Environmentally friendly fuels may make drivers in the U.S. feel greener, but a report out of the United Nations reveals one dark side to going green. According to the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the demand for biofuel--particularly ethanol--is creating a crop shortage that's resulting in a deadly famine for many of the world's less fortunate. The U.N. estimates that the amount of corn it takes to fill a 50-liter car tank with ethanol is enough to feed a child for an entire year. America is already devoting 18 percent of its grain to ethanol production, and other countries are following our lead. Food prices are up, and the number of Third-World families that can afford to eat is down. In effect, this paranoia over global warming is leading to global hunger, a crisis far more destructive--and credible--than climate change. Despite what Al Gore says, this prescription for "solving" a climate problem (which scientists have yet to confirm) is not only expensive but also deadly.Additional Resources
An appeal to slow down on biofuelfrom Tony Perkin's Washington Update, April 17, 2008
Incidentally, there are also problems with rising rice prices...
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Maybe putting food in our cars isn't the best idea...
I remember a friend telling me that the use of ethanol would increase corn prices. Sure these things are a "renewable resource," but you can only make so much at a time. Thanks for putting this out there.
ReplyDeleteI was actually going to write about this, too. I am totally against ethanol and biofuels, because my research has led me to the belief that driving gasoline-fueled cars is actually better then bio-fuels.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing this out!