Alternative Energy Source

Alternative Energy Source

Over the past five years, the world has witnessed skyrocketing food prices, which is putting millions more people at risk of hunger - all because they simply can no longer afford to buy food. This is a shocking indictment of an economic system that puts the imperative of private profit above the daily survival of human beings. Chief among the factors causing this inflation in food prices is the stellar rise of the global biofuel industry. So how can such a destructive industry continue to be promoted in the face of its own consequent human suffering? (Fargione, 2010). The past five years have seen two record spikes in the price of food; and prices are rising again, with corn and soy hitting record highs in summer 2012. The evidence on the contribution of biofuel policies to recent international food price spikes is so compelling that, in 2011, ten international organisations—including the IMF and the World Bank— made an unprecedented call for G20 governments to scrap biofuel mandates and subsidies. By 2020, EU biofuel mandates alone could push up the price of some foods by as much as 36 per cent. This translates into hunger and malnutrition for millions of people, especially in countries like Yemen which import most of their food.

At first glance, shifting corn usage from food and animal feed to fuel for gas-guzzling automobiles looks like a step backwards for combating hunger. But the “food versus fuel” debate needs to be placed in a larger context. First, we need to consider how U.S. corn is actually used. Domestic corn production provides a negligible contribution to the diet of hungry people. Furthermore, a chronic oversupply of corn for the past ten years has resulted in below-cost prices for corn farmers in the U.S. and throughout the world. This has reduced the income of farmers globally and wreaked havoc on rural communities worldwide.

All things considered, the demand for biofuels has played a relatively small role in rising food prices. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, the primary reasons underlying the escalation in food prices are an explosion in energy costs driven largely by the price of petroleum, the surging demand for food and livestock feed from a growing and increasingly prosperous middle class in countries like China and India, drought and other weather patterns that reduced yields in numerous regions ...