Biofuels-making some hungry?
Chuck’s Breakpoint commentary today was very intriguing. He was talking about the effect that biofules like ethonol were having on food prices around the world. Consider this:
-In the United States, egg prices are up 35 percent; milk up 23 percent; and bread up 16. For most Americans, who on average spend 10 percent of their income on food, these increases squeeze our budgets.
-In countries like Ethiopia and Bangladesh, people can spend 70 percent of their income on food; so even modest increases in food prices can impair their ability to feed their families. And price increases for the staples they depend on have not been modest: Wheat prices have doubled and corn prices quadrupled in the last year
-It takes 510 pounds of corn to make 13 gallons of ethanol—that amount could “feed a child in Zambia or Mexico for a year,” while it fuels your car only for a week.
How does this affect your thinking on biofules? Do you think that our lifestyles directly affect those around the world? What does your worldview put first, people, economy, environment, or something else?
Comments?
Be sure to read the commentary.
