Ethanol Subsidies Kill Forests and People and Scar the Planet

Posted by Hans Bader

In the Washington Post, two prominent environmentalists have an editorial, “Ethanol’s Failed Promise,” which explains how ethanol subsidies and mandates are destroying the environment and fueling hunger and violence worldwide.   “Turning one-fourth of our corn into fuel is affecting global food prices. U.S. food prices are rising at twice the rate of inflation, hitting the pocketbooks of lower-income Americans and people living on fixed incomes.  .  .Deadly food riots have broken out in dozens of nations in the past few months, most recently in Haiti and Egypt. World Bank President Robert Zoellick warns of a global food emergency.”

Moreover, note Lester Pearson and Jonathan Lewis, ”food-to-fuel mandates are leading to increased environmental damage. First, producing ethanol requires huge amounts of energy — most of which comes from coal. Second, the production process creates a number of hazardous byproducts, and some production facilities are reportedly dumping these in local water sources.  Third, food-to-fuel mandates are helping drive up the price of agricultural staples, leading to significant changes in land use with major environmental harm. Here in the United States, farmers are pulling land out of the federal conservation program, threatening fragile habitats. . .Most troubling, though, is that the higher food prices caused in large part by food-to-fuel mandates create incentives for global deforestation, including in the Amazon basin. As Time Magazine reported this month, huge swaths of forest are being cleared for agricultural development. The result is devastating: We lose an ecological treasure and critical habitat for endangered species, as well as the world’s largest ‘carbon sink.’ And when the forests are cleared and the land plowed for farming, the carbon that had been sequestered in the plants and soil is released. Princeton scholar Tim Searchinger has modeled this impact and reports in Science magazine that the net impact of the food-to-fuel push will be an increase in global carbon emissions — and thus a catalyst for climate change.”

In Human Events, Deroy Murdock explains how rising food prices resulting from ethanol have forced Haitians to literally eat dirt (dirt cookies made of vegetable oil, salt, and dirt), caused tortilla riots in Mexico, and fueled violent protests in unstable “powder kegs” like Pakistan and Egypt.

We previously wrote about the unsavory politics that led to this crisis, the rioting it has caused, and the starvation that countless people across the globe face as a result.  Finance ministers and central bankers are now calling for an end to ethanol and other biofuel subsidies and mandates in an effort to prevent enormous loss of life.

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04/22/2008 @ 12:44 pm | Economic Liberty, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, International, Precaution & Risk | Comments

15 Responses to “Ethanol Subsidies Kill Forests and People and Scar the Planet”

  1. Posted by: Global Food Crisis: “A Silent Tsunami” | OpenMarket.org - 04/23/2008

    [...] into fuel is neither good policy for the poor nor for the environment.”   Ethanol subsidies are terrible for the environment. addthis_url = [...]

  2. Posted by: Drill for Oil to Save the Environment | OpenMarket.org - 04/30/2008

    [...] Drilling for oil hasn’t harmed the birds a bit.  But ethanol production causes environmental destruction, mass hunger, starvation, and [...]

  3. Posted by: monoblogue » Blog Archive » Drill and save the planet - 05/02/2008

    [...] environment.  Drilling for oil hasn’t harmed the birds a bit.  But ethanol production causes environmental destruction, mass hunger, starvation, and [...]

  4. Posted by: Genetically-Modified Foods Help Environment and Consumers | OpenMarket.org - 05/20/2008

    [...] and civil unrest, by turning food for the poor into fuel for the rich, in a process that is environmentally destructive and economically inefficient.  The Indian and South African finance ministers have called for [...]

  5. Posted by: End Ethanol Tariffs | OpenMarket.org - 05/25/2008

    [...] have already caused hunger, starvation, riots, and political unrest around the world, as well as considerable damage to the environment, such as soil erosion and deforestation. addthis_url = [...]

  6. Posted by: End Ethanol Tariffs | OpenMarket.org - 05/25/2008

    [...] have already caused hunger, starvation, riots, and political unrest around the world, as well as considerable damage to the environment, such as soil erosion and deforestation. addthis_url = [...]

  7. Posted by: Environmentalism: Often, It’s About Power, Not the Environment | OpenMarket.org - 05/27/2008

    [...] it’s often too late to do anything about them.  Environmental groups now recognize that ethanol subsidies are causing devastating harm to the environment, and that past support for such subsidies by politicians aligned with environment groups, like Al [...]

  8. Posted by: Environmentalism: Often, It’s About Power, Not the Environment | OpenMarket.org - 05/27/2008

    [...] it’s often too late to do anything about them.  Environmental groups now recognize that ethanol subsidies are causing devastating harm to the environment, and that past support for such subsidies by politicians aligned with environment groups, like Al [...]

  9. Posted by: Ethanol Mandates Impoverish Afghanistan, Fuel Islamic Extremism | OpenMarket.org - 06/02/2008

    [...] been criticized by civil-rights leaders for causing hunger and starvation on a vast scale, and by environmentalists for destroying forests, devastating the environment, and increasing greenhouse ga…. addthis_url = [...]

  10. Posted by: Ethanol Mandates Impoverish Afghanistan, Fuel Islamic Extremism | OpenMarket.org - 06/02/2008

    [...] been criticized by civil-rights leaders for causing hunger and starvation on a vast scale, and by environmentalists for destroying forests, devastating the environment, and increasing greenhouse ga…. addthis_url = [...]

  11. Posted by: Environmental Myths Harm Our Planet | OpenMarket.org - 06/13/2008

    [...] claiming they were good for the environment, but he was wrong.  Ethanol subsidies are now causing environmental devastation and starvation and riots around the world, contributing to political instability and Islamic [...]

  12. Posted by: Global Warming Thought Crimes and Double Standards | OpenMarket.org - 06/24/2008

    [...] for him to advocate the prosecution of Al Gore, whose support for ethanol subsidies has caused environmental devastation, hunger, and food riots across the world (fueling Islamic extremism in the [...]

  13. Posted by: Europe Rethinks Deadly Ethanol Mandates | OpenMarket.org - 07/07/2008

    [...] bad effects.  They have caused rioting and starvation in many poor countries.  They also have harmed the environment and increased food prices and support for Islamic extremists. addthis_url = [...]

  14. Posted by: Blocking U.S. Drilling Pollutes the Earth, Harms Environment | OpenMarket.org - 08/01/2008

    [...] I have noted earlier, ethanol subsidies also cause world hunger and starvation, high food prices, food rioting, and increased support for [...]

  15. Posted by: Ethanol, Oil Drilling, and Russian Invasions | OpenMarket.org - 08/12/2008

    [...] wrote earlier about how ethanol subsidies harm the environment, cause starvation and food riots across the world and fuel Islamic extremism in places like [...]

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