Biofuels and the Rise of Nationalistic Environmentalism

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The current food crisis
was terribly predictable, and has been anticipated for several years now.
Starting about seven years ago, the world started using more food than it was
producing, steadily eating into stored supplies. As grain stores have shrunk
year by year, the biofuel movement has taken off like a virus. Rapid biofuel
expansion has been propelled by a concern over American dependence on imported
oil, as well as concerns about "sustainable" energy supplies and
carbon emissions.

Meanwhile,
environmentalists concerned about our future food supply were sounding the
alarm, and being ignored. For some, it was terribly obvious that a disaster was
brewing. While there has been considerable debate about the energy returns from
various biofuels, no one debates the basic math. It takes about 10 acres to
feed a car on ethanol for a year.[1]
The world supply of grainland is about three-tenths of an acre per person, and
is expected to shrink to less than a quarter acre by 2020.[2]
Clearly direct market competition between rich and poor for land to feed cars
or people could be disastrous. Given the relentless fall in holdover stocks –
grain in storage – over the last few years, price spikes were inevitable.

As an environmental
activist, I was wary when my friends started enthusiastically grabbing used
cooking oil from behind restaurants. I did not think they were aware of the
political Frankenstein they were creating. American consumers are both
enormously powerful and very disconnected from the natural world or any
consideration of the limits of the Earth on which we all reside. Now that a
movement has been created to expand biofuel production rapidly, with support
from everyone from President Bush to large fraction of the environmental
movement, it will be difficult to stop.

The growth of the
biofuel craze has been very rapid. For those that would argue that biofuel does
not compete with food supplies, the actual behavior of the market, even at this
early stage, belies such contentions. Radical increases in food prices caused
in large part by biofuel expansion have triggered food riots in Haiti, Guinea,
Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Mexico. (That
list is likely to be longer by the time you read this.) Even in Italy consumers
have caused public disturbances over the rising price of food. Biodiesel plants
built in Malaysia now lie idle, never having been put into production, because
those odd Malaysian peasants are demanding the right to eat their palm oil. Meanwhile, in Swaziland, a small impoverished
nation in South Africa where forty percent of its people are facing food
shortages, the government decided last year to start exporting biofuel.[3]
The World Bank has stated that 33 countries may be at risk from destabilization
because of skyrocketing food prices. [4]

When I first started
writing about this issue several years ago, global grain stocks were at their
lowest point in over 30 years. Grain stocks have continued to fall. We are
perched on a precipice where a drought or other disruption of production in
grain-producing regions could cause severe instability in both food and energy
prices. Such instability could trigger widespread famine. Such concerns are not
restricted to fringe critics. Goldman Sachs is predicting that "vulnerable
regions of the world face the risk of famine over the next three years as
rising energy costs spill over into a food crunch…"[5]
The number of
people in the world suffering severe undernourishment was declining until the
late 1990s. Now it is rising.

Currently, 5% of the
global food supply is going into biofuels, and that fraction is growing very
rapidly – some would say virally.[6] If
the current rate of expansion of biofuel continues, ethanol plants will be
using almost all of the U.S. corn crop within 5-7 years. In response to this
growth rate and the dangerous potential outcomes it implies, the United Nations
Rapporteur on Food has called for a moratorium on biofuels expansion. The European
Union is drafting legislation so that they will only import biofuels that are
produced "sustainably," but the definition of that term is still up for debate.

The carbon-saving aspect
of biofuels has turned out to be an illusion as well. Millions of acres of
forest, including enormous areas of tropical rainforests in Malaysia and
Brazil, are being destroyed to produce biofuels. On average, biofuels add more carbon to the atmosphere than
fossil fuels.[7]

And how is the U.S.
responding? In the fall of 2004, congress passed a tax relief bill supporting
biodiesel, and the new energy bill passed by Congress in 2007 supports a rapid
expansion of ethanol production.[8]
President Bush has spoken openly in favor of biofuel, and has visited biofuel
plants to show his support.[9]
Liberal campaigner, musician and activist Willie Nelson has been advocating the
use of biofuel. Conservative governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger has been promoting biofuel hummers in California. At the
2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, General Motors released
their new ethanol Hummer. Virgin Atlantic, one of the world's major airlines,
announced in January 2008 that it is going to conduct the first commercial
flight using biofuels on board a Boeing 747 (one of the world's largest
airliners).[10]

