Shocking biofuel world food crisis news

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Shocking biofuel world food crisis news
Crop Residue May Be Too Valuable to Harvest for Biofuels - "In the rush to develop renewable fuels from plants, converting crop residues into cellulosic ethanol would seem to be a slam dunk. However, the stems and leaves left over after crops are harvested may have more value if they’re left on the ground, according to a USDA-Washington State University soil scientist."

Pelosi stands firm against offshore drilling - *Nancy Pelosi favors drilling our food supply for energy, but not our coastline. The Democratic Party is destroying itself in front of our eyes as there is no substitute for oil except nuclear energy, and the Democratic Party leadership is blocking both oil exploration and nuclear energy development. National suicide is currently politically correct for Democrats, but will lead to their political destruction. It's a simple matter of unavoidable mathematics. No nation can survive with suicidal food and energy policies for long.*

Biofuels to get $25B from U.S., others, by 2015 - "Biofuels will get $25 billion in subsidies by 2015 in the U.S., Canada and European Union, with limited cuts in greenhouse gases and higher crop prices, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said."

OECD issues report critical of biofuels, favours moratorium - PARIS (AFP) — "The OECD favours a moratorium on expanding biofuel production, a senior official with the Paris-based body said on Wednesday following the release of a report critical of vegetable-based fuels."

Corn, Incorporated: The Ethanol Scam - "Barack Obama, for example, is a senator from Illinois, where Archer Daniels Midland, the leading producer of ethanol, is a major political force. ADM has spent years lobbying for ethanol, and it's paid off with politicians like Obama."

Biofuels, food demand may doom tropical forests - "Arguably, we are on the verge of a last great global land grab," said Andy White, Coordinator of RRI and co-author of the report. "Unless steps are taken, traditional forest owners, and the forests themselves, will be the big losers. It will mean more deforestation, more conflict, more carbon emissions, more climate change and less prosperity for everyone."

The Man Who Dared to Question Ethanol - “We think there will be a day when people ask, ‘Why in the world did we do this?' *It is a statistical fact that biofuel advocates have killed far more people worldwide through malnutrition than Al-Qaeda has killed with guns and bombs. It is also true that just five years of biofuel production has done more environmental damage than decades of oil and gas production. The Democratic Party is blocking any serious new energy sources and is pinning all their hopes on the worst idea of the 21st century. I would like to vote Democrat this fall, but Obama must wake up to the global disaster that he himself has caused.*

CBS NEWS The Problem With Biofuels - "We shouldn't be taking agricultural land and growing biofuels on it," said Nick Goodhall of the UK Renewable Fuels Agency. "In that sense, of course, if we are displacing food then that means it has got to come from somewhere else."

The Great Biofuels Con - *The crime of the century continues!*

Kenya court halts $370m sugar, biofuels project

Biofuels And Biodiversity Don't Mix, Ecologists Warn

GUARDIAN publishes World Bank report damning biofuels

Tropical Biofuels Getting Less and Less Green - "A new analysis suggests that biofuels grown in the tropics are not a much greener source of energy than drilling for oil--at least in the short term. The research paints an even gloomier picture of biofuels than previous studies, which have begun to cast doubts on the greenhouse gas benefits that these alternatives to petroleum might provide."

Obama friend, Governor Deval Patrick of MA, promotes biofuels! - *The starvation victims of biofuels are disproportionally black, yet America's two leading black leaders support biofuels despite overwhelming evidence against them. The kings of starvation march forth in oblivious arrogance against the tide of scientific and economic understanding.*

EU panel votes to lower controversial biofuel goal - "European Union lawmakers took a first step towards lowering EU biofuels targets when a European Parliament panel backed a proposal to draw just 4 percent of road transport fuels from renewable sources by 2015."

D8 summit calls for halt to biofuels - "The world should halt the development of biofuel crops on arable land and instead boost agricultural production to solve the global food crisis and prevent “disaster”, the Malaysian and Indonesian leaders warned on Tuesday at the opening of a developing countries summit."

