Ethanol boom could worsen world hunger: study

[Firecat]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070403...y_070403185953

I posted an article before about hybrid cars possibly killing deaf people etc because the cars are so silent you can't hear them....and now this?!?

The green movement is out for blood!

[jayhawk]

When I heard of this a few month ago, I had to laugh. Here we came up with a alternative fuel that could possibly please the greens, and now the poor will starve.

You know, the enviromentals wont be happy until we start riding horses again. And that is the paradox; they live in a modern society, but want the rest of society to accept their terms, which goes against human nature, which is an instinct to explore and devise.

It is like an episode of Top Gear where the greens, in commenting on the greater pollution output of mass transit per person than cars, argued that "the greenest trip is the one staying at home".

[Firecat]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

"the greenest trip is the one staying at home".

That really made me LOL.

[Jacobfox]

There is another option...make it out of random vegetation, like grass or things of that nature. The tech exists. I'm mostly ok with ethanol (B/c BOOST!!!!).

[bone]

there still is a complete sahara to convert into farmland if they run out of space
i'm not to worried about that

[Blind_Io]

Actually there is so much corn produced in the US that the government pays farmers to NOT plant crops just to keep the market from being flooded with surplus corn.

I think we are going to be fine for a while.

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Blind_Io

Actually there is so much corn produced in the US that the government pays farmers to NOT plant crops just to keep the market from being flooded with surplus corn.

You are right! On my land, grass is growing until 2008. Government pays me enough to cover the land taxes, then next year I rent out the land for 5 years; 2 for soybeans, 3 for corn. I do find it hilarious that the Government will be paying me money, which I will then turn around and pay taxes on the land. Kind of like playing poker with children, you know?

This is new to me, as of one week ago I just signed all the papers and deeds and what not, and I am now the owner of 60 acres of grass, and 60 acres of hardwood trees.

[tigger]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

You know, the enviromentals wont be happy until we start riding horses again.

Then they would complain about the methane output of all those horses .

Not only do we subsidize domestic farms, we buy cheap foreign crops for our own market. Corn actually kind of sucks for ethanol. It is not that high in sugar, like sugar cane, sugar beets, buffalo grass, etc. The only reason the gov't supports corn ethanol is because, imho, it's the easiest thing to do.