It is no surprise that
conservatives are in favor of biofuel given their traditional nationalistic
focus. The number of liberally minded, educated environmentalists who favor
biofuels expansion is more surprising. I have had many arguments trying to
decipher how so many smart people could fail to see the obvious connections.
Cars are very hungry, consuming the grain that would feed 25-30 people. The
global market is highly integrated, one big pond where commodities move fluidly
and markets ratchet upwards any time the supply tightens relative to demand.
Are these facts not painfully obvious?

They are, and the
solution to the question of why so many people would be so foolish is sobering.
American environmentalism has become increasingly nationalistic. If one takes a
step back from biofuels and looks at the broader environmental movement, the
dominant trends are towards "green capitalism," or "Natural
Capitalism" to use the title of a book by Paul Hawkens and Amory Lovins.
According to this theory, the new green technologies are going to create
"green" jobs, the economy will continue to prosper as workers
construct windmills and insulate sophisticated energy-sipping homes and
offices. Consumers will buy compact fluorescent bulbs and efficient cars, and
we will steadily reduce our energy use. This "green capitalism" is by
far the dominant trend in environmentalism today, with luminary conservatives
like George Shultz being among its more prominent advocates.

It sounds great. But
there is a side to this movement, of which biofuel is emblematic, which is far
darker than any of its current advocates dare recognize. Everyone, save a few
winguts, acknowledges that oil is a finite resource. A few years ago, some oil
geologists started suggesting that the peak of global oil production might be
very soon, now or in the next few years, rather than decades away as has been
assumed. At first they were ridiculed. But global oil production has remained
nearly flat for several years, demand pressures have continued to increase, and
prices have spiked.

It now seems very likely
that we are at or near a peak in global oil production. The global industrial
economy is facing limits and depletions of many other resources as well,
prompting the prominent peak oil theorist Richard Heinberg to title his most
recent book Peak Everything. (The idea that industrialism could face
multiple limits of resource availability has been around since at least the
1972 publication of The Limits to Growth. Though that book sold millions
of copies, enormous efforts were subsequently expended in suppressing the
distressing conclusions reached therein. That in itself an instructive story. [11])

Some of the advocates of
green capitalism — of which there are many at this point — are aware of the
likely pending limits of oil and other resources. They paint a scenario of the
continued growth and prosperity even as we downscale our energy use and
pollution using more efficient technologies and design. Some are more
optimistic than others about exactly how much oil we might have left, and how
resource limitations might impact future economic growth. The green capitalist
model, as espoused by a number of its most prominent adherents, suggests that
we can feed 9 to 12 billion people in the coming decades even with falling oil
supplies and significant biofuel development by applying green technologies.[12]
So why are we facing a "risk of famine," to use Goldman Sachs' words,
over forty years early and with 3 to 6 billion too few people?

Because numbers on paper
do not equal reality on the ground, and because nationalistic environmentalism
focuses almost entirely on the well-being of the global upper class. It is
probably true that it is possible for a limited number of people to transition
to a highly efficient, consumer society, but only if a couple billion of our
fellow humans suffer deprivation, or perhaps even outright destruction, to make
way.

The industrial economy
is intimately, terribly dependent on oil. So much so that we can hardly conceive
how much of it we use. Richard Heinberg maintains that a single teaspoon of oil
contains as much energy as eight hours of human labor. In practical
application, that is probably a slight exaggeration. Nonetheless, we have
gotten accustomed to using extraordinary energy. We have god-like powers at our
fingertips when we turn the key to drive down to the corner store for a pack of
chewing gum.

