Pubdate: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 Source: The DrugSense Chat Room Website: http://www.drugsense.org/chat/ Note: This is part of a series of chats being posted to the DrugNews clipping service as an exception to policy. All chats are edited into a basic question and answer format. Cited: Hempcar http://www.hempcar.org/ Bookmarks: http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp) http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.) Join: Dr. Tom O'Connell when he visits the DrugSense Chat Room Sunday evening, 14 October at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific. THE HEMPCAR CREW'S VISIT TO THE DRUGSENSE CHAT ROOM Kellie_Hempcar: Hi everyone Dean: So are you back home safe now, the trip over? Kellie_Hempcar: Nice to hear from some of you again. Yes, I'm back home trying to destress. Jo-D: Kellie, did you get hassled by cops a lot during your journey? Kellie_Hempcar: Never. Dean: Any idea of how many people came to see the Hempcar? How much literature got distributed, etc.? Kellie_Hempcar: We reached hundreds of thousands of people directly and over 75 million through national media. Kellie_Hempcar: We were on the front page of the Village Voice and on CNN, London Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post.... Pam: do you feel that from the everyday folks, you were supported? Kellie_Hempcar: Absolutely! The trip couldn't have happened without grassroots support. Kellie_Hempcar: How feasible is it that the DEA will change its laws? Kellie_Hempcar: Hemp for biomass is feasible... dougkeenan: How many tires did you end up retiring? Kellie_Hempcar: 4 tires Pam: tell us some of the highlights of the trip please Kellie_Hempcar: Highlights border guards in Detroit stopped the car and took pictures of themselves with it. Ben_Masel: Hemp movement (NAIHC) has avoided lobbying Congress, instead focusing on State Legislators. Is it time to change that? Kellie_Hempcar: Ben, you know much more about politics than me dougkeenan: Tell us about Roswell please Kellie_Hempcar: The UFO museum is run by sweet little old ladies. It's totally free. Our alternator broke after we left. Kellie_Hempcar: We didn't see any aliens except Chuck. scott_hempcar: Oh and we got yelled at by a motorcycle cop dougkeenan: Got yelled at while you were moving, or while stationary? scott_hempcar: Apparently almost joined a parade of retired USAF persons Kellie_Hempcar: The alternator caused us to be stuck in Ft. Stockton TX (pop. 80) for 4 days! We had to eat bread from the gas station to survive. scott_hempcar: hehe, bread, beer, and Chinese food Kellie_Hempcar: you call that beer??? Ben_Masel: At least you didn't have to eat your horses. er drink your fuel. scott_hempcar: Ft. Stockton in in the west Texas desert and consists of several hotels that service people who breakdown...and not much else dougkeenan: How many times did you cross the Canadian border? Three? scott_hempcar: twice in twice out Kellie_Hempcar: two dougkeenan: Did you have much (if any) fuel remaining at the end of the trip? Kellie_Hempcar: We have 5 gals. Kellie_Hempcar: We hope someone else will do a Hempcar. Kellie_Hempcar: We are trying to get out of debt.... $10,000 scott_hempcar: i think some people in Minnesota are doing a hempcar Ben_Masel: Missouri has a hempcar. They're filling in the central states you missed. Kellie_Hempcar: YaHOO scott_hempcar: the only remaining plans we have for hempcar are finishing the documentary and auctioning off the car dougkeenan: Are you going to post more pictures at your site? Kellie_Hempcar: Yes. We have 8,000 pics to go through first. Kellie_Hempcar: Plus about 30 hrs of video. scott_hempcar: I'm editing video from the trip scott_hempcar: we should have some up (video at least) this week Kellie_Hempcar: We miss you Doug. dougkeenan: Thanks. You guys are awesome and we all respect you tremendously. Did anybody ever "convoy" with you for any serious mileage? Ben_Masel: Your stop at the USDA Forest products Lab seems to have generated a lot of interest. And Representative Hahn had a hearing in the Ag Committee last Wednesday. Kellie_Hempcar: We didn't really encourage the gasoline powered convoy. We had a few friends for some legs. scott_hempcar: we had a friend follow us down the west coast from Portland to San Fran Pam: was the grassroots support stronger in Canada or the States? Kellie_Hempcar: Media better in Canada. Grassroots support good in both. scott_hempcar: the media attention was certainly stronger in Canada Ben_Masel: Canada couldn't have pulled better media than Wisconsin. We had a clean sweep. Kellie_Hempcar: Wisconsin was a very good media stop. Kellie_Hempcar: We did national Canada news 4 times. The weather lady reported the weather in front of Hempcar. Lindy: Canadians know a good hempcar when we see one and love our weather reports Kellie_Hempcar: Hempcar loves Canada. dougkeenan: Our Indy paper pretty much stifled your visit here. They did cover you when you made it to Minnesota though. Go figure! Kellie_Hempcar: The Minnesota article was one of the worst ones. For some reason it was reproduced often. scott_hempcar: when we were on route from Winnipeg to Regina we were asked to stop and do an interview scott_hempcar: i can't remember the town though dougkeenan: This was an AP release, if I recall correctly. dougkeenan: Did you ever pass a hemp field? I saw they got the SD fields before you got there. -( Kellie_Hempcar: We visited a hemp field in Saskatchewan. dougkeenan: How's Grayson? What's he up to? Kellie_Hempcar: Grayson is sitting here. Dean: So do you have plans for the documentary, cable or PBS? scott_hempcar: as far as the documentary goes....I've got 30 hours of tape to go through and several people to get footage from scott_hempcar: i can't even begin to imagine where we would air it Kellie_Hempcar: We're thinking about doing a coffee table book as well. Ben_Masel: Book is a good idea. Ben_Masel: Technical articles as appendices. Kellie_Hempcar: We've many great photos of wind farms, solar