This October 2001 paper by David Morris looks at how plant matter must be an important element in a sustainable economy because it is the only renewable resource from which we can fashion physical products. In the next few months and years we will be making decisions at the local, state, national and international level that will channel tens, perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars of money into certain areas and markets. We are changing the rules. A carbohydrate economy is a strategy that can marry environmental and national security and economic development objectives. Yet the very nature of biomass makes it a controversial and complex arena for decisionmaking.
