Biofuels Starving Our People, Leaders Tell UN
The leaders of Bolivia and Peru have attacked the use of biofuels, saying they have made food too expensive for the poor.
Speaking at the United Nations, the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, said the increased use of farmland for fuel crops was causing a “tremendous increase” in food prices.
The Reuters news agency reported that the Peruvian president, Alan Garcia, called on developed countries to grow more food. In the last few months, food prices in Peru have run ahead of the country’s general rate of inflation.
Their attack coincided with a report published today by the environmental group Friends of the Earth warning the EU of the perils of expanding biofuel use in Latin America. Last year the EU agreed on a target of 10% biofuel use for transport by 2020.
The report says the certification schemes being set up by some South American countries to ensure sustainable production of sugar cane and soya bean crops are not enough to prevent damage to the environment and “fail to address the biggest problems” caused by the cultivation of land currently covered by forests or smaller farms.
In his UN comments, Morales criticised “some South American presidents” for pushing biofuels. The Bolivian president did not name them but his views are in sharp contrast to those of the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has said developing countries have enough land to produce both food and biofuels.
Morales called on developed nations to accept that problems created by biofuels in developing countries were partly their responsibility. After his speech, he told a news conference that “it is not an internal problem, it is an external problem”.
“This is very serious,” he said. “How important is life and how important are cars? So I say life first and cars second.”
In his UN speech, Morales called for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to take action against the biofuel industry “in order to avoid hunger and misery among our people”.
Reuters reported Garcia as saying biofuels were “creating very serious problems for countries that have to import these (food) products. We believe there are alternative energies that do not put the world’s food in danger.”
Peru’s government has been forced to hand out food to the poorest in the country’s capital, Lima, because of the crisis caused by rising food prices. It has cut tariffs and raised interest rates to try to curb inflation, which rose 4% last year.
Both leaders are facing challenges to their authority. This month, Garcia’s approval rating sank to 26% - the lowest since he took office in 2006 - and 57% of those polled said rising prices was the main reason for their disapproval.
Morales, meanwhile, is fighting opposition leaders in four eastern provinces who want significant autonomy from the central government.
© 2008 The Guardian
What do you say now,Willie Nelson. A couple years ago you were touting the benefits of Bio-fuel. Still feel that way?
Stick to singing and smoking your reefer!
I second that.
Of course everyone knows it is more important to feed people than to feed cars.
Biofeuls using corn or soy or any food product are a scam.
Switchgrass produces more energy than both and is not edible by people, cheaper to plant and harvest too.
Me thinks their plan is two-fold. Get rid of the “crisis of democracy” in South American countries so the warlords and oil lords can move in, and maybe get rid of those poor people at the same time.
Bio-fuel is an amazing concept that just doesn’t work. It’s likely that Willie, like many others, are quickly convinced that it doesn’t work when they get the information straight. Many well meaning people have jumped on the bio-fuel bus, they just need to get off as quickly as possible.
Ok…These bio-fuel discussions go on forever, but most of the responders simply take it at face value..Lets all concede that it is better to feed people than cars. However, you are completely missing the point. Bio-fuel works. We should simply not be using food crops. If you buy into the disinformation campaign, then you are a complete moron. Try not to forget the US still pays farmers not to grow food on their land, and also spends hundreds of millions of dollars spraying wild hemp, a superior bio-fuel with toxic chemicals. We also grow the majority of food crops to feed beef & pork, which is extremely inefficient and wasteful. The faster we get off oil the better. The environment, economy, foreign policy, and social and physical health of the nation, and the world depend on it.
Sure, biofuel “works” but you’re missing the point, mr boston. We’ve got hundreds of millions of people facing critical food shortages. We’ve got an economy built around the private automobile and 18-wheeled trucks, a stupendously wasteful form of transportation that is simply unsustainable. Bio-fuels are the magic elixir used to prop up the private car system, a system which is destined to fail because there is simply not enough energy in this world to sustain it. Even if you don’t use food as crops, you will still have to use SO MUCH cropland to grow your biofuels that the US will cease to be the” breadbasket of the world,” and barely be able to feed its own people. As to the US govt. paying farmers not to grow food, and spraying hemp, these are insupportable policies but beside the point. Biofuels are a magical elixir intended to make people believe with a few minor adjustments the “American dream” way of life can continue blithely on, i.e., using 7 times more energy per capita than Europeans, driving SUVs and Hummers to the suburban mall, living in McMansions, etc. Biofuels are a con job. They do “work” but not in the way you think. They work to distract people from the fundamental changes we need to make in “the American dream” in order to have a future worth living in.
Now that the effects have become clear, I suppose that Willie Nelson will endorse wind, sun, geothermal energies. Good agricultural policy can help family farmers survive without selling food to cars.
