Originally Posted by AzTeK

I didn't know that ethanol from celulose was already at a stage where actually plants for mass production are being built ("The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is partially funding the construction of six such cellulosic biorefineries") That's very good news indeed. I remember a while back reading about such a pilot plant in Austria that also used forest waste, but back then had gotten the impression that it oculd still take a while until it became really feasible, but appearently it already is.

The kelp idea sounds pretty neat as well...but you have to remember that the problem with herbicides and pesticides, along with fertilisers, getting into the ocean lies not at the ocean but inwards, on the countryside. In order to prevent pesticides and herbicides from getting to the ocean, you basically would have to ban them alltogether countrywide, or atleast put very strict limits on how much of it can be used per acre.

Here in Austria generally speaking people try to avoid food that had herbicides or pesticides used on it while it grew (the whole "bio-movement" has been going on for a long time here), but in the US I really don't see that happening.