Another reason to avoid driving
Nov 4th 2007Christop::Lifestyle & ::Culture
Just been reading this article from The Age, about how a lot of people are going hungry so that we can keep driving our cars:
And if the food runs out?
“The use of food as a source of fuel may have serious implications for the demand for food if the expansion of biofuels continues,” a spokesman for the International Monetary Fund said.
The outlook is widely expected to worsen as agri-industries prepare to switch to highly profitable biofuels, according to Grain, a Barcelona-based food resources group. Its research suggests the Indian Government is committed to planting 14 million hectares with jatropha, an exotic bush from which biodiesel can be made.
Brazil intends to use 120 million hectares for biofuels, and Africa as much as 400 million hectares in the next few years. Much of the growth, the countries say, would be on unproductive land, but many millions of people are expected to be forced off the land.
Oxfam has warned the European Union that the EU policy of substituting 10 per cent of all car fuel with biofuels threatens to displace poor farmers.
The full article is here.
Any ideas about how we can decrease our dependence on cars?
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