Evo Morales is committing political suicide and possibly destroying the Bolivarian Revolution on one fell swoop by failing to exploit this great dysfunction of the global capital system for the benefit of people/planet. Instead of begging the system to modify its allocation schemes, he should point out the system’s failure and use it as motivation to drive new aggressive programs to build his country’s and the world’s land, water and food/fuel self-sufficiency/security, and push the global capital system into irrelevancy where it belongs. But fail to implement these programs of self-sufficiency/security and continue to live at the mercy of the global capital system, and you will continue to suffer famines, genocide, slavery, theft, plunder, poison, paranoia, death and destruction. Very simple choice, people. What’s it going to be?
Memory_Hole, calling biofuels a “con job” isn’t good enough. Smashing biofuels sends the global capitalist digging into his bag of diabolical tricks for yet another, for example, he might next addict the people to hydrogen vehicles which use the same or more fossil fuels as the internal combustion engine with added “intellectual property” and exotic fuel cell materials creating more environmental/social problems. We have to stop the global capital merry go round, and push societies off and send them to their final destination - local economic/political power, land, water, food security for all. This solves not only the food problem but 90% of all human-induced problems - remember - the elites in perpetrating their class warfare have been smashing food security worldwide since the start of the colonial period and and on regional scale since the start of civilization/exploitation. It’s time for a global change of conscience and change of exchange/association - get off the capitalist merry go round, people - start on the individual level by growing your own food.
Evo, can you sell coca leaf?
We shouldn’t be using LAND!!!..
IF we try to replace all our gas with ethanol./biofuels.. how much land will it take?
SUre. I have heard that it could be grown on marginal land.. not food producing land BUT STILL.. you KNOW that if we do NOT cut the DEMAND For gas we are going to end up chopping down more trees and using up as much land as we can to grow bio-fuel crops.. regardless of what they are.
I am disgusted at the LAME attemps at improving gas milage.. 33 miles a gallon??? That’s all?????
THe point is.. WE HAVE TO USE LESS !!!..
And please.. don’t FORGET.. that Petroleum prices will affect the pesticide and fertilizer industries HARD.. it is already happening. Petroleum is used for a lot of other things.. unless we find new or old ways of doing things.. sustainable ways.. PLUS CURB OUR CONSUMPTION!!. of everything.. and live and work more sustainably.. these problems will never get solved.
It isn’t just about a magic bullet.. it is about everyone just digging in and getting their hands dirty and doing some stuff like growin their own food.. .. composting… walking and biking and using mass transit more.
sorry.. not bio fuel jet pack for you!!
ezeflyer: Your funny!
I’m growing Cherokee Blue Corn, Cherokee Green Beans, Seminole Squash, Cherokee Tobacco, Cherokee Tomatoes, and Sunflowers on the East side of my food plot. The animals and my family all share. No fences, no scarecrows, no mole traps, all are welcome. There are no hybrids in my garden. There is no hoarding and no fertilizer other than compost. The nearby walnut trees help to provide food for the Winter. The Squash last a long time too. The corn is dried and ground. The tobacco is for prayer and offerings. The Sunflowers are shared with the birds. The Green Beans mostly get eaten by the deer. Our neighbors get a share too. I hope that by providing some of my own food that I can leave some on the market for those facing starvation. Oh, I seldom drive and therefore almost use no ethanol. We know that we cannot look to the Government to help these people, we must do it ourselves.
rtdrury - There are too many landless people in cities who have only debt and no net worth with which to begin a re-settlement and new enterprise. They would have to acquire land, house seed, equipment and do a lot of learning about what farming involves to start growing their own food. Think about the overall expense of buying even simple implements if this is not your tradition and this has not been in your family, at least in the US temperate zone conditions. I suspect there is not enough arable land anyway for individual, self sufficient farming for 300 million people in the US. I suspect You must live in an area where you have no idea of the scale of urban life. Or understand not having any capital.
So while I agree that if you have land or even a yard, it is a very good thing to grow all or part of your food. Doom and Gloom’s setup sounds like a bit of heaven, but I guess it did not get that way overnight. If I had to grow my own food in my apartment I would run out in a week at most. I can and do support farmers’ markets.
Also, I think Evo Morales is doing a remarkable job, is a smart, brave man and we should listen to him carefully first before giving him advice. Is Lula de Silva talking about biofuel from sugar cane waste? If that is the case, there is not necessarily a deep difference between the two leaders.
JCLIENTELLE
i believe people are realizing now (albeit a bit late) that biofuels are a waste of time and precious land. even the u.k. is questioning the benefits of this monstrous mistake………….
DOOMNGLOOM
good luck with all your plants and feeding your family and neighbours. i am waiting for my sunflowers to grow. they are only 2 inches high right now…………………..when might i expect a harvest?
Coco, it’s good that you are growing sunflowers. I usually harvest mine when the petals, stalk, and head turn brown as the season changes to Fall. Sometimes I just leave the heads on the stalk for the birds. Some I tie to a tree branch or a fence post. The deer like to eat the young sunflower plants too. You may want to protect them until they get about five or six feet tall. If it is a dry summer, they will eat the entire stalk too.
