Video: Oil addiction and biofuel dangers simplified
There's a new video from Good Magazine that explains the viewpoint of those who believe that using crops for biofuels isn't good for the environment with simple and clear language. The short clip references articles from newspapers such as the LA Times and the NY Times, as well as official agencies like the DOE. The video outlines the reasons as follows: if high demand and fear of the short of supply make oil prices rise, then biofuel producers use feedstock to make their biofuels. Then, the high oil prices and the shortage of feedstocks make food more expensive, giving us the global crisis we've seen recently. If you think that the light relief from recent cuts in oil prices is enough to keep us saved, keep this video in mind. Watch it after the jump.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris 7:21PM (8/26/2008)
that video really doesnt have a agenda.. at all.. and biofuels are the cause of floods and cyclones.
Quality propaganda video.
Chris
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wave54 1:06PM (8/27/2008)
The video is utter rubbish! I winced as soon as I saw dinosaurs dying and oil wells sprouting up -- then it really went downhill with the Sesame Street collection of absurd perceptions and linkages (oil use = cyclones, floods) taken directly from a mass media that deals in poorly-thought-out sound bites and one-line analyses.
Pray that America's children aren't being fed this drivel in our public schools. I know... fat chance!
nixon 9:30PM (8/26/2008)
Interesting that they correctly identify the falling value of the dollar having a major impact on the rising price of the commodity of oil.
But fail to correctly identify the falling value of the dollar having a major impact on the rising price of the commodities of corn/rice/wheat/etc.
The same thing goes for the impact of speculators on the oil commodity markets. They correctly identify the role of speculators in the oil market, but fail to identify the role of speculators in the corn/rice/wheat/etc food commodity markets.
Oil and food (and gold) commodity markets all are affected by speculators and the value of the dollar. Food commodities are not immune from these forces. And we haven't even talked about the impacts on the prices of food from the reduction in the number of illegal aliens working in Ag, the rise in the minimum wage, record profit margins for Ag-conglomerates like Con-Agra, the tightening loan (credit) market for farmers, the effect of price-locking in foreign countries on the remaining free market, the shift to ready-made foods vs. home cooking, the rocketing cost of health care for farmers and Ag industry employees, large scale bee colony failures, rising costs of fertilizers/farm equipment/pesticides/defoliants/etc, and dozens of other factors that affect the price of food.
Instead of talking about all these factors, these folks would rather dump all of the blame on ethanol for the rise in food prices, because they say it is taking close to 1/3 of the corn out of the food chain.
But even this claim is easily debunked. While close to 1/3 of the US corn crops are being initially tasked to make Ethanol, that is NOT the same as saying that close to 1/3 of the US corn crops being taken completely OUT of the food chain. That claim simply isn't true, because corn ethanol production puts most of that 1/3 of US corn crops RIGHT BACK IN to the food chain in the form of corn mash for livestock feed. Cattle that once ate straight corn grain now get a mix of corn grain and corn mash. This is not removing 1/3 of corn completely out of the food chain in the US, it is just a temporary diversion.
So these folks ignore the rest of the pressures that are impacting food prices, and exaggerate how much corn is actually lost to producing ethanol. Not a good starting point for an honest debate about a global food and energy policy.
I'm not saying that corn ethanol is flawless. I'm definitely not saying that corn ethanol is a scalable solution to solve all of our oil problems. Ethanol from other sources will have to be produced, along with large leaps in fuel efficiency and the electrification of some portion of our transportation. There is no single solution for all of our woes, multiple solutions will have to be used together to solve the problem (along with some serious global population control efforts). But this sort of half-reporting in this video, designed specifically to fear-monger the issue of ethanol certainly doesn't add to the discussion.
I give the video a thumbs down for accuracy, even though the music is groovy.