Under conditions of
expansion, the market economy appears benign, even progressive. It is no
coincidence that the peak of democratic development in the archaic Greek and
Roman civilization occurred at the peak of the colonial development and
prosperity. As the traders gained power in these societies, the market
expanded, and it was economically important for civil liberty to expand as
well. So too in modern times. The expansion of democracy and civil liberty has
followed on the heels of the expansion of colonialism and the growth of
markets. There is not a simple linear relationship between the economy and
democracy, but over time there are powerful forces that make certain kinds of
social change more likely at particular times. Ecology sets the stage for
economy, and economy favors different social movements at different times.

Nearly every academic,
political and religious leader tries to make their own ideas sound more
important than the supply of oil, topsoil, or the health of the forest. The end
result is that while there is a direct relationship between ecology and
democracy, knowledge of that connection is suppressed by leftist and rightist
alike as they strive to make their ideas and policies seem more important than
nasty things like dirt and oil.

As a result of this odd
historical conspiracy, we are suffering a terrible illusion. We imagine that we
have constructed our democracy, expanded our civil liberty, and built an industrial economy in defiance of gravity,
without regard for topsoil, clean water, or the part of the world that we label
as natural "resources." The truth is that fossil fuels have financed
a breakneck expansion of industrial development and trade that has powerfully
favored social movements that seek to expand our civil liberties. Just as the
democracy of Greek and Roman civilizations collapsed as their colonialism
became more embattled and their economies struggled, so will ours.

As much as we may sing the praises of the
open, democratic society, that kind of society is very well suited to the
position of the winner in the competition for growth and dominion. What is the
relative strength of authoritarian governments? They command effectively and
efficiently. They bring people together to undertake more aggressive foreign
policy, be it military or economic warfare, that would otherwise divide a more
civil society. We may demonize particular individuals in the current American
leadership that seek to stuff our civil liberties into the closet with the Patriot Act and other related
legislation even while they engage in ever-escalating oil warfare, but the
underlying transition is not about personal evil. There is no way the United
States and the global consumer class can maintain its dominion without powerful
military pressure, and that martial stance will favor authoritarian political
development.
Biofuel is environmental nationalism, and it is the cutting
edge of this process.

As radical as it may
sound to suggest that democracy as we know it will soon fall at the feet of a
nationalistic environmentalism, a movement that may include the destruction of
the global poor among its methods of achieving "sustainability," it
seems fairly obvious if one simply examines current trends. The facts are
plain, if we choose to see them:

1) Oil is a finite resource. We are very likely near or at peak
production.

2) The Earth itself is finite. Economic growth as we currently define
it cannot continue forever.

3) Ecological limits have impacts on our economy, and our economy has
powerful impacts on our politics.

4) The constricting of global economic growth will not favor a
continued expansion of democracy and civil liberty, and will likely favor the
growth of more powerful centralized authority among the dominant powers.

5) The wealthy and powerful classes of the world are going to try to
maintain their position of privilege in consumer societies into the future. The
attempt to do so while the energy pie was expanding appeared benign. As the
energy pie shrinks, the only way the consumer society can continue to grow,
regardless of the development of more efficient technologies, is by taking an
ever greater fraction of a shrinking supply of energy and other resources. If
the pie is getting smaller, we can continue to eat gluttonously only if we take
a larger share of what's left.

6) The consumer society will be sustained only at the cost of a very
aggressive foreign policy on the part of the industrial powers. The people
whose resources we are taking will fight
back, albeit haltingly and uncertainly. The resulting tensions will favor
authoritarian rule in the poorer nations as well.

As a result of the aforementioned,
conservatives will embrace nationalistic environmentalism, and will do so in
the coming years with a greater fervor than liberals ever could have imagined.
We will see the rise of a passionate, chest-thumping environmentalism, built on
the foundation of green capitalism, that dwarfs the current movement.

The nationalism of the
future will not be like the nationalism of the past. Past fascistic movements
were often highly populists, espousing the highest ideals and employing
glorious symbolism of a brighter future. The modern nationalistic
environmentalists will not paint bloody pictures of death and destruction.
Rather, we will, as in Swaziland, be bringing development at last to the poor,
even as we drive them off of their land and replace their
"inefficient" farming methods with modern "sustainable"
biofuel production. On April 29, 2008, President Bush made a speech in which he
ardently declared that biofuel expansion is not related to the rise in food
prices, regardless of all the evidence to the contrary.[13]
This is the new face of environmental nationalism. It is endorsed by a broad
spectrum of the body politic. It denies the plainly obvious, hides behind the
moral neutrality of the market, and it is likely sowing the seeds of
authoritarian rule and global-scale mass starvation of the poor.

