Re: Biofuel Threatens Food Supply

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 21:42:30 -0400, Kirk Gordon <kg1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

F. George McDuffee wrote:
On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:53:03 -0400, "Mich" <comat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
<snip>

Do we have the wrong people working on the problem?

<snip>
=================
While this is always possible, it appears to be more of a
contributing factor than the main problem.

Of greater concern is the tendency of the companies that are
responsible for, and profiting from, the current problems, i.e.
"big oil" and the international banks, to co-opt and pre-empt the
research efforts, to preserve the value of their holdings and
assets.

IMNSHO, the main problem is that many people in the ecology
movements in leadership positions don't want solutions and
specialize in "yes, but..." Most of the rank and file econuts
demand "magic" solutions with no side or other affects, which is
not going to happen, at least in this world.

Consider what would happen if a "magic" pills were developed to
run cars on water instead of gasoline. It would bankrupt the oil
companies, throw hundreds of thousands of people out of work,
create serious cash flow problems for the international banks,
cause critical problems at the US Treasury as the oil countries
stopped buying and begin cashing in their securities, and create
chaos at the state level because of the disappearance of their
gasoline tax revenue.

There are too many people and institutions with a vested interest
in the current situation for other than cosmetic changes, until
the "ship hits the sand."


Interesting, George; but we've heard this argument before - about a
hundred years ago, as a matter of fact, when automobiles were going to
destroy a world that was entirely and happily wrapped around a
horse-drawn economy. Belive it or not, there are more horses in the US
right now than there were in 1900. And they're generally better horses,
bred more carefully, cared for with the benefit of a century of advances
in veterinary medicine, and protected by laws and regulations that
hadn't even been imagined at the beginning of the 20th century.

Of course, the horse-drawn economy did change, and it wasn't nearly
as dependent on such a small number of power players as the
auto/petroleum world is today; but the similarities, and the lessons to
be learned, are still important. When fundamental changes are seen as
real benefits to substantial numbers of people (even if it takes a while
for that to happen), then change IS possible.

To borrow and paraphrase a line that I really like from a movie (Men
In Black): 1,500 years ago, the Earth was the center of the universe.
500 years ago, the world was flat. 104 years ago, men couldn't fly
because god hadn't given them wings. 50 years ago, China was a third
world backwater, in the throes of Mao's "cultural revolution", and could
never be a serious competitor in the world of technology or
manufacturing. 20 years ago, 640K of RAM was enough for anybody, and
the Berlin wall looked like it was a permanent part of the world.

And a few years into the future?

Change DOES happen, even in huge and global ways. It's just not
easy. That magic pill needs to work, needs to be affordable, and needs
to make a difference that vast numbers of people want and/or need. If
that happens, then the big oil companies will take their place on
history's scrap heap, along with flat maps, 8 MHz computers, and the
Soviet Union.

KG

The buggy whip manufacture ring industry crashed and the one or two
surviors now cater to the BD/S&M community at 100x the price per unit.

Gunner

"I don't want to abolish government.
I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can
drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.
-- Grover Norquist
.

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