Rush to biofuels leaves a world of emptier plates

[ben_meyers]

With millions of people going hungry in the wake of rising food prices, the debate over fuel vs. food has been rekindled.

In early 2007, two University of Minnesota economists forecast that biofuels would sharply increase food prices by 2020, leading to a steep rise in the number of empty bellies in the world.

How wrong they were. Soaring rates of hunger didn't take a generation. It took a year.

The president of the World Bank recently estimated that 100 million more people around the world have slipped into hunger in the past year, in the wake of soaring oil and food prices.(snip)

The International Food Policy Research Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., recently estimated that 20 to 33 percent of the rise in grain and seed-oil prices worldwide can be tied to biofuel production.

1/3 of our corn production is going to ethanol and the growers are skipping other crops, raising those prices also.

http://www.startribune.com/business/18213869.html

[oedura]

1. If we were going to use food for fuel...

...it would be nice if we could do it using waste food that would otherwise end up in landfills rather than crops.

[izquierdista]

2. 2008 - International Year of Agriculture

IF there was global leadership on the issue, this problem could be overcome.

* Victory gardens could be planted instead of lawns.
* African countries could cooperate on irrigation projects instead of fight over tribal differences.
* Landfills could refuse to accept biodegradable refuse that could be composted.
* Religions could agree not to compete by seeing who could breed the most followers.
* Gardening shows could compete with poker, golf, and wrestling for viewers.
* The credo could be "Food first. If you can't eat it, THEN use it for energy."

What is more likely though, is that monkeys will fly out my ass.

[ColbertWatcher]

3. Are you saying that HFCS is not food!? n/t

[newmajority]

4. it's not that biofuels are bad

It's that the corporatist government wants to replace their buddies at Exxon with their buddies at Monsanto. There are much more efficient ways to make ethanol and biodiesel than from corn. Fuck Frankenfood AND Big Oil.

I believe our next president mentioned this in a speech today in Indiana. Heard a clip of it on the radio, but I don't have a link.

And they can stick their high fructose corn poison up their silos as well. That shit is literally killing us.