The power of the market
economy is not ultimately efficiency, it is rather the hiding of the oppressor.
If one race takes land and energy from another, then there is a target against
which the poor can focus their organizing energy. But who is to blame for
hunger in a global market economy? That is the real power of the market. It utterly defeats
revolutionary impulses before they can bloom. The global economy has become a
maze of non-racial, non-national, nominally non-class based commerce with no
one in particular to blame for any evil that should befall any particular
individual or group.

In this case,
"nationalism" as we have known it in the past becomes something of a
misnomer. The global elite, however loosely defined, bear more in common with
each other than with their fellow national citizens. Civil liberty has always
been largely defined by class. We developed a very black-and-white mythology of
fascism as we exited World War II that does not well define our future.

The elite of the archaic
empires possessed no shortage of civil liberty, nor the elite of any of the
modern authoritarian movements. Powerful institutions adapt, and the global
corporate economy is not going to lie down and die. Rather, we will see the
distress creeping up from the bottom, as we are now. Those at the top will more
aggressively label anyone who challenges their privilege, or their right to
turn food into fuel via the holy market economy, as a "terrorist,"
the modern day "barbarians at the gate."

At what point one
chooses to use such loaded words as fascism, authoritarianism, imperialism or
the like will depend largely on where one finds oneself in the grand hierarchy
of the market. The noteworthy point here and now is that western liberalism, in
as much as it may have once held pan-human ideals, is quickly being drawn into
the conceptual framework of environmental nationalism. This in turn will leave
liberalism absolutely toothless to oppose more aggressive nationalists in the
future. Are any current prominent democrats opposed to biofuel? What does that
tell us about the future?

There is already an
unholy alliance brewing between some radical ecologists, anti-immigration
organizations, and those who see limiting population as a very high priority.
(I put myself in this latter category.) The history of fascistic movements
scapegoating minorities and immigrants need not be elaborated upon. As we face
ever increasing oil prices, it is highly likely that the far right will wed the
tools of old (racist scapegoating) with a version of "ecology" that
seeks to "Save the Earth" at the expense of the global poor. We see
the lace of this wedding being spun in the global warming debate, wherein the
right is already trying to hold the global poor accountable for climate change.
Biofuel is more urgent, a much sharper sword cutting down the hungry of the
world in the name of green capitalism even as you read these words.

The current
environmental movement is taking the easy road, telling people what they want
to hear. They are telling the public that we can continue the current consumer
society if only we do it with more efficient cars, "sustainable"
biofuels, and compact fluorescent light bulbs. By taking the easy road today,
we may gain a few points of efficiency of energy use. But because we are
failing to speak the truth, we are delivering the future to a potentially
murderous ecofascist movement. Were it not for the current state of the
biofuels movement, that would sound absurd. Given that many of the global poor
are facing famine in 2008, when oil is still quite plentiful, is it not clear
the foundation we are building? The truth is that we have a choice between a
substantial changes in our lifestyle or a global war between rich and poor of
monumental scale. Anyone who believes we can fight such a war in a nice civil,
democratic society knows little about history.

It is humiliating, it is
offensive, and we do not want to see it; we do not want to admit that our
democratic consumer society is not the glorious invention of great minds
impervious to the pressures of history. We have no more conscious awareness of
the greater processes of cultural change than did the members of archaic
civilizations. This is the real problem that we face. Simply repairing the
problem of ecological sustainability, from a technological standpoint, has been
solved many times over.

It would be simple
indeed to feed and house our citizens with a tenth of the resources that we are
currently using in the wealthy nations if that were our goal. That is more than
literary grandstanding. I have built houses heated and powered with sunshine. I
have studied the results, seen the failures and successes. Nationalistic
environmentalism says we can create a solar suburbia, the green consumer
society. That will come only at the price of murder on a global scale to
finance our consumption.

