Houston, We Could Have a Problem Someday
So I'm driving and I'm thinking.
We use too much corn. Most people know the corn lobby is strong and that corn products have become like an invasive species in our market. We use more corn than sugar and frankly, our bodies aren't designed for that kind of glycemic load. I think that the rise in obesity in this country is very, very strongly linked to the overuse of corn products and sweeteners.
But there is a bigger problem.
The government mandates of the use of ethanol will continue and escalate. The amount of energy it requires to convert corn to energy isn't worth it and is more expensive. Most people know this, not all people will admit that it's not a solution. I saw a commercial this weekend where a farmer is talking about how "I plant the corn in the spring, it grows in the summer, I harvest it in the fall, and in the winter it's converted to energy that can be put in cars next spring". Here's a better idea Mr. Brainwashed farmer. Let's drill or mine using the clean coal technology, power the grid that way, and have electrical cars. It's faster. And that's environmental protection. I have no issue with alternative energies, and frankly I use the sun and wind for many uses within my own life. But I don't want it legislated.
I digress, but only because I care. Anyway.
People got pretty gregarious at the start of the last century with their farming and it created a very big problem. It was the dust bowl years - a horrible experience that was detrimental to our food supply. And global warming wasn't even invented yet. Again, people got pretty gregarious about increasing the food supply. Think it can't happen again? I think it can. Especially if we're demanding too much from the land. And if we take a good portion of the eggs out of the oil/coal basket and stick 'em in the corn bushel, I'd say that soon enough we're headed for big trouble.
We use too much corn. Most people know the corn lobby is strong and that corn products have become like an invasive species in our market. We use more corn than sugar and frankly, our bodies aren't designed for that kind of glycemic load. I think that the rise in obesity in this country is very, very strongly linked to the overuse of corn products and sweeteners.
But there is a bigger problem.
The government mandates of the use of ethanol will continue and escalate. The amount of energy it requires to convert corn to energy isn't worth it and is more expensive. Most people know this, not all people will admit that it's not a solution. I saw a commercial this weekend where a farmer is talking about how "I plant the corn in the spring, it grows in the summer, I harvest it in the fall, and in the winter it's converted to energy that can be put in cars next spring". Here's a better idea Mr. Brainwashed farmer. Let's drill or mine using the clean coal technology, power the grid that way, and have electrical cars. It's faster. And that's environmental protection. I have no issue with alternative energies, and frankly I use the sun and wind for many uses within my own life. But I don't want it legislated.
I digress, but only because I care. Anyway.
People got pretty gregarious at the start of the last century with their farming and it created a very big problem. It was the dust bowl years - a horrible experience that was detrimental to our food supply. And global warming wasn't even invented yet. Again, people got pretty gregarious about increasing the food supply. Think it can't happen again? I think it can. Especially if we're demanding too much from the land. And if we take a good portion of the eggs out of the oil/coal basket and stick 'em in the corn bushel, I'd say that soon enough we're headed for big trouble.
posted by Phelony Jones at 5:36 PM
3 Comments:
I hate to be a p&^%$, but exactly what meaning are you assigning to the word "gregarious"?
The real problem won't be taking too much from the land.
The real problem is that we're tying our fuel supply to our food supply. Corn prices are skyrocketing as speculators are going wild with corn.
Mexico is already having issues with tortillas, and our milk and beef prices (and corn) are all going up as a result.
And of course our country's obsession with HFCS is also due to government regulation... or rather with high tarrifs on sugar being imported from third world countries to prop up local sugar growers who don't want to compete. This artifically raises the price on natural sugars, and gave an unexpected boom to corn growers.
Now they want another thanks to 'ol Uncle Sam.
Agreed Nick, I wasn't going to start addressing that here...preaching to the choir and stuff :)
But the land can't be regulated like the marketplace. As much as we want to think we can control nature and all....
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