cells. Technical articles would be good too. dougkeenan: Any really nasty weather you have to travel through? Wind, rain ... any snow? Kellie_Hempcar: The weather was pretty good. A little rain in the desert. dougkeenan: Yeah, the Hemp Car brought good weather as it traveled. It was gorgeous here until they left, then poof! real cold. Amanda: Do you carry all your fuel with you all the time or is it transported to you at different points? Kellie_Hempcar: It was shipped to strategic drop points. We carried about 40gals at a time. Amanda: And where does it come from and isn't it horribly expensive at this time? Kellie_Hempcar: The hemp seed came from China and Canada. It was past being edible. It is still expensive due to prohibition and a growing industry. Mark: What do you think it would cost to run a car if there was total mass-production of Hemp for fuel? Kellie_Hempcar: If the hemp was used for biomass... making methanol it could be cheaper than gasoline. Amanda: Someone has probably already asked...but what is the top speed you can achieve on hemp fuel and how many miles to the gallon do you get. scott_hempcar: the cars top speed is 125 mph scott_hempcar: we never drove that fast though scott_hempcar: 27 miles to the gallon dougkeenan: Did you get any photos with the field in Saskatchewan? scott_hempcar: beautiful video and images, Doug Amanda: How many acres of hemp will we have to grow if everyone's vehicles eventually run on hemp fuel, approximately of course. Kellie_Hempcar: 2500 miles per acre using seed oil (not the most efficient) Ben_Masel: Hemp stalk to electricity is much closer to economic viability than liquid fuel, in appropriate locations. Ben_Masel: Soy oil is roughly equal in price to diesel fuel now. but if it were widely used as fuel, that would drive the price back up. scott_hempcar: we've heard that soy diesel has been a big success in San Fran Kellie_Hempcar: seed oil is best used as food not fuel dougkeenan: Fuel for people -) Kellie_Hempcar: the remaining biomass is good fuel Kellie_Hempcar: but then there's this problem with soil nutrient.. Kellie_Hempcar: which can be solved by better waste management schemes... Ben_Masel: The real money is in paper.... But as we heard at Wednesday's hearing, the industry will not take hemp seriously till they can be guaranteed long-term supply at a set price. Kellie_Hempcar: timber is the biggest threat allan: Hemp can also save the forests of the pacific northwest... Dean: Kellie, I always thought it put nitrogen back in the soil, does it deplete other nutrients? Kellie_Hempcar: no, whenever that much biomass is taken from the soil, a nitrogen loss will occur Ben_Masel: Hemp is quite nitrogen consumptive. Injecting leaf mulch back into soil reduces the depletion. Kellie_Hempcar: our real problem is that we don't recycle soil nutrients but rather chlorinate them and dump them en masse or bury them in land fills unknown: K&G.. if it only takes six% of our great nation growing hemp, isn't there enough land to continuously move the crop to avoid soil depletion? Richard_Lake: Rotating with clover would help. Ben_Masel: Minerals are depleted in Seed production. A stalk as fuel operation would cut before seeding. allan: yes , isn't a winter cover of a good legume sufficient for refixing nitrogen into the soil? Mark: This is very important research, I am really impressed at what the HempCar team has accomplished. Well done!! Ben_Masel: Studies from '20 say it takes 3 years of alfalfa to replace Nitrogen from 1 hemp crop. Kellie_Hempcar: yes provided adequate management is practiced. short term profit and such prevails... Amanda: Something I was wondering about...the NYT article said there was a strong odor to your emissions. Would that be a problem? scott_hempcar: the odor is not unlike a BBQ Kellie_Hempcar: the odor is very mild when compared to petroleum diesel scott_hempcar: many people liken it to cooking food dougkeenan: Yeah, it wasn't really "strong" at all - rather pleasant Amanda: How environmentally safe are the emissions...much better than fossil fuel I would imagine. Kellie_Hempcar: very safe. 90% reduction in cancer risks and most pollutants scott_hempcar: the emissions are about 80 to 90 percent cleaner Kellie_Hempcar: does not contribute to global warming, smog or acid rain scott_hempcar: http://www.hempcar.org/petvshemp.shtml scott_hempcar: here's the info from our site Dean: So Scott, after the documentary is done and the book is on the coffee table.. got another plan on the back burner? scott_hempcar: I think that all 4 crew members have various things they'd like to accomplish scott_hempcar: some involve personal projects but we are also thinking about starting a nonprofit foundation to research sustainable energy projects scott_hempcar: Back to the post trip question for a sec. scott_hempcar: I'll be looking for a job in the new year) Dean: what are your experiences Scott, besides as a videographer? scott_hempcar: I'm a jack of all trades...I've been previously employed in commercial tv, computer based training/education development, electronic, anything multimedia, farming Kellie_Hempcar: Hey people, we're headed to Scott's to pick up some vid cables and continue the hempcar.org saga... To our friends; we love you and big thanks to those who helped. Dean: Before you go Scott, just remember to inform us here when the documentary and books are published, we will help get the word out. Richard_Lake: Is the official guest chat over, or do you wish to keep going, Scott? scott_hempcar: we can chat for another 5 or 10 minutes and then K&G will be here) scott_hempcar: I would like to say that if anyone would like to send me audio or video talking about their hempcar experience I'd love to use it in the documentary Amanda: Does the car have to have a lot of special work done on it to make it able to use hemp fuel...and is hemp fuel harder on the engine and other parts than other fuels? Thanks. scott_hempcar: no the car is totally unmodified - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake