Van Jones: Ethanol raises food prices, hurts the poor

[ThunderheadNebula]

Van Jones is a self avowed Communist. watch?v=RXd3nZhlJNU . watch?v=LzQb42A1Nqs The next few decades will determine whether the Human Species is a locust species that will scour this planet to the bones…” . “Need change on a revolutionary scale to survive as a species.” . watch?v=bgKr480RYc4. Obama's Former Green Jobs Czar and Communist, Van Jones Admits Left is 'PRETENDING' Need for Regulations in Green Movement

[kdeerslayer]

i CAN solve the global warming thing ! Just dont believe anything you hear about it !! ITS A MAN MADE HOAX !!!!!

[mike121223]

hes a retard

[mizzoulibertarian]

is it true that hemp is the best for ethonal?

[psumner77]

Sugar is the correct way to go, but the biggest reason Brazil uses sugar based ethanol is because their tropical climate can produce sugarcane year round. Currently only Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Hawaii produce sugarcane in the U.S.. Would 4 states be able to support the fuel needs of 50? Since corn is so much more abundant (in the U.S.) it appears to be the obvious source. But what about sugar beets?

[TehSarro]

KORN

[tubeontime]

I did not listen to the whole thing yet, but also the energy it takes to CONVERT the corn to ethanol is is almost exactly what we get out of it. Not to mention the fertalizer, corn is one of the most fertalized crops.

Yes Juliusno1776 Mr Jones is right (as in correct) and did not even get into it thoroughly. Go check the carbon of all mc donalds products (excepting the obvious like the veggies, you will find corn carbon based. So spread your propoganda and spindoctoring all you want.

[braneden]

looks like this guy knows his stuff. Not a reason to stop producing ethanol though.

[Chnamanjx]

Can I vote for this guy to be president?

McCain doesn't support ethanol subsidies, but he's stubborn on Iraq.

Obama isn't stubborn on Iraq but still won't commit to ending Ethanol Subsidies.

[cunburra]

Corn price 1950, ANYONE? ANYONE? It averaged about $1.35 bushel...adjusted for inflation about $12 bushel today. Corn price 1960 ANYONE? ANYONE? About $1.10 a bushel so about $8.50 today adjusted for inflation. So corn today at $6 is still CHEAP. We just have been spoiled for so long. But I do agree drop the subsidies for Ethanol...let the market decide. And by the way drop the subsidies for the elderly, education, etc. Subsidies warp market forces.

[ThePacificStation]

FUBAR

[poetsonghotmail]

Am I supposed to already know who Van Jones is? If he is a professor or something you could raise your creditability by saying so.

[Metalgear55]

well know you see white america!

[Arcain101]

"they" now have total control of our basic essential needs; domestic fuel, housing, as well as food. It's a new era of interdependence and they will NOT be showing mercy to the "poor". So you can moan and cry all you want it won't make an ounce of difference.

[Arcain101]

These are dark days and things are going to get worse. Starvation and famine will return to the West in the next few years and we all only have ourselves to blame. Why? Because we willingly surrendered our dependence.

Too bad we all allowed ourselves to be tricked into absolute dependency.

[orbj3]

so true

[Juliusno1776]

Not!

tinyurl com /5l4qtp

[otef434]

Outside of two college professors, not many folks think that ethanol is a 1:1 energy ratio, or loss. Those two men base it on very old data which do not reflect current practices today. They also do not consider dry-mill plants, which are far more efficient.

This day in 2008, only 25% of the total corn grown in the State of Iowa, is used for ethanol. Corn exports continue to happen, so does corn processing. And funny, for crop year 2007, there have been little subsidy paid to farmers.

[otef434]

Ha ha ha haha! Read this slowly. Corn goes into an ethanol plant, and leaves as three products; Ethanol, CO2, and DDGs.  DDGs is fed to cattle cheaper than whole grain corn. So DDGs replaces corn in most applications of animal feed. Does the farmer/producer raise the price of corn? No. Do the cattlemen raise the price of the cow despite the feed costs? No. Does the dairy farmer raise the price of milk? No.

Look to the middle men. Marketers and the CBOT.

[eddiehenjr]

Yeah - this could all happen with just corn based ethanol, but ethanol can be made from any cellolosic material, such as switchgrass; which has an energy content similar to that of corn based ethanol, and is actually a weed that thrives on the boundaries of crops and requires no pesticides or fertilizers - just sunlight, water, and land nutrience. Also, who cares about Mexico! They grow their own corn!

[BJJ415N]

Yeah.. in Brazil the food price has nothin to do with ethanol because less than 1 percent of its agricultural lands is used in SUGAR CANE crops.

So... stop spreading BS all over the Internet.

[thomascrampton]

Thanks for the comment. Jones is actually talking about corn-based, not sugar cane-based ethanol.

[BJJ415N]

Yes. I can see your UNBIASED position. A person only has to read the title of this thread: ETHANOL raises food prices... so UNBIASED. Everything to do with your reply to my comment.

[Juliusno1776]

And Mr. Jones is wrong.

He should stop quoting a fraud like Pimentel.

Corn ethanol is energy positive. That said, there are some 20 crops that can be grown in America that out produce corn by 2x to over 10x

[Juliusno1776]

We could supply all our transport fuel needs on less than 1.5% of the 1.4 billion acres of ag land. We could even use empty gravel pits to grow cattails using primary treated sewage and clean our rivers as well, and lower our sewer bills too.

[BJJ415N]

Yes. And instead of paying we are gonna sell our sewage. And the energy efficiency will keep improving while money keeps flowing to research and technology, development and production. Its a matter of time. And its a political decision. Not a technical or economical one. Its good for the planet. Its good for the people. Oil is about end one of these days. Its time to do something in order to face this FACT. I dont care if it has to be corn or sugarcane or grass.

[bonntv]

That,s truth well done

pete

[greyflcn]

But as for food prices, thats not really the problem, although it is in the short run.

What you really have to worry about is if we shift all of our food production into Brazil, Indonesia, and Argentina.

i.e. Tropical Rainforrests

greyfalcon. net/ palmoil

greyfalcon. net/ soy2

greyfalcon. net/ tropics3

greyfalcon. net/ cerrado2

_

So the issue isn't really fuel versus food.

It's fuel versus rainforrest.

[greyflcn]

1. Where's all this "left over" plant matter going to come from? greyfalcon. net/ perlack greyfalcon. net/ peaksoil greyfalcon. net/ algae4 2. Cellulosic with enzymes is kinda crappy. greyfalcon. net/ cellulosics.png greyfalcon. net/ cellulosic 3. Even SugarCane ethanol has it's downsides. greyfalcon. net/ brazil4 greyfalcon. net/ sugarsolar 4. Here's something I put together previously which explains all this in further detail. greyfalcon. net/ zeiger