The deer also like the river cane that I planted last year. I wrapped a six inch wire mesh circle around the plants about one foot tall. They will eat the
tender tops off the plant but the leaves remain green within the wire fence. For the first three years the roots are supposed to spread in all directions. On the fourth year they are supposed to emerge with many plants all connected by rhyzomes underground. Hopefully, with enough other foods available the deer will allow them to grow until they are well established. Good luck with your Sunflowers.
It is not bio fuels it is the price of fuel that is driving the price of food up. Please people, learn the facts and do not jump to conclusions. If you want someone to blame, blame Bush and Cheney for invading Iraq and adding a risk premium to the price of oil. All of their oil friends in Texas and Saudi Arabia are loving the huge profits that they are making, while the price to transport food skyrockets.
There is a right way to do this and a wrong way. If “entrepreneurs” are involved, looking to only make money, then this is what you get.
We need to legalize industrial hemp for bio-fuels. But, since there is 0.001% THC in it, WE CAN’T! STOOOPID!!!!!
Our large-scale agriculture system is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. When fuel prices go up, food prices will go up.
DOOMNGLOOM
thanks for the tips. guess i’ll have to wait awhile………..
Put a Taco in your Tank?
Till-less Agriculture
Nutrient-less Soil
Mon-Saint-Co issues a
Decree
We own your life!
The method of this madness
Round up
And
Mr. Terminator Genes.
How can you trust Dick the Heartless Chaney now?
After he has abandoned you at every turn?
How can you still put your Faith in his
Hydrocarbon Basket full of:
Lies, Spies, Corruption and Deceit?
Had enough lies yet?
Lies are hard to swallow on a empty stomach.
Has the Corn Syrup made you fat enough yet?
Put a Taco in your Tank?
Trouble lays Ahead!
A Disrupted Food Supply has
Out striped Demand.
Farm whole Foods.
Cover part of the desert with
Solar Cells.
THE
Corpirate Stupid State
Stumbles/Rumbles on.
Steam rolling the poor.
As The Earth Trembles in its Wake.
The Machine says it would save you someday!
Instead you must go with it today.
On a FREE
Torture Tour
Around the World.
Disperse.
Flee.
Survive and Prosper.
Throw out the last of their Garbage/Baggage!
Rid yourself of their conditioning BU__! SH__!
Shut It Off!
The Micro-Democracy-Revolution.
Reduce your Consumption and stop Pollution.
Recycle and Renew;
The Dream
Create a way out of
This Trap.
The Corpirate BOX/Hell Hole.
Blaze a trail!
Leave Big Brother Behind!
He is abusive.
The Military, Media, Banking, Conglomerate is Dying a terrible Death.
Good Riddance.
Never speak of them again
These are the birthing pains of.
The New Order.
Move On.
Survive and Prosper.
Here’s some data (2007) on production of fuels from foods:
Today we know with accurate precision that one ton of corn can only render as an average 413 liters of ethanol (109 gallons), a figure that may vary according to the latter’s density.
The average price of corn in US ports has reached 167 dollars per ton. The production of 35 billion gallons of ethanol requires 320 million tons of corn.
According to FAO, US corn production in 2005 reached 280.2 million tons.
Even if the President is speaking about producing fuel out of switchgrass or wood chips, any person could understand that these phrases are far from realistic. Listen well: 35 billion gallons, 35 followed by nine zeros!
Of course, all of this will happen after a great number of investments, which could only be afforded by the most powerful companies whose operations are based on the consumption of electricity and fuel.
Let this formula be applied to the Third World countries, and the world will see how many hungry people on this planet will cease to consume corn.
What is worse, let the poor countries receive some financing to produce ethanol from corn or any other foodstuff and very soon not a single tree will be left standing to protect humanity from climate change.
Other rich countries have planned to use not only corn but also wheat, sunflower seeds, rapeseed and other foodstuffs to produce fuel.
just chew coca leaves and ride a bike,,,in fact make prisoners in this incarcerated country work off their sentences with voluntary pedaling of stationary electrogen bikes, so many kilowatts per minetes off your sentence??? why let them work out for no benefit, and the gay prisoners could ride tandom,,,,electrogenerators,,,,yeah, boinka boinka, in fact I can see beds that generate from fucking, and hour of fucking and you get an hour of free tv, every energy problem solved!!!! course cold shoulder means no game or gameshow,,,speaking of energy, has it occured to you-all that it is a scam, there is plenty of oil, but not enough competition, monopolies rule the day and sucker everyone with the shortagew and global wartming bullshit, plants love CO2, the US farmer plants the equivalent of 5 rainforrest every year, manage the deforrestation better and problem solved in 3rd world countries, War on Planting trees, spend it there, plant a trillion trees and whoopie, we gotta love it, same with fish plant millions of fish and we could feed this planet like crazy, but the Idoltry-profit motive is always in the way, to bad we couldn’t see the world as an opportunity to help everyone, Peace, Joe Clark for Prez