To be filed under things that keep me up at night:

[jeffreyab]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/worldbusiness/09crop.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

This New York Times article via lsanderson talks about the worldwide increase in the price of food. I cannot help but wonder about how the gasohol from corn snake oil crusade is going to affect this and it may be in part responsible for the price increases.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/03/09/how_government_makes_things_worse/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed1

This article talks about how ethanol from corn, rather than being green is rather the opposite.

Comments

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

From the articles I've seen, it is pretty clear that the various biofuels are driving a fair bit of the global food price increases.

But, on the flip side, heavy duty agricultural subsidies in the rich world (especially, the US, Europe, and Canada) have kept world food prices unnaturally low, often at the expense of poor farmers in 3rd world countries.

And, yes, corn from ethanol is very borderline green, when the cost of inputs is accounted for, and is only economic because of heavy subsidy by the US government.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Though gasohol from sugar cane, as it is done in Brazil, is actually a lot more sensible both economically and green wise.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

That is why I specified corn gasohol.

In Brazil sugar cane gasohol started as a use for waste product not as a another farm subsidy like corn gasohol.

People don't realize you really cannot equate the two at all.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I was contrasting the sugar cane case.

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

I missed your earlier post by going backwards through my friends list.

[moropus.livejournal.com]

If this keeps up, being fat will be a sign that you have money. You can afford to over eat. That might seem silly right now, but in some 3rd world countries, having a spare tire is a sign of prosperity.