Losing Ground - Report on biofuels by Friends of the Earth (pdf 2.38MB)

UK government to adopt 'cautious' approach on biofuels for transport

Obama goes nuts for biofuels despite food cost inflation and environmental damage! - "He also wants to shovel $150 billion over 10 years into biofuels, institute a "cap and trade" program to provide incentives for industries to reduce carbon emissions, and double government spending on energy research and development." *Obama really is going out of his way to earn his title, "THE KING OF STARVATION!"*

G8 summit: Gordon Brown has eight-course dinner before food crisis talks - *Politicians who have never been hungry a day in their lives create a world food crisis by mandating we turn mountains of food into fuel, and none has admitted any guilt or given any apology to all the millions of families they have starved around the world. Shouldn't biofuel criminals spend time in jail for their deadly policies?*

UK to slow expansion of biofuels - Study predicts that current biofuels policies could see grain prices in the EU rise by 15%, sugar by 7% and oil seed by 50%.

EU Shifts Gears on Biofuel Targets - Energy ministers now aim for 10% of car and truck fuel to come from renewable sources, not necessarily from biofuels

Ethanol in Center of Price Storm - "The issue is coming to a head now, with the Environmental Protection Agency poised to decide soon whether to roll back the Renewable Fuel Standard. That's the federal mandate calling for the production of 9 billion gallons of biofuels in 2008 and even greater amounts in the future."

US Insane Ethanol Biofuels Policies Cause of Food Crisis - "Alex Moglia, president of Moglia Advisors based in the Chicago area, said he knows of at least 16 ethanol companies that are filing for bankruptcy, and there will be at least two to three times that number filing within the next year."

Food and fuel crises pushing world into 'danger zone', says World Bank - "As the head of the World Bank warns world leaders that the planet is entering the "danger zone" with millions thrown into extreme poverty by the twin food and fuel crises, a leaked report from his organisation shows that biofuels have pushed up global food prices by 75 percent - a much bigger role in the disaster than previously thought."

The appetite for biofuel starves the poor - "Ed Schafer, the US Secretary of Agriculture, has said that biofuels account for only a few percent of the rise in the price of food, an estimate that would seem unbelievably low. One of the most reliable independent estimates comes from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). IFPRI maintains the most sophisticated model of global agricultural commodity supply and utilization, referred to by the acronym Impact. Based on that model, IFPRI estimates that 30% of the increase in the prices of the major grains is due to biofuels. And now we learn that the World Bank's own unpublished forecasts suggest that biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75%." *Of course Ed Schafer's estimate for biofuel induced food cost inflation is low. Mr. Schafer is our Secretary of Ethanol, not concerned with food supply safety at all. Bush appointed a biofuel lobbyist as Agriculture Secretary, so this is what we get; deceit!*

Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis - "Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian". Biofuels blamed for food price crisis - "The assessment is based on a detailed analysis by Don Mitchell, an internationally respected economist at the global financial body."

Annul Tana delta sugarcane project - "More than 20,000 hectares of the delta will be destroyed and replaced with sugarcane for biofuel. This decision by Nema will lead to a national environmental and social and economic disaster."

Scientists warn of lack of vital phosphorus as biofuels raise demand - "Crop-based biofuels, whose production methods and usage suck phosphorus out of the agricultural system in unprecedented volumes, have, researchers in Brazil say, made the problem many times worse."

Some 1.5 Bln People May Starve Due to Land Erosion - FAO - "MILAN - Rising land degradation reduces crop yields and may threaten food security of about a quarter of the world' population, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Wednesday."

Poverty: 260m driven into hunger by push for biofuel - ActionAid - "The G8's push for greater biofuel use has been a significant factor in driving 760 million people into food insecurity and putting them at risk of hunger in the past two years, ActionAid says today."

EU biofuels target 'probably a mistake,' France says - "The noose is steadily tightening around the neck of EU biofuels targets, with France on Monday (30 June) saying that the EU's 10 percent biofuels target may have to be reconsidered, in the latest attack on the renewable energy drive."

Another Inconvenient Truth: Biofuels are not the answer to climate or fuel crisis says Oxfam - "Biofuel policies are actually helping to accelerate climate change and deepen poverty and hunger. Rich countries' demands for more biofuels in their transport fuels are causing spiralling production and food inflation,” said report author, Oxfam's biofuel policy adviser Rob Bailey."

Addressing the Global Food Crisis - "A number of factors have contributed to these price increases. Ethanol and other biofuel mandates have created a competition between food and fuel, which in turn has helped to drive up food prices."

Biofuels in the firing line: ActionAid comment on the Gallagher report - "The need for an immediate moratorium on biofuel developments on arable land has never been clearer. Europe and the US must remove the subsidies and targets that are driving the production of biofuels from food crops."

