David Blume is an American

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

teacher and entrepreneur. He is an advocate for production of ethanol fuel, especially at local, small and medium scales.

Major work

Blume is the author of ''Alcohol Can Be A Gas!'', a review of the history of alcohol used as a fuel, together with an extensive investigation of how to produce alcohol fuel from different crops, using a variety of tools and techniques, and with an explanation of relevant laws and industry practices. The focus of the book is on how to set up and run crops and facilities for local

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl ...

use, as opposed to large-scale industrial or commercial use. The book was originally written in 1983 for release with '' Alcohol as Fuel'', a 10-episode how-to series on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

produced by

KQED KQED may refer to: * KQED (TV), a PBS member station in San Francisco * KQED-FM KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a NPR-member radio station in San Francisco, California. Its parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns its television partners, both ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Copies of the original book and TV series, which was only aired on KQED, have since been nearly impossible to obtain. The book was rewritten and expanded to 640 pages over several years and re-released with the same title on November 1, 2007. Blume's primary insight follows from that of

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing more t ...

, who wrote the foreword to the book in 1983: that alcohol (or

) is a renewable variety of solar energy in liquid form, the cultivation of which can enhance soils, be used as a minimally- or non-polluting fuel, and enable farmers and individuals at large to make fuel locally.

Other projects

At one time or another Blume has been involved in the following projects. * Employed by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

(1978), at an experimental solar self-sufficient energy, sewage treatment, desalinization plant in the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

. * Employed by

Mother Earth News ''Mother Earth News'' is a bi-monthly American magazine that has a circulation of 500,520 . It is published in Topeka, Kansas. Since its founding, ''Mother Earth News'' has promoted renewable energy, recycling, family farms, good agricultural p ...

Eco Village in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, part of team practicing alternative building techniques. * Founder, American Homegrown Fuel Co., an educational organization teaching farmers and others how to produce and use alcohol fuel. * Founder, Planetary Movers Inc (1984). * Board member, field worker, Ecosites International. * Board member, field worker, Vivamos Mejor (1990). * Board member, Committee for Sustainable Agriculture (aka Ecological Farming Association). * Executive director,

Hidden Villa Hidden Villa is a United States nonprofit educational organization teaching programs on environmental and multicultural awareness. In 1924, Frank and Josephine Duveneck founded this working organic farm and wilderness area on land comprising th ...

Farm and Wilderness Preserve. * Founder (1993), executive director, International Institute for Ecological Agriculture,

Santa Cruz, CA Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a p ...

. * Founder, Our Farm, a CSA formerly in

Woodside, CA Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. Woodside is among the wealthiest communities in the United States, home to many technology billionaires and investment manager ...

Bibliography

* ''Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century'' (with editor Michael Winks; International Institute for Ecological Agriculture; November 1, 2007) * ''Alcohol Can Be A Gas!'' (Planetary Energy Productions/Golden Gate Productions; 1983) ASIN B001E39L8Y
"Food and Permaculture"
a defense of permaculture by Blume

External links

Permaculture.com, David Blume's main website

Extended autobiography

Review of ''ACBAG'' by Matthew Stein

"'Farmer Dave' talks up permaculture"
'' Daily Illini'' (March 10, 2003)
Kirkus review of ''Alcohol Can Be a Gas''

Interviews and lectures

David Blume lecturing at Portland Peak Oil

Short interview with David Blume on KPTV
* Interview on Wisconsin Public Radio with John Munson
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blume, David Living people American gardeners Permaculturalists Sustainability advocates Year of birth missing (living people)

Major work

Other projects

See also

Bibliography

External links

Interviews and lectures