Ethanol Production Raises Food Costs
For once I partially agree with the UN. Government attempts to replace fossil fuels with ethanol will push the price of grain up, impacting most upon "third world" poor.
Freeing the fuel market and lifting restrictions on oil exploration and exploitation are better options than shagging about with "politically correct" but uneconomic bio-fuels.
From Cuban News Agency Granma
GENEVA, June 14. — Jean Ziegler, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, said that producing ethanol from foodstuffs would condemn hundreds of thousands of people in the world to death from hunger, Prensa Latina reported.
Ziegler accused the United States, European Union and Japan of “total hypocrisy” for promoting ethanol production in order to reduce their dependence on imported oil, the article said.
“There is a great danger for the right to food from the development of biofuels,” the UN envoy said at a press conference during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.
He added that hundreds of thousands of people could die from hunger as a result of producing ethanol from basic foodstuffs like corn. He noted that in some parts of Mexico, the price of corn shot up by 16% as a result of greater demand for producing biofuels.
Freeing the fuel market and lifting restrictions on oil exploration and exploitation are better options than shagging about with "politically correct" but uneconomic bio-fuels.
From Cuban News Agency Granma
GENEVA, June 14. — Jean Ziegler, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, said that producing ethanol from foodstuffs would condemn hundreds of thousands of people in the world to death from hunger, Prensa Latina reported.
Ziegler accused the United States, European Union and Japan of “total hypocrisy” for promoting ethanol production in order to reduce their dependence on imported oil, the article said.
“There is a great danger for the right to food from the development of biofuels,” the UN envoy said at a press conference during a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council.
He added that hundreds of thousands of people could die from hunger as a result of producing ethanol from basic foodstuffs like corn. He noted that in some parts of Mexico, the price of corn shot up by 16% as a result of greater demand for producing biofuels.
posted by Trevor Loudon at
6/17/2007 12:43:00 PM
4 Comments:
The increased demand for corn seems to be causing problems for many peoples. An article here, http://e85.whipnet.net/e85.price/corn.rush.html refers to higher prices for corn tortillas while this article http://ethanolhoax.wordpress.com/ reports that oil is responsible for higher food prices. Alternative fuels are in need of more research and development.
Yea we could pour all our effort into finding the last fossil fuels reserves and burning them. In the process speeding up human induced climate change. Or we could realise that most motorised transport is unnessacary and begin the inevitable process of deindustrialisation.
I know which path we will take though....
Tell you what anon-you de-industrialise and go and live in a cave with your cold, starving disease ridden tribe.
I'll put my "faith" in free markets, industrialisation, prosperity, technology, human creativity and all that goes with it.
You can let the sky fall on your sorry head.
I'd rather build a better world.
And if in a better world we find grain is more valuable than now that's the way the windmill turns, baby.
It's just that govovernment should get the hell out. Over here in Australia, last I knew, they were limiting their role to preventing the development of ethanol and sewing undertainty about the taxing of it.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home