RECENT POSTS
- One Family, Different Races
August 19, 2008 - Who Is the Best Eight-Year-Old Guitar Player in the World?
August 17, 2008 - Olympic Gold
August 13, 2008 - Remembering Bernie Mac
August 10, 2008 - Mad about Mad Men
August 8, 2008 - Paging Dr. Thompson
August 2, 2008 - Harlem's Growing Pains
July 29, 2008 - Inside Yearning for Zion
July 27, 2008
E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Ethaholics Anonymous
That's it, I'm taking public transportation!
The average cost of gasoline in the United States has hit an all time high—$4.08 a gallon. Our leaders turned to the production of ethanol to deal with the rising cost of fuel. As a result, the world has experienced extreme rises in food prices for everyone, and starvation for those in the third world and developing nations.
The good news is that at least one of our presidential candidates has acknowledged the problems caused by the Energy Bills of 2005 and 2007. More importantly, he is coming up with new solutions.
John McCain believes that we need to put an end to government-mandated ethanol production, and would rather look to clean coal, solar, wind and nuclear power for American energy. He has pledged $2 billion annually to advance clean coal technologies and, if elected, plans to erect 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030. McCain claims that our current gas crisis is largely due to the laws and regulations dealing with the oils futures markets, which he pledges to reform.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, is a proud supporter of the production of ethanol, the same ethanol that is proving problematic for all the reasons stated above. If elected, his plan is to expand ethanol production, both corn-based and cellulosic, using federal funds. In fact, he wants to mandate biofuel use with a renewable fuel standards plan, calling for 36 billion gallons of ethanol fuel to be included in the fuel supply by 2022. Since one bushel of corn only makes about 2.8 gallons of fuel, that's a lot of food, and a lot of hungry children.
For being a campaign about change, this sounds like nothing more but the same old, same old. As the worldwide food shortage continues, we just can't afford to "stay the course" with ethanol.