-- Posted by mcdouga at 10:09 pm on Oct. 10, 2007 Here are a couple of solutions that no doubt have been passed around many times before. But if the governments were really concerned about our environment they would implement these solutions. And if the government were really looking for alternatives to oil they would implement these solutions. Part one is to grow more soybean plants. If you didn't already know it soy bean plants are quite remarkable. This annual plant can be harvested every year. This is an advantage over harvesting oil as our oil supplies are sketchy at best and they cannot be replenished once they are harvested. Most people know that soy can provide many essential nutrients through a variety of forms such as soy milk, soy yogurt and soy butter. But not a lot of people know that the soy bean plants have numerous uses. The soy bean plant can be used to make oils, biodiesel, plastic, clothing, inks, crayons and you can even make vodka out of it. Now that we all know the uses for soy beans let me inform you of a brilliant idea using soy beans that Henry Ford came up with. Ford came up with the "Soybean Car".  A car made up of soy bean plastic that consisted of soybeans mixed hemp, wheat and flax. The car was made entirely of soybean plastic attached to a tubular welded frame. It weighed 30% less than a steel car and was said to be able to withstand blows ten times greater than could steel. It also ran on rice grain alcohol, better known as ethanol, instead of gasoline. These "Soybean Cars" could provide better safety to drivers as well be environmentally friendly. It would help wean humans off of gasoline and would reduce carbon emissions which would aid in the reduce of climate change. Harvesting more soy bean plants would also give some much needed economic help to our farmers. Part two is to grow more hemp. Industrial hemp has thousands of uses, from paper to textiles to biodegradable plastics to health food to fuel. It is also runs parallel with the "Green Future" objectives that are becoming increasingly popular. Hemp requires little to no pesticides, replenishes soil with nutrients and nitrogen, and converts C02 to Oxygen very well, considering how fast it grows. This would greatly help in the removal of carbons from the air which in turn, would aid in preventing climate change. Furthermore, Hemp could be used to replace many potentially harmful products, such as tree paper (the process of which uses bleaches and other toxic chemicals, apart from contributing to deforestation), cosmetics (which often contain synthetic oils that can clog pores and provide little nutritional content for the skin), plastics (which are petroleum based and cannot decompose), and more importantly hemp can be used to make biodiesel. This biodiesel made from hemp can contribute greatly to enabling mankind to reduce its dependent on oil. These are solutions to problems that are affecting us today and will be very detrimental to our species as a whole if we do not act soon. As a species there is little we can do to change the course of mankind's history. And until there is a world government we will always be fighting amongst ourselves. The world oil supply is coming to an end and that will eventually give way to a great oil war of the future as our governments are not thinking about the future. Climate change is currently killing millions of our species every year through natural disasters and until humankind can control the weather our species will always be at the mercy of Mother Nature. Using natural plants we can promote economical growth, reduce emissions, kick our addiction to oil and even help same our forests which are very vital to the Earth's ecosystem which we all are a part of. Sources : http://www.hempcar.org/biofacts.shtml http://www.thehia.org/facts.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_beans http://www.thehenryford.org/research/services/populartopics/SoybeanCar/default.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_ford http://www.perc.ca/PEN/2004-11-12/s-larose.html