So, according to some talking heads, the use of corn to produce ethanol will lead to a global famine of biblical proportions. The price of all foods has been going up, and the US alone is using somewhere around 30% of its crop use for ethanol...which really isnt all that great in terms of green, cheap fuel. So basically, annalists predict a coming global food crisis. Discuss

3/30/2008 9:54:02 PM

Yeah, when the food market starts having to pit human and livestock consumption with energy consumption (in a world with a booming global economy and soaring demands for cheap energy), we've got the bad issue of fertile land being turned over to different crops (instead of peanuts or potatoes they grow corn for ethanol) which go straight to fuel production. With less and less land being used to farm food, the price for food for people and livestock goes up. Here it's not TOO big an issue, though more people will have difficulty feeding their family in the coming years. The issues lies in areas where people are poor as hell and spend most of their income on food to survive. When you're just making ends meet when the price is $1, you're a certain type of fucked when the price suddenly becomes $1.30 for what you're eating.

The only way I can think to change this is to boost agricultural production for food and to start funding education and "helper" organizations overseas to train people in the use of their land for food they can grow sustainably. Some areas, of course, are simply going to suffer with this biofuel movement and we're going to hear about some mass starvation stuff that, in some part, is due to the push by a lot of governments to do more biofuel type stuff. Now, if we simply used organic wastes and such to supplement fuel production instead of directly growing plants on arable land that will be used solely for fuel production, we'd have a more "reasonable" solution that wouldn't necessarily lead to the massive increase in cost for people to eat.

I dunno, this sort of thing really won't affect most people's buying decisions until the news picks it up and makes our politicians look bad for not supporting so and so movement to make the world a better place by encouraging a more sustainable lifestyle that doesn't require us to use half our land for biofuel production.

3/30/2008 10:06:37 PM

Hyperbole from the talking heads.

Ethanol production represents less than 5% of global corn usage, which doesn't fully explain the steep rise in grain prices over the last few years. More likely, rising demand from the booming populations of China and India have fueled the price increases.

3/30/2008 10:11:54 PM

Quote :

"More likely, rising demand from the booming populations of China and India have fueled the price increases."

This

The MSM has caught on to the "corn crisis" now, but the measures that we, the United States, should be taking to avert it are already in motion thanks largely to our superior research universities and little known mandates for cellulose-based (farm waste, switchgrass) fuels.

So hopefully the corn issue will be gone in a few years before it causes the doom that people are predicting, we just need better processing methods for the fuels.

3/30/2008 10:16:50 PM

Obama advocates continuing to subsidize ethanol as an alternative to petroleum.
John McCain does not.

Vote John McCain in 2008.

3/30/2008 10:30:47 PM

Agreed. Corn is hardly the best product to use for ethanol. Perhaps the most politically convenient at the current time to get things kicked off, but with the increased research in other areas (including work done by the Forestry and Pulp and Paper departments here at State), we should be able to move to less intensive crops like switchgrass or even algae.

3/30/2008 10:31:54 PM

^^idk i'm one of those dems that sees mccain as an extension of the bush term and bush started all this ethanol shit imo so thats a tough sell as far as i'm concerned

[Edited on March 30, 2008 at 10:33 PM. Reason : .]

3/30/2008 10:33:34 PM

Even the politicians have to be smart enough to realize that Corn isnt the best option (assuming ethanol is even a good option)

I think the Corn lobbyist are having a go . . . . ..

3/30/2008 10:37:33 PM

ha! u think the politicians actually know a damned thing about anything?

3/30/2008 10:47:57 PM

I think they know, they just listen to the lobbyists

3/30/2008 10:53:55 PM

no. they don't know. but they do listen to the lobbyists' money

3/30/2008 10:55:38 PM

Quote :

"the price of all foods has been going up"

not from what i heard on the news today. bread, dairy, etc. sure. but not everything.

3/30/2008 11:00:00 PM

converting corn to ethanol is a net loss of energy. retarded.

biobutanol is the future.

3/30/2008 11:13:32 PM

Ethanol begs the question...

Would you prefer to be hungry or to carpool?

3/30/2008 11:25:54 PM

I heard a recent stat that the average american has one person in their car while they are driving. That means the entire population of western europe could ride along with America to work

Another one: If we upped every car's fuel economy one mile per gallon the savings would equal the amount of ethanol and biodiesel that is produced in america


professor told us these the other day in class ill try to look for a source

[Edited on March 30, 2008 at 11:55 PM. Reason : Big cars and lots of em!!!]

3/30/2008 11:53:12 PM

Yeah, while existing ethanol/biofuel production doesn't use that much of the overall landmass we have available for farming, it doesn't really make up a significant portion of the fuel consumed right now. If the corn lobby doesn't shut the hell up and let more viable solutions have a voice we're just going to waste more land on inefficient biofuel production.

I heard neat things about switchgrass and (as a theoretical thing) using algae ponds for biofuel. I think it's still going to be quite a few years before biofuels are having a significant, positive impact on things though.

I'd honestly rather people just look to driving smaller, lighter vehicles instead of acting like a porky Chevy Tahoe that can run on E85 is going to save the damn world. But alas, if people can make themselves feel better about something without solving the problem, they will. Path of least resistance and all that.

3/31/2008 12:55:56 AM

If only they could make cars that ran on air...

I hear it's cheap.

3/31/2008 12:58:41 AM

Solar-powered (molten-salt-cooled variety), desalination-fed hydrogen production = cars running on sunlight, gypsy farts, and sea water

Close enough?

3/31/2008 1:07:06 AM

Lulzy, they do have cars that run on air, it's just air from a compressor that goes to a tank! I'm sure somebody's seen that gay little car on TV somewhere. That has to be one of the less amazing ideas to hit the market.

3/31/2008 1:23:55 AM

If we bought more efficient cars

If we invested in more efficient fuel technologies

If we didn't build cities based on sprawl

If we carpooled more to work

If...If...If

Fuck that shit

Rather spend a billion trillion dollars to kill brown people.

3/31/2008 1:48:27 AM

Haha, that would be the problem right now.

3/31/2008 2:02:15 AM

Quote :

"Obama advocates continuing to subsidize ethanol as an alternative to petroleum. John McCain does not. Vote John McCain in 2008."

Socks``

Ha-ha!

Quote :

"idk i'm one of those dems idiots that sees mccain as an extension of the bush term and bush started all this ethanol shit imo so thats a tough sell as far as i'm concerned"

drunknloaded

Fixed.

Quote :

"Henry Ford designed the first mass-produced automobile, the famed Model T Ford, to run on pure anhydrous (ethanol) alcohol -- he said it was 'the fuel of the future'."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol

Quote :

"ST. LOUIS - A century ago, Henry Ford's Model T was the first flexible-fuel vehicle, running on gas, ethanol or both, and the automaker foretold the future when he said fuel could be gotten from fruit, weeds, sawdust, or anything else that could be fermented."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15233556/

Dumbass.

3/31/2008 2:38:13 AM

Quote :

"If only they could make cars that ran on air..."

not sure if this was sarcasm, cause there is such a car.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6138972/

one of many articles/sites that can be found with a quick google search

3/31/2008 11:53:22 AM

yeah, that's compressed air, but the air has to be compressed, which consumes some sort of traditional energy source, so that's not what he meant.

3/31/2008 12:10:58 PM

i sort of figured, but just in case thought I would include the info.

here's an air powered car for you, its flying along too.

3/31/2008 3:06:55 PM

Oh...so you mean these cars exist?

3/31/2008 9:28:29 PM