Corn Won’t Solve Our Problem

21 May 21, 2008 by John Carbary

The world has finally come full circle. Just a century ago our first transportation biofuels- the hay and oats to feed the horses- were then replaced by gasoline. Today, ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soybeans have begun to edge out gasoline and diesel.

These two forms of biofuels have been hailed as a positive development that will help the U.S. reduce the threat of climate change and also ease our dependence on foreign oil. With those reasons politicians have taken this issue on the presidential campaign trail, cycling through Iowa reaping the benefits that ethanol has brought to this region of the country. But lost in this euphoria, however, is the fact that three of our most basic fundamental needs; food, energy and a sustainable environment are now in dire conflict with each other.

Some biofuels if properly produce has the potential to provide climate friendly energy, but where and how can we grow them? Our most fertile soil is dedicated to food production. As with the demand for both food and energy increases the competition for fertile lands could raise food prices enough to drive the poorer one third of the globe into malnourishment. Now to create more fertile farm land I’m sorry to say that we have turned to clearing the rainforests in Brazil, that is threatening the existence of countless animals and increases the amount of climate changing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The theory and plan behind ethanol being the next great energy source that would lead the U.S. into the next century and make us the leader in the fight to reduce global warming. But with all of this new evidence that is arising lately that ethanol is actually creating more problems than what we actually started with. So without understanding the interlinked problems with every solution we will never be able to move forward in our never ending search for a clean and humanitarianly friendly fuel.

Now it may be too late to look in the rearview mirror and turn around to fix the problems that we have caused. Now that Congress has approved more and more subsidies to help generate more production and innovations of ethanol. Before our government went “all in” on ethanol they really should have looked at other biofuels before jumping on the first clean renewable energy that came along just to help their public opinion polls. Granted we are already down the road and we can’t turn around but we can always make a “right” turn, which will be the best alternative fuel that we need.

When i think of environmentalism I believe that the best way to describe it is to say do your part to help the environment. They are not asking you to save the world single handedly but to recycle, try to car pool when possible and just think about how the things you do effects the environment. So when I hear the global warming threat I think that many people just don’t care that this is happening because they hear that the temperature is only raising less than one degree over the past century, they really don’t see the problem. The person that is called a tree hugger is taking it way to far sometimes so I guess that is just crazy.

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