"A Crime Against Humanity"

Anybody with a cursory understanding of chemistry and economics would understand that the drive for ethanol-based fuels is the biggest scam the environmental movement has produced to date. Oh, wait. Most people don’t even remember what they learned in high-school chemistry. Nevertheless, the unfortunate fact is that possibly well-meant but thoroughly ignorant activists continue to push for the production of ethanol—mainly from corn—as an alternative energy source. Of course, it is easy for them to pontificate on the evils of oil and the messiah-like properties of alternative energy sources if they do not have to live the consequences. And the consequences are dire. Everywhere, from Latin America to Africa to Asia, food prices are skyrocketing as demand for corn continues to rise and developing nations are increasingly coerced by the United States and Europe to redirect corn supplies from people’s stomachs to the lucrative alternative fuels industry. Like always, the mass media hides the truth and only until recently have I come across articles that at least voice the opinion of experts who are vehemently opposed to the corn-to-ethanol industry. For example, CNN notes that Jean Ziegler, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, has called using food crops to create ethanol "a crime against humanity." The article, however, is highly biased and attributes the recent food riots to rising oil prices. Fortunately, the media is now being forced to comment on the complex nature of the debate over alternative energy sources and no longer spoon-feeds their corporate sponsors' half-truths and outright lies to the largely—and dangerously—ignorant masses.