Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis (Guardian)

Blame, credit - same thing. I'm for it - have you read 'Ishmael'? Goofy premise, but it gets the point across. Add to that that the unfortunates will get to lose it in the most dignified manner imaginable - in the roar of a hot-rod engine, we get our agriculture back in the GDP after 90 years, better than Europe or China can do with theirs - I mean, I've got big hopes for this... It'll be a Hail-Mary pass on top of a Flea-Flicker, but if it plays out right we might be able to use our productivity advantage and the effect of the food crunch on population growth to save some rain forest, if they don't take it down with them.

Is there an English version?

I am quite shocked that you read the Guardian Gunga.

or is that the Gunga Guardian

(just thought I'd add that)

Draining the food production channels to produce fuel, combined with the dynamics of speculative markets, are responsible. With either one or the other gone food price inflation would have been a fraction of what they have been over the last couple of years. At some point we will decide that we have had enough and reregulate commodity markets. Corn based ethanol was dumb, dumb, dumb, as many said at the time.

Agreed. The whole thing is a potent reminder that self-serving political interests can powerfully influence government actions and easily subvert the intent and effect of even well-meaning advocates of government action to improve "the environment". Free markets work better, even for the environment.

Meanwhile, I just read in the university alumni magazine I still get and once in a while actually look at - that there is an interesting process being researched re better biofuels. This one involves modified bacteria and sugar to make isobutanol, which doesn't have some of the problems of ethanol, such ethanol's tendency to absorb water, which affects transport.
So it's transportable by pipeline, vs. trucks, and useable in any gasoline fueled vehicle.

On all the fields - including flood basins - going over to ethanol producing material, I'm in agreement that it is an unwise distribution re agriculture. On this bacteria and sugar idea, I'm don't know how that is much better re land use; would be interested.

in this case no, the intent of ethanol production was always to enrich a few, it was never in the best interest of the majority and it was never able to be justified as being in the best interest of the majority. This societal mistake was made for one reason only, corruption of our political process. For those who wanted ethanol production no mistake took place, they got what they were after, more wealth. Those who approved of the ethanol scheme in Washington got what they were after, they were paid for their votes.

biofuels
Some weeks ago, I came across this same information, in, I believe an international publication.

It doesn't make sense to me, from a global perspective, to use corn for ethanol when large numbers of the world's citizens are hungry. Of course, it was popular in the US farm crowd and members of Congress.

Maybe, during my lifetime, someone will create/harness a another energy system. I believe it can be done, but I don't know that we , yet, have the will to pursue it.

Waving to Mapleleaf!!!

Waving to Squinney!

Sorry, what I mean to say is I'm glad we get to starve people with our car-fuel. I think we should switch to ethanol/biodiesel as abruptly as possible in order to prevent the competition from reacting and plowing under rainforests etc. to compensate - and let it be a lesson to those of procreating age. The desire to limit the growth of the worlds food supply is not unique to me, in fact a perfectly non-evil best-selling author had the same idea and articulated it through the premise of a telepathic jewish gorilla (nope, I'm not making it up). Daniel Quinn's idea is that population counter-pressure is inevitable, so we might as well do it with class. My addition to that is nothing says class like driving up the value of something we've been the best at for 90-years (farming) but haven't in all that time profited from, not to mention getting 100 hp/liter-displacement as ethanol engines are capable of doing.

I realize I'm the antichrist for being overt about it, and last time I posted about it Snood got on my case about genocide (I mean it would be something of a -cide and some geno's would do better than others, but, then, do we want to weigh out socio-economic equity like playing-god or just let the chips fall and be the best USA we can be?), but give the devil his due. Anyone can say 'OMFG, healthcare is great, let's give everyone healthcare!' but if there were a switch to throw to solve the worlds problems, these civic-hero hipsters wouldn't know it if it bit them in the ass. They ain't that smart and they ain't that good - neither am I, but I do try to understand and think a few steps ahead, figure out what's going to happen and how we can get the most out of it...

Waving to Gus...

I thought I was the antichrist. Lemme see yer credentials, please...

Waving weakly to Gus and Rockhead.

There but for a kernel of corn, go I.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xzSzItt6h-s

Global warming swindle, back on Youtube

Greenie Watch
http://antigreen.blogspot.com/

Greenie Watch

Well, I consider myself a Stoic in the classical sense, read 'The Great God Pan' and 'The Hill of Dreams' when I was 15, my favorite fine-artist is Raphael Sanzio (like me he understood that effort is nothing to be proud of) with the dastardly Henry Fuseli as runner up, I consider child-molesters to be our greatest untapped national resource, like a chromeless black quattro-posto of the late tape-deck era in the way of a car... But the most important thing is my hopes for the course of humanity - I'm a fan of the human condition, like the opposite of how they say liberals love humanity and hate humans - let the fishers of men again be fishers of fish I say. In that way, I think I'm antithetical the sweet lord baby jesus in heaven...

I'll drink to that. In fact I'll have a pint of whatever it is you're drinking.