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Are poor Haitians eating mud so we can feel good about using Ethanol?

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau. Food prices around the world have spiked because of higher oil prices, needed for fertilizer, irrigation and transportation. Prices for basic ingredients such as corn and wheat are also up sharply, and the increasing global demand for biofuels is pressuring food markets as well. The problem is particularly dire in the Caribbean, where island nations depend on imports and food prices are up 40 percent in places. Response from the ethanol lobby? "Let them eat dirt." I hope all of you "Green" folks appreciate what you are doing to the world's poor!

Public Comments

1. Worse than that is the people that are delusional about hybrid cars actually saving the environment. I definitely believe we need to get off our dependency of oil and appreciate that hybrid cars use less of it, but the truth is that the hybrid cars batteries cause more waste and pollution than regular fuel cars! Get a clue you green nutjobs! Stop trying to feel better about yourselves and actually do something that helps the world.
2. Can't see in front of their own face. "It's from nature, so it must be better! Yeahhhhhyyyyy EHTANOL! GO TEAM GREEN!" Where the hell does oil come from? Another dimension? Forget the poor Haitians... what about the poor Mexicans? They don't need boats to storm the border in search of food. Corn prices have crippled some of them.
3. Yes, it does bother me that they have decided to use corn to produce ethanol. Ethanol can be produced using weeds, it doesn't have to be corn! Corn has produced higher costs for food in this country as well! Those on fixed incomes are finding it hard to buy food that is nourishing for their families. Why did they decide to let them create this out of a food product that would affect millions of people when we have plenty of weeds that could have been use just as easily!
4. That's about the size of it. And the corn ethanol scam is gaining momentum. Gasoline has an energy balance of 5 to 1. That is you get 5 times the energy out of it that it takes to produce it. Corn ethanol has an energy balance of 1.3 to 1, barely any energy benefit in producing it. Ethanol breaks down more easily, it cannot be stored for long periods or sent by pipeline. Than means it has to be shipped by truck, consuming more fuel than distributing gasoline. So in the end it doesn't reduce emissions or save on foreign oil. And with shorter storage life a much greater propensity to run into shortages during peak demand. Then, take out the tax subsidies and incentives to produce ethanol and it's more expensive than gasoline. Tax money keeps the pump price down, you've already paid for it in part. Corn is the top subsidized crop.
5. How a bout riding a bicycle?
6. they can always move into the country side and eat grass, but than they probably will be prosecuted for stealing from the oil companies.