Biofuels blamed for food crisis - "Biofuels are responsible for 30 per cent of the increase in global food prices, pushing 30 million people worldwide into poverty, aid agency Oxfam said in a report on Wednesday." "Oxfam estimates that by 2020, CO2 emissions from land-use change in the palm oil sector may have reached over 3.1 billion tonnes, largely as a result of the EU target -- and it would take over 46 years of biofuel use at 2020 levels to repay this “carbon debt”.

News from Canada - Extend Senate Hearings on Biofuels Bill, say Groups Concerned with Role of Biofuels in Global Food Crisis - "Burning food in our cars while people go hungry is not good public policy."

McCain to Push New Measures to Lower Auto Emissions - "According to excerpts of his speech obtained by Reuters, the Republican presidential candidate will call for auto manufacturers to speed the process of making engines that can use alcohol-based fuels." *John McCain drinks the biofuel cool-aide too, but at a lower rate than Obama. McCain still oppose ethanol subsides and hopes that market forces can create affordable ethanol made from non-food sources.*

SEATTLE TIMES - Back away from the biofuels, Obama - "It was obvious that making fuel from food would raise the price of food. People thought the rise would be small, but it wasn't."

U.S. candidates react to higher energy costs - "74 percent (of Americans) support drilling for oil in U.S. coastal waters, according to recent polls by Zogby International."

The "NEW YORK TIMES" exposes Barack Obama's links to the ethanol industry - *Starvation king Obama is the candidate from hell when it comes to world food supply security. Vote for him if you think food is a luxury you can do without.*

John McCain calls for increased use of ethanol - "The Arizona senator is also proposing stiffer fines for automakers who skirt existing fuel-efficiency standards, as well as incentives to increase use of domestic and foreign alcohol-based fuels such as ethanol." *Now those who want to protect the environment and food supply security have no one to vote for who has a chance to win. I may vote for Bob Barr as a protest.*

Mozambique: Preferred Crops for Biofuels - "Rodrigues blamed this on "social problems", notably food shortages among the population. "How can I make vegetable oil for fuel when the people living in front of the plantation don't have oil to make food?", he asked. "It didn't go well, and it's not worth wasting any more effort".

Barack Obama's criminal biofuels policies cause disaster - "Can you possibly charge enough for the chicken to recoup that investment?" he said. "That's a question no one can answer yet because it's never been done."

OIL: IT'S THE NEW RAGE - "The U.S. and Europe vowed to continue their destructive farm and biofuels policies. People are likely to starve as a result, but the biofuels industrial complex will thrive on subsidies."

New study to force ministers to review climate change plan

EU to look at how biofuels affect food output

Demand for green biofuels pushing up food prices, Government report warns

Security fears over food and fuel crisis - "Corn, soyabean and meat prices jumped this week to all-time highs"

Corn as fuel has hurt world food supply - "If you thought corn ethanol was at least lessening our dependence on foreign oil, think again: Ethanol displaces only 3 percent of our oil use. Additionally, the journal "Science" recently published research suggesting that biofuels are worsening global warming as well as hunger. High demand for energy crops is driving deforestation, which in turn releases huge amounts of greenhouse gases that far exceed minor reductions provided by the energy crops themselves."

Midwest Flooding and Record Corn Prices Lead Experts to Urge EPA to Address Food Inflation Crisis - "The study finds that the RFS - which mandates 9 billion gallons of ethanol be blended into the nation's fuel supply this year - has a small impact on gas prices, but its "effects on food prices and security are huge." "It is clear that while America's ethanol mandate has done little to hold down the steadily-climbing gasoline prices, its negative effects on the security of our food supply and the cost to feed our families are huge," said Elam. "In light of recent events, it is imperative that the government re-examine and reduce these mandates.

