In a speech at Canada's largest oil conference in Calgary last week,
Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, a political prankster group, posed as a
representative of the U.S. National Petroleum Council. He told several
hundred oilmen that, to address worldwide energy needs, "we need
something like whales, but infinitely more abundant." Into the breach
comes Vivoleum--a fuel made by "transforming the billions of people who
die into oil," according to a blog item
by a Reuters environmental reporter. Bichlbaum and a companion were
thrown out after handing out Vivoleum memorial candles purportedly made
from the remains of an Exxon-Mobil worker who had died following the
clean-up of a toxic waste spill. (The candles were actually made of
paraffin, beeswax and human hair.).
Vivoleum has potential. It
is not exactly a renewable resource, but, unlike petroleum, it is an
expanding one, given the aging of the world's population. One drawback:
Vivoleum emissions might not meet the goal of achieving a substantive
decline in atmospheric carbon releases by 2050.