The following is a paper I wrote for a class. I found the information interesting and wanted to share it with you.

Ethanol is said to be the answer to all of our gasoline needs, it burns cleaner then gas and we wouldn’t be relying on foreign oil. Corn is also an abundant source in the United States and therefore we should be able to make enough ethanol and for everyone to run their cars on and maybe even to export. The problem is that using corn to make ethanol is a huge problem not only are there environmental impacts but there is not enough corn to make ethanol for everyone and still be able to feed the people of the United States and other countries. The energy used to make ethanol is more than oil produced gasoline and it’s only somewhat cleaner. Does that mean that we should not use ethanol, no it does not. It would still reduce our dependency on foreign oil and is still a little better for the environment.

Corn based ethanol is produced by using all the modern farming techniques; they have to grow the corn and use pesticides and other chemicals that are harmful to the environment. They also use more fossil fuels to produce the ethanol. Even after everything is said and done it would take 3 gallons of ethanol to produce 4 gallons for consumer use. That is not a very efficient way to produce anything and using the ethanol would require farmers to buy all new machinery that will run on ethanol.

There is still hope, there are many other products that can be used to produce ethanol. Corn stalks are one of these things, yes it would still require growing corn, but the corn itself would be for food, this would help the price of food made from corn go down and it would help the economy. The stalks would then be sold for ethanol use. Type of non food plant that could be used are poplar trees and switch grass a cheap and easy grass to grow. The last product that I am going to mention is sugar beats. There are many farms that already grow sugar beats for sugar production, these farms could also grow them for ethanol since sugar cane is a better way to produce sugar. All of these non food plants have a cellulose base that can be converted into ethanol.

There are still many difficulties in getting ethanol from these sources. The process is more time consuming.The fermentation process requires more advanced technology and the process is more costly then corn based ethanol. Research is now being done to find a cheaper and better way to take the cellulose out of these non food plants for use in ethanol production. With time and research we should soon be able to produce ethanol with these plants. The benefits of doing it this way are numerous. The main one being that the process is more efficient, it can produce 4 to 6 times the energy used to produce it and it would not take away from our food supply.

Ethanol is not the replacement for foreign oil. When we do get the technology to produce ethanol from non food products we still would only be able to cover 30% of our oil use. Still this is a good number and could help in combination with many other types of renewable energy.

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As many of you know I’m working hard to lose weight, this week I have noticed old habits coming back into play. I have been having a severe case of the Munchys that I haven’t had until now. I know much of it is because I’ve been very depressed and stressed. So yes it’s emotional eating.

I’ve been looking online for some help and I found a site, www.ShrinkYourself.com that seems to be a good fit. I don’t have money to pay for the program right now, but they have some good information in the free sections of their site. I am hoping this is just a bad time and that I will soon get over it and move on, but any help I can get will make it go away faster. I really think I just need to get new friends in my area. people who will motivate me instead of putting me down and telling me I can’t do it. I think I’m dreaming when it comes to that, so maybe I’ll just have to get a second personality that tells me I can do it!

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Yesterday I went with my sister to the hospital as she was having surgery done. They said it would only take about 20 minutes for the surgery but it could take up to 5 hours for her to recover from the drugs.

That was fine, according to the nurse they would come out and let me know when she was out of surgery. 2 hours later I was told she was awake not that she was out of surgery, but that she was awake. Now for a normal person thats not a big deal, for a diabetic who needed to eat an hour before the came out it was a big deal. I was not happy at this point. So I followed the nurse in thinking that my sister would be okay to leave. She wasn’t she will still very out of it. So I sat for another 20 minutes until I started shaking at that point I went down to the cafeteria and ate. Yes I know I’m an adult and should have before, but if something had gone wrong I was the only person there.

Of course this is not the worst part. Her nurse had gone down to have lunch just a few minutes before I left. When I walked by she gave me a funny look, later I overheard her say how horrible it was that I thought food was more important then my sister. Now I understand she didn’t know my situation, but it was still uncalled for since she didn’t know. You would think that a nurse in a hospital would know better wouldn’t you?

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I have been thinking about what to have for lunch for the last hour. Yes it’s only 10 am but I have to plan ahead. Being diabetic I have to eat at about the same time everyday, so if I cook something I have to plan for that time so that I can sit and eat about noon. I was thinking today that chicken sounded good.

I loved grilled chicken but it’s a little too cold to do it outside, but I can still use one of my favorite grilled chicken recipes inside in a pan. I thought today since I keep thinking about how good it is I would share it with you.

it’s pretty simple and if you do it pan fry you can skip the marinating

need:

4 boneless chicken breast without skin
2 tbs Olive oil
1/2 tsp Oregano
Pepper
splash of Sweet orange juice (Sunny D works well)

Put all ingredients in a heavy duty bag and marinate over night. When your ready to cook put the chicken on the grill and have fun.

If your pan frying theres a little more to it. You can marinate it and if you do just cook it carefully so that it doesn’t burn. If you don’t marinate it start with the olive oil in a heated pan, add the chicken, cook for a few minutes then add the oregano and the pepper. Once the chicken is cooked through add the orange juice and cook until it thickens up.

I usually serve this with brown rice and some grilled or roasted veggies.

If you want to see some fun grilling videos check out wherestheflamegrill.com

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