The reality is that if
we undertake to choose how we live, to purposefully change the structure of our
society so that we are not living alone in large houses, not commuting to work,
then the technological side of sustainability is very simple indeed. I have
built houses that use 90% less energy per inhabitant than the American average,
and done so at very low expense. But they are not suburban tract homes. Far
from it. They are urban and rural cooperatives. Cooperatively based societies,
the kind in which most of humanity has always lived, can achieve high standards
of living with a tenth of the resources that Americans currently use without
any new technologies. If we are talking about global solutions, is it even
possibly to apply expensive alternative energy systems on an individual or
single-family basis on a global scale? The answer, very clearly, is no. Social
design – how and where we choose to live – and cooperative use are far more
important the new technological gadgets

The truth is
that fossil fuel machines are well suited, from an economic perspective, to
individual use. They are cheap up front, though their long-term running costs
are high. Machines used by individuals are not used intensively, so the cheap
up-front cost dominates consumers' concern. But for machines that are used more
intensively, as when they are used cooperatively, the higher up-front costs of
efficiency and alternative energy are more than offset by the savings resulting
from intensity of use. What if each city block had a community laundry instead
of every individual or small American family living in a large house with their
own washer and dryer? You would not need to persuade people to do the right
thing. The people who ran the community laundry would take the obvious path.
They would install solar water heaters, and possibly other energy-saving
technologies, because it was economically rewarding to do so. Regardless of law
or ideology, simple economics would favor efficiency and alternative energy.

Solar water heating in a community laundry does not relate
to biofuels directly, but the same logic applies. The real solution to the
liquid fuel issue is not efficient cars or biofuel. It's design. The real
solution is to live close enough to where you work and play so you do not have
to drive. That kind of logic on a global scale will work. Biofuels will not,
not without mass market murder as its companion.

The problem is that no
one has an answer to the end of growth. The expansion of civil liberty has been
built on economic growth. Every movement from Aryan Nationalist to Marxist has
built movements based on telling their constituents they can face an
ever-brighter future of industrial wealth. And now nationalistic
environmentalism is assuming growth is unstoppable and making deals with the
devil.

The problem with
nationalistic environmentalism, even beyond the potential for some very ugly
political outcomes, and that is that it will not work even from an ecological
perspective. Long after the current wave of industrial growth has come to an
end, whatever the fallout may be, there will still be humans living on the
Earth. Those humans will still face the problem of organizing themselves in a
manner that does not serve to suppress social awareness. Biofuels and other
"sustainable" technologies seek only to
put a thin layer of green paint over a consumer society that is by the day
growing more economically polarized. That polarized society will never be
sustainable. A polarized society actively seeks to repress the social awareness
of its citizens, to engage in endless witch hunts against communists, drug
dealers, and terrorists of all sorts. It is a blind social system that cannot
wisely adapt to the future.

The ecological problems
we are facing seem so enormous that we feel compelled to look for shortcuts.
Every thread of our political fabric is woven from expectations of growth. The
end of growth is so inconceivable, we have no answer to it. The truth is that
the answers are both nearly impossible and terribly easy.

The first solution is
simply truth-telling. When people educated about the issues consistently hide
the truth and tell people what they want to hear, we enter a never-never land
where compromises get compromised and mass-marketed ecological niceties become
the building blocks of ecofascism and biofueled mass murder. The truth is that
our lifestyle is going to change, whether we like it or not. The only choice we
get to make is whether we lead the curve or are led by it, whether we create
history or are forced by history into circumstances we never would have chosen.

The changes we need to
make are difficult because getting large groups of people to do anything is
difficult, and industrial civilization as a whole is in a state of collective
psychosis currently in regards to growth. Almost every word uttered on the
evening news assumes continued growth for years and decades to come. It is no
wonder that so many people have so little understanding of the scale of change
we need to undertake. The very fabric of our cultural reality has become
divorced from the basic fact that the world on which we live is finite.

