World running out of wheat because of biofuel mandates!

February 24, 2008

The world is running out of wheat because so many farmers have

switched to growing corn for ethanol production. US wheat supplies

are at 60 year lows and globally wheat supplies are at 50 year lows.

Consider that the world population in 1958 was just under 3 billion

people and right now it is well over 6.6 billion people. UK

newspapers are declaring that the world only has a 10 week supply of

wheat left. I don't know what is going to happen in May, but it can't

be good.

Biofuels are far worse for the environment than using ordinary

gasoline!

The highly respected journal SCIENCE recently published the "Use of

U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through

Emissions from Land Use Change," which states that the

production of biofuels from grains or switchgrass greatly increases

the release of greenhouse gases and is far worse for the environment

than using ordinary gasoline.

See story at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1151861

Also see a European study on biofuels that found the same thing,

"Biofuels: an unfolding disaster" (pdf 514kb) at:

http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/docs/ECOS-6-5.pdf

Biofuel production is causing worldwide food price hyperinflation by

dramatically shrinking the human food supply. According to the United

Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, global food prices rose

40% in 2007 alone, and thus United Nations food official Jean Ziegler

called biofuels a "crime against humanity." Food prices in America

rose .7% in January, 2008, and will continue to rise quickly because

of massive biofuel production. News reports show people in Haiti

resorting to eating mud because American biofuel mandates have made

grains unaffordable. As we heartlessly starve the world's poor,

pressure for illegal immigration to the USA continues to rise. Growing

switchgrass to make biofuels will not stop this trend, as land, water,

fertilizer, farm equipment, and labor will still be diverted from food

production with soaring food prices the result. When America

foolishly turns its food into fuel, we raise food prices globally

which gives other countries a strong financial incentive to burn down

rainforests in order to grow more food. Rainforests in Brazil,

Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa, and the Philippines are on fire right now

because of United States biofuel mandates. Biofuel production

aggravates water shortages, and it takes 9,000 gallons of water to

create just 1 gallon of biodiesel.

The "energy independence" argument for biofuels is a hoax because

American biodiesel made out of soybeans costs us the equivalent of

making regular diesel out of oil at $232 a barrel. Making ethanol

from corn costs us the equivalent of oil at $81. a barrel and uses 28%

more fossil fuels than gasoline. Only massive government subsides

makes biofuels affordable at the pump. Biofuel manufacturers have

become a malignant force in America like the tobacco companies, not

caring who they harm as long as they make their fortune.

Global biofuel production will dangerously heat up earth's atmosphere

because farming contributes more to global warming each year than all

the land, sea, and air transportation combined. This destruction

makes no sense strategically because by 2015 it is estimated that oil

from American shale will cost only $30 a barrel to manufacture, and

there is more oil potential in Colorado shale alone than the entire

Middle East had before drilling began in Iran in 1908. Making

hydrogen fuel through the electrolysis of water via electricity

provided by nuclear energy would be far better for the environment

than farming biofuel crops, and the world has enough nuclear fuel to

last for thousands of years.

The world is suffering a global food crisis, so it is better to drill

in ANWR for energy than in our food! Please work to have all biofuel

mandates, subsidies, and incentives repealed in order to LOWER FOOD

PRICES now! The biofuel backlash has just begun, and those

politicians who stay loyal to the worst idea of the 21st century will

find themselves very unpopular with voters when food prices double yet

again during a period of economic recession. At present, the only

biofuel ideas that hold promise are biodiesel made from algae and

ethanol made from garbage, but those technologies are still

experimental, unproven, and years away from commercial application.

Please see 10 important reasons to oppose biofuel production. - "The

biofuel hoax is causing a world food crisis!" at:

http://home.att.net/~meditation/bio-fuel-hoax.html

For links to shocking news stories about the world food crisis, see:

http://home.att.net/~meditation/biofuel-news.html

Christopher Calder

February 24, 2008