Burning stuff for power is so archaic. harry On 10/4/2008 10:14 PM, Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
> Quite some time back someone on this list -- Jed, maybe, or maybe it was > actually several people -- opined that "alternative" biofuels which > require arable land to grow could plausibly be viewed as, at least, > fundamentally stupid, or at worst as a crime against humanity. > > Recently I've noticed an interesting trend: In the context of articles > on inflation and world food supplies, alternative fuels are now coming > up time and again as one of the main causes of rising food prices. Just > as one trivial example, here's an excerpt from today's Wall Street > Journal, which happened to have a story on rising inflation: > >> But the fact that inflation is rising almost everywhere suggests some >> of its causes are global. As crops are sold for alternative-energy >> production, food prices have soared: The price of rice, the staple >> for billions of Asians, is up 147% over the past year. > > Obviously there's more than just alternative fuel production at work in > Asia -- to name one thing, China is also turning over more land (and > more grain) to beef production as they shift to a more "Western" diet -- > but none the less it's interesting that yet again, in an article which > had nothing to do with energy production, this issue came up; the impact > of biofuels on food prices is now treated as a "given" by the mainstream > press. > > It seems that we are, indeed, moving to a mode where we "burn our food" > in our cars. > > (Original link to the full article: > > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120778643316903397.html?mod=hps_us_pageone > > but it may be subscribers-only.) >