The changes we need to undertake
are easy because they do not demand a mass movement at first. Movements always
start at the fringes. Wise policy at the top would be helpful. But it is not
likely, and we do not need it. The process of economic localization, of
building a sustainable and democratic society from the ground up is already
being undertaken in many corners of the world, among the least privileged of
people.

It is a near certainty
that the dominant powers in the U.S. and Europe will move right in the coming
years as the oil belt tightens. That is the only way these privileged nations
will be able to maintain their privilege. The same is true for the eastern
powers as well. The struggles of the next few decades will be top to bottom,
not east to west.

Instead of lying about
the outcomes of the green capitalist economy, instead of putting the food of
the world into the gas tanks of American SUVs, instead of telling American consumers they can rest easy
on organic cotton linens for decades to come, should we not speak the truth? We
are going to have to downscale our consumption and our economy drastically, or
face a global war over resources, with all the political fallout that portends.

We as citizens can
localize our economies, develop more cooperative means of living and using
resources, and live more rewarding lives in greater connection to the people
around us. We do not need the president or congress to give us permission. Our
children are going to live cooperatively in a hundred years whether we like it
or not. The choices we make now will determine whether they do so under
conditions of peace and freedom, or under an ecofascist boot inciting unending
war. The current trend of nationalistic environmentalism, with biofuel as its
cutting edge, is leading us very much in the wrong direction.


NOTES


 

[1] Pimentel, David, Energy and Dollar Costs of Ethanol
Production With Corn
, M. King Hubbert Center, Petroleum Engineering
Department, Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO 80401-1887 at
hubbert.mines.edu/news/Pimentel_98-2.pdf

[2] Gardner,
Gary, Shrinking Fields, Cropland Loss in a World of Eight Billion,
Worldwatch Paper 131, Worldwatch Institute, Washington D.C., 1996, and Brown,
Lester, World Watch Institute, The State of the World 1997, A Worldwatch
Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society
, W.W. Norton, New York,
1997

[3]
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2007/11/06/an-agricultural-crime-against-humanity/

[4]
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a.FB89jDnZzs&refer=home

[5]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/02/07/cnoil107.xml

[6]
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2431

[7]
Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels
Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land-Use Change, Timothy
Searchinger, Ralph Heimlich, R. A. Houghton, Fengxia Dong, Amani Elobeid,
Jacinto Fabiosa, Simla Tokgoz, Dermot Hayes, and Tun-Hsiang Yu, Science 29
February 2008: 1238-1240. See also Land Clearing and the Biofuel Carbon Debt,
Joseph Fargione, Jason Hill, David Tilman, Stephen Polasky, and Peter
Hawthorne, Science 29 February 2008: 1235-1238. Published online 7 February
2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1152747] (in Science Express Reports)

[8] http://www.biodiesel.org/news/taxincentive/

[9] http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=29931

[10]

[11] http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/3551

[12] Hawken, Paul, and Lovins, Amory,
and Lovins, Hunter L., Natural
Capitalism, Creating the Next Industrial Revolution,
Little Brown and Co.,
Boston, 1999, p.2. See also http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3702

[13]
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWBT00888720080429

 

Image by swruler9284, courtesy of Creative Commons license.

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This step-by-step guide will show you how to grow magic mushrooms at home. Read this guide before trying it on your own.

How to Dry Magic Mushrooms: Best Practices
Read to learn more about specifics for the best practices on how to dry magic mushrooms after harvesting season.

How to Buy Psilocybin Spores
Interested in psilocybin mushrooms? We’ll walk you through all you need to know to obtain mushroom spores. Nosh on this delish How To guide.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

Having Sex on Shrooms: Good or Bad Idea?
Is having sex on shrooms a good idea or an accident waiting to happen? Find out in our guide to sex on magic mushrooms.

Gold Cap Shrooms Guide: Spores, Effects, Identification
Read this guide to learn more about the different characteristics of gold cap mushrooms, and how they differ from other psilocybin species.

Guide to Cooking with Magic Mushrooms
From cookies to smoothies and sandwiches, we cover various methods of cooking with magic mushrooms for the ultimate snack.