Obama and McCain Spout Economic Nonsense - "Why should we stop with oil companies? They make about 8.3 cents in gross profit per dollar of sales. Why doesn't Mr. Obama slap a windfall profits tax on sectors of the economy that have fatter margins? Electronics make 14.5 cents per dollar and computer equipment makers take in 13.7 cents per dollar, according to the Census Bureau. Microsoft's margin is 27.5 cents per dollar of sales. Call out Mr. Obama's Windfall Profits Police!" *For the first time I agree with Karl Rove.*

Corn nears $8 a bushel on Midwest crop damage - "High corn prices mean consumers eventually will face more expensive meat and chicken as livestock owners are forced to cull their herds and flocks to cope with rising corn-based animal feed costs. Corn accounts for half of livestock owners' production costs." *Blame Barack Obama and all those who voted for turning our food into fuel for this fiasco! Obama is blocking drilling for oil in the ground in favor of drilling for energy in your food!*

McCain calls for building 45 new nuclear reactors - "Every year, these reactors (our current 104 nuclear reactors) alone spare the atmosphere from the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions in America. Yet for all these benefits, we have not broken ground on a single nuclear plant in over thirty years." *McCain is on the right track, but we need hundreds of nuclear reactors to make fuel, not just electricity. The Democrats, by contrast, seem to make blocking any realistic energy production their main goal in life. Some overly idealistic Democratic Congressmen even think they can solve our energy problems by growing marijuana (hemp) for fuel. So we have a choice to vote for eternal war in the Middle East (McCain), or national suicide due to a lack of energy and even food (Obama). Our politicians are simply a disgrace of confusion.*

Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence - see author's home page and NYT book review The author, Robert Bryce, stated that the ethanol industry is "one of the longest-running robberies of American taxpayers in the history of this country" and branded corn ethanol as "financial insanity."

Food: A global crisis - "Both the US and the EU have pro-biofuel policies which many food experts say should be reversed."

John McCain hopes to drill home oil, energy plans - *If John McCain would stop his support for useless foreign wars and start putting American interests before Israeli interests, I would vote for him in a heartbeat.*

Corn drowns just as global demand soars - "The Renewable Fuels Association, a Washington, D.C., lobby group that represents ethanol refiners, said investors nationwide have scrapped or suspended a dozen plans to expand existing refineries or build news ones "until market conditions improve," association spokesman Matt Hartwig said."

Carbon Costs - by George Monbiot - "Does anyone still believe that turning food into fuel is a good idea? Only the people in charge of this crazy policy, who are now forcing every driver in Europe to collaborate in it." *Environmentalists are the worst enemy of the environment. The earth is dying of irony!*

Further spike in food costs feared due to floods - "A study issued last week by the former chief economist of ConAgra Foods predicted U.S. food prices may rise 9 percent a year through 2012, as biofuel production depletes corn supplies."

Floods could reduce corn supplies, raise prices - *That is the understatement of the year!*

Energy Independence Lies In The Far Horizon - "Neither are bio fuels going to be the answer. Corn ethanol has proven to be a boondoggle. In addition, the amount of petroleum fuel consumed in ethanol production has so far proved to be a wasteful process. Cheaper bio fuel, produced from agricultural waste, is still unproved. Meanwhile, displacing food crops for fuel crops will create a worldwide disaster with resultant food shortages and increased prices for foodstuffs."

Corn jumps to record for 6th day on Midwest floods - "Corn for July delivery rose 5.75 cents to settle at $7.09 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, after earlier rising to a new all-time high of $7.25 a bushel. It was corn's sixth straight trading record in as many days." *The king of starvation, Barack Obama, still insists we should turn even more corn into lousy, gas tank rusting ethanol fuel instead of eating it and feeding it to our farm animals which give us dairy products, meat, and eggs.*

Food-related industries launch anti-biofuel campaign

On biofuels, we have to make a moral choice - "But we are too often at the mercy of quack doctors peddling ineffective medicines with grim side effects. One element of the EU package - the aggressive promotion of liquid biofuel use in cars - falls squarely into this category."

Crisis Point - Where we are. - Where we need to be. By Kay Bailey Hutchison - *This woman tells it like it is! Three cheers for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison!*

World Council of Churches on the "Greed-driven global food crisis" - Among other initiatives, churches "are called to advocate against the production of agro-fuels at the expense of food production and the environment."

Flooded fields leads to worries about corn crop - *With barely enough corn to feed our farm animals, why are we wasting it to manufacture inferior quality, gas tank rusting automobile fuel?*

CNN - Experts trash biofuels FAO Food Summit: Black Day for Environment

Italy calls for review of EU biofuels target

U.S. sticks to starvation policy - fuel before people - "US agriculture secretary, Ed Schafer has told American reporters that increasing the production of ethanol is "the right policy direction."

FALLING WATER TABLES, FALLING HARVESTS - *With water tables falling all over the world, does it make any sense to expand water consumption by growing biofuel crops?*

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