Are the stories about ethanol programs causing food riots just propaganda spread by the oil companies?

Question

Are the stories about ethanol programs causing food riots just propaganda spread by the oil companies?

Answer 1

It does seem that way to me.  The way the media has latched onto this idea and has turned everyone against ever wanting to have alternative fuels.  I think someone is paying big money to keep this a negative news story.

Answer 2

I don't think so,livestock such as cattle,chickens,sheep,horses,etc eat grain. We eat grain as well and now the U.S. government is burning food for gas that's just stupid and of course is going to cause food shortages that effect not only the U.S. but the world. Ethanol is not efficient 400 pounds of grain for 25 gallons of ethanol. Ethanol plants churn out tons of co2.  Instead of wasting money and stupidly burning our food supply we should be mining our own coal here to make synthetic oil which is co2 neutral and the U.S. has enough coal to supply the world's energy for over 400 yrs.

Answer 3

Guess....

When food prices increase it´s biofuels fault....

When food prices cool down again it´s... oh wait it´s nobody´s fault.

Answer 4

probably not.

but farmers grow crops for money.  not because they feel the need to feed people.  when fuel prices get so high, then farmers want to sell the crops as fuel.

and when you have plenty of food available, but people can't afford it.  money becomes not so important anymore, and there will be violence.

biomass can make energy from the non-food portion of any plant.  seem like we should use the food for food, and the rest of the plant for fuel.  or use the space to directly harness energy from the sun.

Answer 5

hehehe.......well, I wouldn't put it past the oil industry to do anything and everything to keep the US addicted to oil for as long as they possibly could!  We've already seen them do that by funding various groups to deny global warming.  Plus they pretty much bought off the President for a favorable energy policy, so it wouldn't be unlike the oil industry to do that.

That being said though, I kind of doubt they made this stuff up.  While it might seem strange for you or me to riot because the price of food is going up, we can easily afford to pay the 30% or whatever higher costs.  There are many people in this world who live on $2 a day or less, so if the price of rice jumps from $.50 to $.75, that is a huge increase for them!  

So count your blessings and be thankful that (for now) you can afford the higher cost of food, a lot of people in this world can't.

Answer 6

No