Posted on 09/27/2014 1:10:15 PM PDT by NYer
At the risk of inviting all the usual charges of being politically incorrect, I once again put before you the strange practice of burning food for fuel. The video at the bottom of the post details some of the human costs associated with the increasing use of corn, grains, and other crops for fuel.
There is a tendency for environmentalists of our time to think very narrowly about their issues. It is a praiseworthy thing to seek to reduce pollutants and other things that have negative environmental impacts. The Catechism summons us to good stewardship of the earth, the environment, and our natural resources.
However, the human cost of significant changes (to include higher taxes, the elimination of certain technologies altogether, and other things) should be part of the equation. This is especially true in terms of how it affects the developing world. Yet in my experience, the human cost is almost never presented honestly.
Whatever good intentions environmentalists have, the planet, the climate, and the environment seem to be the overwhelming focus of their concern, at least for the most radical of them. And if human beings are considered at all, we are collectively just a big problem: there are too many of us, we do lots of bad stuff, and it seems that the earth would be better off without us.
So here’s an edgy video, from the National Geographic video site, no less! For the record, let me say again that it is a bad idea to burn food for fuel. And if the video below is correct, it’s going to get worse unless we have an honest conversation and come to some consensus that burning food for fuel IS bad.
Stay tuned; this issue is bound to heat up. I pray that common sense will prevail over what is most certainly a bad idea, one which will harm the poor disproportionally.
I know that I normally use my Friday blog for more light-hearted fare, but this video is what popped up in my video queue today. I’m glad to see the concerns are spreading.
The Hidden Costs of Turning Food Into Fuel
You know what happens when government intervenes, ping!
He who has ears, let him hear...
I vote food.
The biofuels wreck your car’s engine. Don’t use them.
Environmentalists ARE behind the movement to reduce the World population are they not? As they are then they have not one single praiseworthy intention in any stated goal they proffer.
Environmentalists have contributed more to the demise of this Nation, and the World than any other entity.
Ethanol is particularly bad on small, two stroke engines like chain saws and lawn mowers.
Some gas stations have pumps where you can get 100% gasoline.
“There is a tendency for environmentalists of our time to think very narrowly about their issues. “
So narrowly that they view a hyperfire as being more environmentally friendly than doing controlled burns to clear out dead wood.
So you end up with sterilized dirt due to the higher temps cause by the hyperfires, and nothing grows.
But it’s “natural” that way.
For thousands of years, olive oil lit the night, so what?
What I don’t understand is how this can be considered a dependable form of alternative energy. Any number of weather factors could cause a reduction or destruction of the corn being used for ethanol, and then we are in even worse shape.
I don’t have a problem with burning food. I most certainly have a problem with burning alcohol.
**ome gas stations have pumps where you can get 100% gasoline.**
I asked the question about the purity of the gasoline when I usually get gas. They assured me that there were no biofuels in it.
** Any number of weather factors could cause a reduction or destruction of the corn being used for ethanol**
Perhaps that will happen.
Corn is for bread and likker, not ethanol
Southern States gas stations in Maryland and Virginia sell 100% gasoline. the price is a bit higher, but so is your fuel mileage
I should have added in crop pests as well. Seems foolish to base an energy policy on a source that is so uncertain and insecure.
Guess who continues to propagate the food for fuel hysteria? If you said the oil companies, you get the prize. And no, I am not promoting ethanol for combustion engines, but let's at least stick to the facts and not buy in to the hysreia.
and the corn lobby
Strongly agree. The very idea of giving subsidies towards the business of burning foodstuffs as fuel in gas-tanks (when there is plenty of non-edible fuel already) ... it’s a highly perverse incentive with perverse and damaging results to the price of food for human beings who need to eat it.
Did you watch the short video? You will find the reason clearly explained.
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