Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Speak out: Biofuels By Jesus Sievert
TO be understood by the ordinary person, ethanol or ethyl alcohol can be described simply as the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It can be used as an alternative fuel to gasoline. It is said to be easy to manufacture and process, and can be made from very common crops, such as sugar cane and corn.
It falls under the renewable energy of biofuels as it is derived from biological materials, most commonly, plants. This distinguishes it from fossil fuel, from where oil is derived, which comes from long dead, non-regenerative biological material.
While there are various current issues apropos of biofuel production being discussed by other countries, particularly in the United States, what is taking center stage and being seriously debated on, however, is the anxiety corn ethanol is creating in underdeveloped countries, like the Philippines, by adversely affecting food prices and supply.
The food-versus-fuel debate is raging all over the world and the gravity of the food problem is such that a United Nations food expert described the conversions of major croplands and forest areas to agrifuel farms as a “crime against humanity.”
While we, Filipinos, easily recognize and praise the good deeds that some wealthy nations—particularly, the US—have done in the past for us and for humanity in general, this time, however, we condemn America’s current policy on biofuels.
Are biofuels the ultimate answer to dependence on imported oil? Wouldn’t the most powerful country in the world follow the lead of some developed nations in pursuing other renewable source of energy, instead of converting and subsidizing croplands to corn ethanol farms, and further upsetting the fragile stability and economic condition of the poor people from underdeveloped countries?
For as long as developed nations, rich corporations and affluent individuals hunger for more land to satisfy their quest for might, grandeur and selfish ambitions, we, as people belonging to poor countries, will continue to suffer the pangs of helplessness and deprivation for an improved quality of life.
As it is, there is no reason to expect food prices to come down and food supply to stabilize as long as the ethanol mandate is in effect.
The world will continue to witness a long period of social unrest among people from poor countries unless the most powerful nation on earth realizes the anxiety it has created on the third world population.