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EVan 9:58PM (8/26/2008)
Great post! I don't think anyone thinks Ethanol from food stocks is long term solution, but it is a good domestic alternative to foriegn oil in the short term
In the long term a mixed supply of cellulosic ethanol, natural gas, electricity, and fossil fuels will offer a diverse energy solution.
stevefazek 10:13PM (8/26/2008)
Commodity trading is such a scam for rich people to trade.
1) They need to put down only 10% of the purchase price the rest is magical invisible money.
2) they don't have to take delivery.
3) the amounts required to purchase is insane. 100,000 barrels is the minimum order for oil. They only have to but down 1.6 million tomorrow and if the price goes up the get to keep all the profit.
Futures trading was conceived of a way to protect suppliers from price crashes. Not to make people rich by falsely driving up the demand
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jpm100 11:20PM (8/26/2008)
That video was right from the desk of just about any pro-oil pundit I've seen. High prices for oil are quickly dismissed as the natural consequence of demand and the dollar. However, any move away from oil is evil.
We are no where near 'peak corn'. There is untapped farmland.
The problem is that it takes months to grow additional corn with some initial investment. Therefore corn is inelastic in price in the short-term as few want to grow additional corn when the added demand is short-term. But if the new demand is expected to be steady, increased production can be met and the price is extremely elastic.
Those prices quoted in the film are the result of increased export demand because the rest of the world had a crop shortfall and the low US dollar made US corn cheap. The price of corn has already fallen from its high by about 30% thanks to the rebounding dollar. link
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stevefazek 1:12AM (8/27/2008)
The ironic part this is a new video and we actually had a record corn harvest this year not a smaller one.
I want to see high gas prices and a relitivly low dollar not as low as it was at its peak. high gas prices Via a high tax.
It will actually force the US to consume less oil and Produce MORE in the country.
I dont want to see a short term rebound allowing us to go back to our old wasteful ways.
My company is doing great since the US is the best producer of high end aerospace alloys. True the Europeans are pretty good with AMAG but EADS still buys stuff from the US
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Tim 10:42AM (8/27/2008)
Good video, but it needs some correction:
1) Place uncontrolled Congressional spending before the almost 50% reduction in the value of the US $Dollar which is the "global" fiat currency. This uncontrolled military & social program spending is financed by loan from the Fed backed by US Treasury notes.
This has forced the Fed to order the US Treasury to print more of their fiat US $Dollar and issue more credit and this is what’s causing the rampant devaluation and resulting global hyper-inflation. It's simple supply - demand economics.
2) NEVER cross out the United States of America because it is the ONLY Constitutional Republic with a Bill of Rights which guarantees and protects each citizen’s NATURAL rights by LIMITING the power and reach of gov’t.
A socialist world “democracy” is NO substitute! Why?
Because a PURE Democracy is 2 wolves and 1 sheep voting on what’s for dinner and a world socialist democracy protects NO individual’s rights & freedoms!
Those foolish sheeple trade their natural rights and freedoms for “security” will receive neither. Only Tyranny will be the result.
Other than that, this video is VERY well done!!!
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Nils 11:29AM (8/27/2008)
"NEVER cross out the United States of America because it is the ONLY Constitutional Republic with a Bill of Rights which guarantees and protects each citizen’s NATURAL rights by LIMITING the power and reach of gov’t."
Ok then, now I understand.
Tim 12:53PM (8/27/2008)
Nils (#8)
What exactly do you understand?
Do you understand why politicians, their appointed judges and the gov’t school system give the Constitution lip-service while ignoring its limitations?
or
Do you understand why the liberal (socialist) media ignore all who talk about the 10th Amendment?
or
Do you understand why we fight so hard to protect our natural rights of free speech and to have the weapons necessary to protect ourselves and all of our NATURAL rights from gov't (oligarchy) confiscation?
What do you understand?
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Minny 8:51PM (8/29/2008)
Solution is easy: "TAX the OIL Companies on their PROFIT." One of OBAMA proposal...GENIUS. This won't raise price, just lower their profit margin
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