Geez, I wish I had something not quite off topic to say. This recent article from Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique in All Africa (All Africa puts articles behind a subscription wall after a time, but it works now) mentions an International Symposium on Tropical Roots and Tubers--I love the sounds of that. And the article deals with the big question about bio-fuels over the choice between food and energy.

With the planning around Opok Farm Village and LiA the issue of energy has come up and also the nitty gritty of coops around a soap making project. Putting not like things together, I was very interested to explore Piedmont Biofuels. Now they make bio-diesel not ethanol, and Pittsboro, NC is a long ways away from Kaduna or Gulu, but it was very interesting to see how the Coop to produce bio-diesel has generated other cooperative efforts around them. It seems that the bio-diesel plant not only produces energy, but has energized local economic relationships near Pittsboro.

"Think globally, act locally" is often said without regard to the Web of communication that Rene Dubos envisioned; we tend to miss the "think global" part. So this thread, putting it out, is a good example of what makes Ned so cool. I live a long way from Kaduna, Gulu, and Pittsboro, but we need energy here too. All the hammering out of details will of course have to reflect the locality, but the broad problems to solve are quite related in every location, so we can learn from one another.