Tangled Up in Green: The Dangers of Using Food for Fuel

Who knew Stephen King was a prophet?

No, I’m not talking about the demon-possessed hot rods (I think we all saw that coming). I’m talking about America’s zombie-like loyalty to a certain cash crop — one that has turned our entire nation into the children of the corn.

Lately, of course, you can’t watch, read, or listen to the news without someone touting the benefits of corn ethanol and how it’s the key to leading us on a path of energy independence.

There might be a *cough* kernel of truth to that argument, but… (sorry, I suffer from a cousin of Tourette’s that requires me to uncontrollably shout out useless puns)…

Seriously, corn is not the answer. It’s not even a major part of the answer. In fact, it’s a major part of the problem.

What do I mean? Well, lend me your *cough* ear (jeez, the medication is wearing off quicker)…

Corn ethanol was meant to be a supplement for crude oil. As such, logic would have you believe that as demand for oil went down, so too would its price. But, if anything, prices of the two have escalated hand in hand:

Crude oil has more than tripled in price from the $30-per-barrel figure of March 2004. Corn prices this month have averaged slightly less than double the $2.75-per- bushel average of March 2004.

The bigger problem with this scenario is that higher corn prices mean higher overall food prices. Corn, after all, is a staple of the diet fed to livestock, and so any sharp rise in the price of corn will have a dramatic effect on meat and poultry prices; add to that the fact that practically every mainstream commercial food product contains some amount of high-fructose corn syrup — and that corn is quickly gaining popularity as a replacement for petroleum-based plastics, and it’s easy to see why everyone’s grocery bills are going through the roof.

People like us, fortunate enough to be able to *cough* stomach these higher grocery prices, will find a way to adapt — we’ll cut back on the amount we buy, we’ll look for cheaper solutions. In the U.S., food prices account for only about 10 percent of the average family’s budget. It’ll make things tougher, but that’s not the problem.

The problem is that food prices are so high now that developing and poorer countries are having a much harder time feeding their people. In many developing countries, for example, food prices take up roughly 70 percent of that average family budget.

Is there a direct link between our current corn craze and global hunger? Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram thinks so:

Citing the US as an example, he said nearly 20% of corn goes to making bio fuels.

Mr Chidambaram said there was now a climate of food insecurity

“It is a sign of the lopsided priorities of certain countries that they will resort to measures that will produce fuel at a cheaper cost in order to meet the transport requirements of a section of their population,” Mr Chidambaram said.

He said the pursuit of such policies at a time when many in the world could barely afford to eat was “outrageous and… must be condemned”.

Granted, the rising price of corn is not the only culprit for rising food costs and I’m not saying we should do away with all corn ethanol.

But let’s be reasonable, you don’t replace one dictator (oil) with another (corn). There is no monolithic solution to our energy needs, in fact it’s the exact opposite: we need a variety of smaller-scale alternatives. Moreover, we need to emphasize biofuels that are native to a particular area, so switchgrass and algae should be just as much at the center of this discussion. Finally, it means we need to cut back on government subsidies for corn — how about directing those incentives toward encouraging other less-damaging alternative fuels?

So the next time some local politician spouts a *cough* corn pone notion that ethanol is our eco-savior, just remember that the argument isn’t so cut-and-dry, and that how we decide to pursue our energy needs here can have dramatic consequences all over the globe.

Now, imagine that, I managed to get through this entire post without one reference to being *cough* corny! (uh-oh, time for more medication…)

Photo courtesy of 0595

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