A DRACONIAN CHOICE: FOOD OR FUEL

The much touted explosion in the biofuels industry has the agricultural community and consumers up in arms and wondering which way to go – food or fuel. The question is critical in today’s world of growing food shortages and high energy prices.

The recently exploding industry of biofuels – in particular those made with grain – is forcing a choice of whether grain should be diverted to fuel production or kept in its most widely-accepted role of food production. To understand the dynamics of what is happening, we must first understand biofuels and the burgeoning biofuels industry.

WHAT ARE BIOFUELS?

Biofuels can be broadly defined as solid, liquid, or gas fuel consisting of, or derived from recently dead biological material, most commonly plants. They are derived from existing materials which have not had the opportunity to degrade. On the other hand, fossil fuels are derived from long dead biological material. Fossil fuels are derived from materials that have been subjected to the enormous forces and pressures of the earth over hundreds of thousands if not millions of years. Whether recently dead or long dead, both forms are capable of producing energy for consumption.

WHY THE DRACONIAN CHOICE?

Biofuels are limited primarily to providing an alternative form of energy for automotive transport. Since 70% of our oil consumption goes toward producing gasoline to power vehicles, exchanging biofuels for fossil fuels or using some combination of ethanol and gasoline seems logically to make sense. But using biofuels to produce an alternative to gasoline requires that grains normally used in generating either food stuffs or animal feed must be diverted to the business of creating the biofuel, ethanol.

Corn is the primary feedstock for ethanol production. About 18 percent of the nation’s corn crop went into ethanol in 2006—some 2.15 billion bushels. Ethanol can also be made from other grains such as sorghum as well as from “biomass” sources such as corn cobs, cornstalks, wheat straw, rice straw, switchgrass, vegetable and forestry waste and other organic matter. But those sources are much less likely to be used for ethanol production than corn.

Photo Credit: Case IH website – http://www.caseih.com

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In 2007 year, over 30% of America’s corn harvest was diverted from food to ethanol production, and, ethanol distilleries now running or in the works will pull an estimated 139 million tons of corn from the 2008 corn harvest, according to the Earth Policy Institute. Some estimates put the total amount diverted in 2008 at almost 50% of the corn harvest.

The following chart shows U.S. corn production and use for fuel ethanol for a 26-year time period.

U.S. Corn Production and Use for Fuel Ethanol, 1980-2006, with Projection to 2008
Year	Production	Use for Fuel Ethanol	Share of Corn Harvest Used for Ethanol
	Million Metric Tons		Percent
1980	169	1	0.5
1981	206	2	1.1
1982	209	4	1.7
1983	106	4	3.8
1984	195	6	3.0
1985	225	7	3.1
1986	209	7	3.5
1987	181	7	3.9
1988	125	7	5.8
1989	191	8	4.3
1990	202	9	4.4
1991	190	10	5.3
1992	241	11	4.5
1993	161	12	7.2
1994	255	14	5.3
1995	188	10	5.3
1996	235	11	4.6
1997	234	12	5.2
1998	248	13	5.4
1999	240	14	6.0
2000	252	16	6.3
2001	241	18	7.4
2002	228	25	11.1
2003	256	30	11.6
2004	300	34	11.2
2005	282	41	14.4
2006	273	55	20.0
…	…	…	…
2008 (proj.)	287	139	48.5
Source: Compiled by Earth Policy Institute with corn production from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Production, Supply & Distribution, electronic database, www.fas.usda.gov, updated 13 December 2006; and projection from USDA, Office of the Chief Economist, World Agricultural Outlook Board, USDA Agricultural Baseline Projections to 2015 (Washington, DC: February 2006), p. 35; corn use for fuel ethanol from USDA, Feed Grains Database, electronic database, www.ers.usda.gov/db/feedgrains, updated 13 December 2006; and projection by Earth Policy Institute.

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U.S. government data recently showed there is sufficient corn for the United States to supply itself with food and ethanol through next year, 2009, but the outlook hinges on cuts in exports and less of the grain being used as feed. It is also hugely dependent on good weather in America’s corn country, always a risky bet.

Since I am a vegetarian, I have to acknowledge that the diversion of corn from livestock feed to that of fuel production will not impact me to the extent it will those who incorporate meat as a major part of their diets. Feeding out cattle and hogs takes energy in the form of corn, and, with corn now increasingly being absorbed by the exploding ethanol industry, many Americans will be forced to choose between food or fuel – a truly Draconian choice for which most Americans are ill prepared.

OBAMA AND THE PREACHER PROBLEM

Ah, the newest in a string of unfortunate Obama preacher associations has stepped to the forefront of the national scene. This time it is a Catholic priest, the Reverend Michael Phleger, who decided it was time to step up to the plate and put on a truly disgusting display for all the cheering, hooting religious zealots at the Trinity United Church of Christ – Obama’s church of 20 plus years.

Phleger resigned about two weeks ago from an unpaid position on the Obama campaign’s Catholic advisory council. Is it just coincidence that Obama’s affiliations include these “preachers” who spew such hate and vindictiveness? Is it really possible that Obama didn’t have any idea that these two men of God were so steeped in hatred and vindictiveness? The one was his minister of over 20 years and the other was on a council advising his campaign.

The YouTube clip is incredible. Here we have a grown Catholic priest – a man of the cloth acting like a child. And, the church members hooting, shouting, and cheering his tirade.

And if you are naive enough to think that the African-American community doesn’t condone this outrageous conduct, then just look at the grown adults behind the priest jumping up and down with glee. Too often this election has focused on what has been perceived as racism from the white community, yet watching this tirade, it is quite obvious that the African-American community is replete with racism and sexism as well.

Is it any more excusable than white racism or sexism? Absolutely not. These two ministers should be ashamed of themselves for setting such a hypocritical example for their followers. And Obama needs to explain how it is that he is such a poor judge of people that he has tied himself to these individuals who see hatred as a way of life. Incidents like these only drive wedges between the two camps and will make it all the more difficult to pull together to reach a common goal.

MEDIA DUMPS ON HILLARY INSTEAD OF OBAMA AND McCAIN

A new Gallup poll conducted between May 19th and May 21st verifies what many of us Hillary supporters have said all along – the media has been harsher on Hillary than it has been on Obama and McCain. While the poll found overall that media coverage of all three candidates has been “about right”, those polled were inclined to side with the view that the media has treated Hillary more harshly than the male candidates.

The poll is below:

The poll is only one indicator of the difference in treatment between Hillary and the men. Early on, a nutcracker in the likeness of Hillary Clinton complete with stainless steel thighs made its rounds – and is still making its rounds. Those who hate Hillary laughed and chuckled and thought it was such a “cute” idea. The nutcracker is still available on the internet and is still sold in a number of locations.

If something of the same nature would have been done with an Obama figure who was, say, eating watermelon or picking cotton, the nation would have been in an uproar and the outrage would have probably led to pulling the items. Or, how about a McCain figure in a prisoner of war cage? Citizens would have been outraged.

Of course, there will be those who argue that to do a parody on slavery or sacrifice during war would be sacreligious. But degradation is degradation is degradation. Where is the line to be drawn?

Perhaps the notion that a woman can be tough and smart and ambitious strikes fear into those men – and women – who have low self-esteem. And there must be plenty of them gaging by the comments that have been made about Hillary and her “man crushing” powers.

The nutcracker is but a reflection of how, in reality, we have changed very little as a nation. While we pass laws to ensure equality, and we work hard to put on the face of acceptance, the truth is we still have a long way to go.