Fidel Castro & The Economist Agree – Ethanol From Corn is a Bad Idea |
3 Comments |
| By Ka-bar in BioFuel, Dumb Ideas | April 11, 2007 | |
Cuba’s ailing dictator roused himself from his sickbed long enough to write a short essay attacking the use of foodstuffs like corn (maize) for motor fuel, calling it among other things “the internationalization of genocide.”
Few people were surprised that one of the last Marxist leaders left in the world would write an article decrying globalization and the idea of turning grain into ethanol for the benefit of the Western first world. What was surprising was that The Economist, one of the leading financial magazines of the capitalist world agrees with Castro. The original article is protected behind a paywall, but it has been duplicated in several other sites including this one.
Biofuels will be an important part of the energy mix in coming decades, but more and more people are seeing cracks in the argument that corn-based ethanol is the right choice for the United States’ auto fleet. It’s politically popular, but not necessarily ‘green.’
Fidel & The Econmist Agree - Corn Based Ethanol is a Bad Idea « The Moral Equivalent of War said,
[...] Fidel & The Econmist Agree – Corn Based Ethanol is a Bad Idea I just posted an interesting item about el Jefe & The Economist agreeing on something at Groovy Green. No word on whether there was a total eclipse of the Sun, hell freezing over, or anything of the like. [...]
Jeff said,
Ethanol from corn is such a ridiculous notion. Biobutanol from non-food feedstocks makes so much more sense.
The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics - Swollen Banks in Iowa, Swollen Bellies Abroad said,
[...] year 2006-2007 was fermented into fuel-alcohol, a statistic that has drawn the ire of everyone from Fidel Castro to The Economist. In light of current developments, those criticisms look set to swell in, or beyond, proportion to [...]