Wasting Biofuels
There has been a lot of news recently about rising food prices, starting with a big speech by the President of the World Bank, then a few stories in the BBC, a New York Times editorial, and all the sudden it seems hunger is important in the mainstream media’s eyes. There’s a first time for everything. Of course, the casualities are mounting–unrest in Haiti drove the Prime Minister out and surely tens of thousands have died from malnutrition in the past week.
Kim Elliott wrote an excellent blog explaining one of the root causes of increasing food prices, biofuels, although it is uncertain exactly how much it is to blame. She also helps explains one of the key trade issues that ONE lobbies on but most people find maddeningly complex.
The big idea is that biofuels are popular in Congress because they can help win farm state votes like in Iowa, which is particularly important in presidential election years, and because many people are advocating for a reduction in oil imports and using more “environmentally friendly” fuels. Corn ethanol sounds like it can kill two birds with one stone.
Unfortunately it causes roughly as much global warming pollution (maybe more, maybe less, most like more) as the oil its being substituted for. Meanwhile it drives up the cost of food for the poor and steals tax dollars from hardworking Americans–net farm subsidies are on the order of $15 billion and a significant share goes to rich farmers making over $250,000 a year or about 5x the average American household.
Check it out: http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment/2008/04/biofuels_worsening_hunger_and.php
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