Ethanol

I'm happy that a lot of people, including tons of bloggers, are taking notice of ethanol. Especially that they're talking about how it isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The largest problem I see with ethanol is the contribution it'll have on world hunger and the environment. It would take huge swaths of land to produce the corn needed, and we're already far over what the limit should be with agricultural practices like factory farming. And because so much corn will be needed to meet our demands, poorer nations will suffer horribly. A lot of people that depend on cheap corn will have to either find something else to eat (which isn't easy) or starve to death.

Recently, people have started talking about how ethanol isn't actually as green as it's supposed to be. Here are two related articles: That's Fit and LiveScience.

What really worries me about ethanol is that the Bush administration and "fake" environmentalists will use it as a publicity deal. Instead of actually researching and studying how to make transportation and fuel more efficient, they will just jump on the bandwagon and go with what makes them look good. I hope more and more people will talk about ethanol in the future, and that it'll break into the mainstream.

Updated: Discovery has another article.