2020 Election: The Decriminalize Psilocybin Movement
Are you curious if mushrooms will follow in marijuana’s footsteps? Read to learn about how the U.S. is moving to decriminalize psilocybin.

Oregon’s Initiative to Legalize Mushrooms | Initiative Petition 34
Oregon continues to push ahead with their initiative to legalize Psilocybin in 2020. The measure received its official title and now needs signatures.

Canada Approves Psilocybin Treatment for Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu approved the use of psilocybin to help ease anxiety and depression of four terminal cancer patients.

Mapping the DMT Experience
With only firsthand experiences to share, how can we fully map the DMT experience? Let’s explore what we know about this powerful psychedelic.

Guide to Machine Elves and Other DMT Entities
This guide discusses machine elves, clockwork elves, and other common DMT entities that people experience during a DMT trip.

Is the DMT Experience a Hallucination? 
What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play?

How to Store DMT
Not sure how to store DMT? Read this piece to learn the best practices and elements of advice to keep your stuff fresh.

What Does 5-MeO-DMT Show Us About Consciousness?
How does our brain differentiate between what’s real and what’s not? Read to learn what can 5-MeO-DMT show us about consciousness.

How to Smoke DMT: Processes Explained
There are many ways to smoke DMT and we’ve outlined some of the best processes to consider before embarking on your journey.

How to Ground After DMT
Knowing what to expect from a DMT comedown can help you integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible from your journey.

How To Get DMT
What kind of plants contain DMT? Are there other ways to access this psychedelic? Read on to learn more about how to get DMT.

How DMT is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make DMT? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how DMT is made.

Having Sex on DMT: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered about sex on DMT? Learn how the God Molecule can influence your intimate experiences.

Does the Human Brain Make DMT? 
With scientific evidence showing us DMT in the brain, what can we conclude it is there for? Read on to learn more.

How to Use DMT Vape Pens
Read to learn all about DMT vape pens including: what to know when vaping, what to expect when purchasing a DMT cartridge, and vaping safely.

DMT Resources
This article is a comprehensive DMT resource providing extensive information from studies, books, documentaries, and more. Check it out!

Differentiating DMT and Near-Death Experiences
Some say there are similarities between a DMT trip and death. Read our guide on differentiating DMT and near-death experiences to find out.

DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time
From a representative sample of a suitably psychedelic crowd, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t tell you all about Albert Hofmann’s enchanted bicycle ride after swallowing what turned out to be a massive dose of LSD. Far fewer, however, could tell you much about the world’s first DMT trip.

The Ultimate Guide to DMT Pricing
Check out our ultimate guide on DMT pricing to learn what to expect when purchasing DMT for your first time.

DMT Milking | Reality Sandwich
Indigenous cultures have used 5-MeO-DMT for centuries. With the surge in demand for psychedelic toad milk, is DMT Milking harming the frogs?

Why Does DMT Pervade Nature?
With the presence of DMT in nature everywhere – including human brains – why does it continue to baffle science?

DMT Substance Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to DMT has everything you want to know about this powerful psychedelic referred to as “the spirit molecule”.

DMT for Depression: Paving the Way for New Medicine
We’ve been waiting for an effective depression treatment. Studies show DMT for depression works even for treatment resistant patients.

Beating Addiction with DMT
Psychedelics have been studied for their help overcoming addiction. Read how DMT is helping addicts beat their substance abuse issues.

DMT Extraction: Behind the Scientific Process
Take a look at DMT extraction and the scientific process involved. Learn all you need to know including procedures and safety.

Microdosing DMT & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing DMT.

DMT Art: A Look Behind Visionary Creations
An entire genre of artwork is inspired by psychedelic trips with DMT. Read to learn about the entities and visions behind DMT art.

Changa vs. DMT: What You Need to Know
While similar (changa contains DMT), each drug has its own unique effect and feeling. Let’s compare and contrast changa vs DMT.

5-MeO-DMT Guide: Effects, Benefits, Safety, and Legality
5-Meo-DMT comes from the Sonora Desert toad. Here is everything you want to know about 5-Meo-DMT and how it compares to 4-AcO-DMT.

4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

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