The Green Philosopher A rolling treatise on things... http://gatewaynode.com/node/4/atom/feed 2008-05-12T16:30:00-07:00 Using biofuels is starving little children!!! http://gatewaynode.com/node/4 2008-05-02T12:35:59-07:00 2008-05-12T16:30:00-07:00 justjohn      So, at least that is what I read so often, as one of the many excuses to do nothing about future energy concerns.  And to some degree it is a true statement that, "using corn for ethanol will raise the cost of food for the poor."  Yep, that's right, corn is a horrible biofuel base crop.  Besides the fact that it's efficieny is pathetic, less than a 50% net return on energy invested and it raises the competition for a human food source.  Only the corn lobby in the states is trying to promote the use of corn as a biofuel base, no other industry is saying that it's the perfect crop.  But is that a reason to turn away from biofuels?

No!

wait that wasn't loud enough...

NO!!!

]]>      So, at least that is what I read so often, as one of the many excuses to do nothing about future energy concerns.  And to some degree it is a true statement that, "using corn for ethanol will raise the cost of food for the poor."  Yep, that's right, corn is a horrible biofuel base crop.  Besides the fact that it's efficieny is pathetic, less than a 50% net return on energy invested and it raises the competition for a human food source.  Only the corn lobby in the states is trying to promote the use of corn as a biofuel base, no other industry is saying that it's the perfect crop.  But is that a reason to turn away from biofuels?

No!

wait that wasn't loud enough...

NO!!!

     So if we look at the situation a little more closely, and see where people get the idea that using corn for ethanol is reason enough not to try to use biofuels, we'll see  that there is some confusion over market boundaries.  You see it is a common mistake to think that the human food market and the human energy markets are two unrelated categories.  You think, "Okay, here is corn, it sure is tasty.  I like popcorn!" , and then you think, "Gasoline smells funny, is poisonous, but my car needs it."  So the perception of corn as a human only energy source is kind of reinforced by the fact that when we think about it we think about tastes, smells and the feeling of fullness that comes from eating.  Corn is inherently anthropomorphic, we can related very closely with it.  Gasoline on the other hand, the decayed bodies of marine life from eons past, has no human-like associations, so it is hard to see them as the same thing, but they are.

     Corn and gasoline are exactly the same thing in the way that matters most, they are both portable energy sources.  And all portable energy sources are beginning to feel the pinch of an overpopulated planet.  The rising cost of corn is based on the more general rising demand for portable energy.  And since some of these forms of portable energy are things we use for food, the reality of a market where, the increase in demand exceeds in the increase in supply, causes things like our mistaken perception of different market boundaries to begin to crumble.

     But seeing as how we are humans, our human nature is quick to blame and slow to understand.  So instead of seeing the failure of our market paradigm, we blame the latest fad that's been in the headlines lately.  But if the increasing use of corn based ethanol is responsible for increasing corn prices, then other grain stocks should be unaffected correct?   Well, apparently that is not the case.  People are beginning to starve on a large scale because their is increasing demand for portable energy.  That SUV you probably drive is as big a reason for that increased demand as is that 4,000 calorie dine out restaurant meal or that 44"/500watt plasma TV or that emaculate suburban lawn. 

     I am not blaming everyone but myself, I too was hooked on consumerist culture for a long time, I too realize that I am 'personally' at fault for increasing the demand for portable energy sources.  We here in the United States are especially at fault for wasteful use of our resources.  Each and every one of us is at fault, personally.

     But, we can change.  We can retake the moral high ground.  It all begins with admitting that there are problems with the way we do things, that what we do here can effect people on the other side of the globe.  And then we start to learn, whatever we can learn about the problem.  And then we begin to change, as we can, and as we will.

     The easy way is to do nothing, to find excuses not to try.  To pretend like the very bad consequences of our choices are always just beyond what we will ever have to deal with.  But sometimes we have to deal with the future, a future that always seems to approach too fast when there is something bad in it, and never fast enough when we wait for something good in it. But we must go on, and we must continually look for ways to overcome the bad things, and take maximum advantage of the good things. Looking ahead we need to be get used to some of these things, these inevitable things:

  • Moving to alternative fuels as an industrial basis is a good solution to an impending resource crunch.
  • Not doing anything about our industrial energy basis will lead to much worse starvations and other effects that result from an increasing competitive portable energy market.
  • The world has too many people in it and not enough feasible resources, starvations will happen as a result of competition for resources, it cannot be avoided entirely.
  • We need to explore as many solutions to these problems as possible with as much effort as we can muster to minimize the negative effects of the drawn out end of the era of fossil fuels.
  • Negativity without constructive replacement is childish and has no place in working toward the future of civilization as a whole.

 

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