Though there is a reason it's so important to follow: because the $^*# we do to the world really does have to be curtailed, and soon.
Refugees often die before reaching Yemen because of dangerous sea conditions and overcrowded vessels. Others die at the hands of their smugglers, who order the passengers to jump overboard when the Yemeni coast guard approaches the vessel.
Is it me, or are we dealing with people PUTTING themselves on the very vessels that once carried slaves (metaphorically speaking) and dying the same deaths, soon after? Food riots are happening ALL OVER the world: Haiti, Somalia, Indonesia, Zimbabwe...
And all because (I have a limited understanding, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) farmers around the world, especially in America, have taken to planting more corn than necessary to make ethanol, which in turn rapes the soil of other nutrients that it needs to harvest other food options, hence making other foods more expensive AND scarce in other parts of the world...it's all twisted. The effects of greed and power are ENDLESS. This is one of those times that education really hurts, because it's one of those issues that's just layered and hidden, and has a simple answer but almost too many people in the way of solving this problem that's affecting too many lives that are not valued across the globe. Saddening is an understatement. If you want more/better stated info on the ethanol fuel debate, see below. Also, take seriously the electric car concept. Ideas/realities like that could keep the world afloat for maybe a little longer.
Ethanol from corn: burning money and oil
US politicians have been subsidising corn (maize) production, and its conversion to ethanol, for years. The idea is that it can be added to petrol where it both acts as fuel itself, and makes the petrol burn more efficiently and cleanly. Since it is not derived from fossil fuel it should reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help reduce American dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
Surely that’s worth the $1.4 billion annual subsidy that farmers in states like Iowa and companies like Archer Midland Daniels get every year. Greenpeace and the nuttier type of tree huggers love it.
Taxpayers may not be so keen. The full costs of the subsidy are a good deal more than the direct subsidy itself. By raising the price of corn they raise costs of food overall.
Nor does it help the environment to pay to keep about 10 million acres of land growing corn, when they might otherwise revert to nature.
The real problem with ethanol from corn is that it requires fuel to make the corn. David Pimentel a professor from Cornell has done the analysis [i]. An acre of U.S. corn can be processed into about 328 gallons of ethanol. But planting, growing and harvesting that much corn requires about 140 gallons of fossil fuels and costs $347 per acre, according to Pimentel. That is $1.05 per gallon of ethanol before the corn even moves off the farm.
The energy economics get worse at the processing plants, where the grain is crushed and fermented. As many as three distillation steps and other treatments are needed to separate the ethanol from the water. All these need energy.
Adding up the energy costs of corn production and its conversion to ethanol, 131,000 BTUs are needed to make 1 gallon of ethanol which has an energy value of only 77,000 BTU. "Put another way," Pimentel says, "about 70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in ethanol. Every time you make 1 gallon of ethanol, there is a net energy loss of 54,000 BTU."
Overall ethanol from corn costs about $1.74 per gallon to produce, compared with about 95 cents to produce a gallon of petrol. "That helps explain why fossil fuels -- not ethanol -- are used to produce ethanol" Pimentel says. "The growers and processors can't afford to burn ethanol to make ethanol. Drivers couldn't afford it, either, if it weren't for government subsidies to artificially lower the price."
I just ask that we all be informed, and at every turn, try to be better. Not just in personal endeavors, but in being human and making someone else's human experience better.
2 comments:
I will simply say this: food is but one of a plethora of reasons why people leave their homes and risk life and limb to live somewhere else that is perceived to be better.
Some do realize better lives in the new country but a look around Paris (take a trip Chateau Rouge, Metro ligne 4) and you'll see exactly what better means.
FREE(DOM) TIME
"We love to love you. We love to suck you dry. all the while "
Over 70% of Cape Verdes resources are imported. The proportions may fluctuate from conselho to conselho , ilha to ilha. The united states is the premier importer of corn to the archipelago. Portugal, Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium are other major "providers". All of which are part of the European Union.
In third world amerika, our basic needs of food and clean water, clothes and shelter are often imported by parties who, while occupying territories within, are outside of our communities. Gluttonous politicorporations dictate most of our food consumption under the guise of time saving tools. You can get what you want when you wanted and fast. (90 second drive-thrus open til 2am!) Develop a habit of frequenting the carry-out before cooking in our kitchens. "If you control a man's thinking you need not worry about his actions" (Woodson).
We are dependent on others to eat! More directly, we are dependent open our oppressors to eat. That includes the farmer who is placed in a virtual sharecropping role similiar to that of Ghan or Columbia, and the resulting excessive farming that robs the soil of nutrients, makes feeding livestock wasteful, and overworks farmers. Create dependency, then create debt. We owe our time (labor) to survive, and use our free time to rest. you can use the food to fuel machines rather than people and we're too tired to do anything about. We must exercise more agency in the renewable production of our food.
The truth remains: a free people control the resources necessary for their survival. (emphasis on the plurals). Here's to the women and men who farm community owned land, catch and sell fish, sew and crochet, bake bread and cook, make and own their music, thoughts, dreams, and prayers. the independent people use their skills and free time to satisfy their own needs, and be free.
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