentally friendly and 100% biodegradable.
Kate
· 2 years ago
Thanks James! I fixed the link, it should work better now.
I agree, the use of corn as a "renewable" resource is more controversial than many people believe. The amount of fossil fuels used the make the fertilizers required to grow the amount of corn we need will make up for some (much?) of the gains of making the clothes out of the corn instead of the petro-chemicals. I think it's along the lines of "Do we save that many resources when recycling if it requires so much energy just to do the recycling"?
I think, in the end, we might come out ahead. It's definitely worth looking in to.
cyberhobo
· 2 years ago
The overuse of those high nitrogen fertilizers pollutes runoff also. I'm surprised we don't hear more about the water pollution that will result from the Ethanol craze.
Making stuff from plants is great, corn is just the most subsidized, political plant in the country. We should push for more variety, I think.
James
· 2 years ago
While we're on the subject of controversial plants, check out Dan.K.Forest. (http://www.dankforest.com/) Don't know anything about their products, but hemp is supposed to be a much better renewable plant source for lots of stuff. There's a lot of nutty behavior associated with it in the media, to be sure (Woody Harrelson, I'm looking at you) but it's purported to require less fertilizer and other agricultural chemicals than a lot of other stuff. There are some historical anecdotes of questionable authenticity that the cotton and/or synthetic fiber industries are responsible for lobbying the government to outlaw cultivation under the guise of drug regulation, so it makes a great fiber for the tinfoil-hat set too. ;)
All Comments
I agree, the use of corn as a "renewable" resource is more controversial than many people believe. The amount of fossil fuels used the make the fertilizers required to grow the amount of corn we need will make up for some (much?) of the gains of making the clothes out of the corn instead of the petro-chemicals. I think it's along the lines of "Do we save that many resources when recycling if it requires so much energy just to do the recycling"?
I think, in the end, we might come out ahead. It's definitely worth looking in to.
Making stuff from plants is great, corn is just the most subsidized, political plant in the country. We should push for more variety, I think.