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Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy
There are those here who call me many names for saying this.
Biofuel is evil. Biofuel has happened due to the bad science of global warming.
Bad science does vast harm.
Almost half the planet lives on less than $2.50 a day and has life expectancies in the 40's.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy
There are those here who call me many names for saying this.
Biofuel is evil. Biofuel has happened due to the bad science of global warming.
Bad science does vast harm.
Almost half the planet lives on less than $2.50 a day and has life expectancies in the 40's.
You been living with those prices for 10 years so must not be to bad, for you to just now notice it...
I remember when the USA went all in for ethanol from corn, forcing the price up making poverty in south America even worse that it already was.
Side story: I hired a guy once that was skin and bones and spoke very little English. One of my Hispanic guys talked me into it. He was from one of the most rotten ratholes in Mexico. I paired him up with a fat guy to train him. I told the dude to "feed him". In a year he was over weight! Finally, he was OK on his own and slimmed down to a trim ~ 190 LOL, AND was damn near fluent English. The boy learned what it was like to have his feet to the fire. He finally got a job in LA in the Glaziers Union after he got legal.
From 2008. I'm not saying that invalidates it, but it raises the question of subsequent research, if any.
There are those here who call me many names for saying this. Biofuel is evil. Biofuel has happened due to the bad science of global warming. Bad science does vast harm. Almost half the planet lives on less than $2.50 a day and has life expectancies in the 40's.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy
There are those here who call me many names for saying this.
Biofuel is evil. Biofuel has happened due to the bad science of global warming.
Bad science does vast harm.
Almost half the planet lives on less than $2.50 a day and has life expectancies in the 40's.
I'm not a big fan. Also, the ten percent ethanol has clogged my Mini multiple times, and it costs like eight hundred dollars to fix it. It's currently clean but garaged, as I can't float that expense again. Just build solar and wind farms and get it over with.
The only name that comes to mind is fake news repeater...
So we all remember the BushII era- has the cost of food doubled since then? (World wide includes us doesn't it????)
Fact is local and regional food prices can be greatly affected by third world dictators needing cash. They would support massive planting programs, allow massive outside land ownership, and limit internal food crop harvests by putting foreign aid food into the local markets (at a profit for the dictator of course)
Now the cash crop is focused on biofuel not cheap textiles- same melody just a different lyric.
But the world wide price of food hasn't gone up over 100% (exact timeline isn't mentioned- a year- a decade- a wet dream???)
Sorry even a cursory look at the world wide food prices since BushII's time would end this silliness....eace
Another thing about USA fuel standard.
Ethanol only has 60% the energy as gasoline. That means a 10% mix is only 96% as much per per gallon as 100% gasoline. Something else to consider when comparing European gas mileage, beside the imperial gallon vs. the USS gallon. Then another factor yet is the mandatory mix ratios of hydrocarbon chains now enforced on USA gasoline. Different gasoline makers used to have different energy levels per gallon. Premium used to have more energy than regular.
Now it's all the same, except for the additives used.
the issue is that the guys fueling the tankers don't actually measure.
they just walk over to the ethanol pump and dump it in. when it hits full or close to it they stop.
there could be more or less ethanol than 10%.
it is advertised at 10%.
i can't use it in my weedeater it eats the carb up.
Another thing about USA fuel standard.
Ethanol only has 60% the energy as gasoline. That means a 10% mix is only 96% as much per per gallon as 100% gasoline. Something else to consider when comparing European gas mileage, beside the imperial gallon vs. the USS gallon. Then another factor yet is the mandatory mix ratios of hydrocarbon chains now enforced on USA gasoline. Different gasoline makers used to have different energy levels per gallon. Premium used to have more energy than regular.
Now it's all the same, except for the additives used.
Go with an electric. That's what I use.
They do not make an electric car big enough yet or cheap enough for my family.
I would need something the size of a mini-van or SUV.
also right now they are too expensive and get sucky millage.
they are great if you have a small family or are single.
if you have a larger family then they are not so great.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy
There are those here who call me many names for saying this.
Biofuel is evil. Biofuel has happened due to the bad science of global warming.
Bad science does vast harm.
Almost half the planet lives on less than $2.50 a day and has life expectancies in the 40's.
Yes, if we were to stop uselessly using food as fuel the price would halve. That would mean that the world's poor would have an effective 80% increase in wealth. That would make a massive difference to the world of th epoor. Their economy would boom. The year after they would be lots beter off still etc. In 1846 the corn laws were repealed in Britian. These were tariffs imposed to protect British farmers from cheap American corn. The day of the budget there was dancing in the streets. From that time British people have enjoyed steadily rising standards of living. Before that was not the case. Today's strangling of the poor of the world is far worse.
The rejection of your views is well deserved, when the best thing you can come up with is a ten year old article which, in retrospect, doesn't really explain what's been happening with food prices over the past ~15 years, and you constantly ignore anything that disproves your excessively (if not deliberately) oversimplified hot take on the topic.There are those here who call me many names for saying this.
Nope nope nope, total bull****. Environmentalists are NOT the chief advocates of biofuels. Y'all really need to stop spreading this lie.Biofuel is evil. Biofuel has happened due to the bad science of global warming.
Oh, really?Bad science does vast harm.
Well can call you clueless on how prices are set. (do note you dodged the question on food costs and if they have doubled since BushII (they haven't))
A tariff is a poor comparison for today's situation. Do the poor nations divert vast parts of their corn/soybean/sugarcane ground to biofuels (remember those crops are very demanding on fertilizer, climate and rain) Which 'the poor' do you think can benefit??? Most countries that have trouble feeding their people lack the ability to grow major food crops, pay for imported food stuff, or distribute it in a timely fashion.... no matter the cost the poor nation must be able to distribute the food before it rots, have a climate that can produce large amounts of nutritious food, and something exporter nations want in trade for their food stuffs...
Actually the British haven't enjoyed a steadily rising standard of living- they lost an Empire to exploit and a collapsing industrial base- they have struggled far more than steadily risen- paying for imports, no matter the cost, requires a balance of trade- something the corn/wheat/beef producing nation will buy in exchange...
World economies isn't your strong suit....eace
The rejection of your views is well deserved, when the best thing you can come up with is a ten year old article which, in retrospect, doesn't really explain what's been happening with food prices over the past ~15 years, and you constantly ignore anything that disproves your excessively (if not deliberately) oversimplified hot take on the topic.
For one thing, as I keep pointing out to you: There is no correlation between the biofuel production and global food prices. Let's start by looking at those prices:
Why did food prices drop in 2009, when biofuel production continued to rise? Why did food prices drop from the middle of 2014 to the end of 2015, when biofuel production continued to increase? Oh, wait, I know. It's because global food prices are heavily influenced by the price of oil, not the use of crops for fuel. (Note: The chart is given a simple adjustment to make the correlationreally, really obvious, even to those too stubborn to accept it.) The impact of biofuels on prices is obviously quite small overall.
[removed to get through the charachter limit:- more meaningless drivel in any case]
Even the IPCC has occasionally dampened its enthusiasm for biofuels:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...stone-ipcc-climate-report-shifts-on-biofuels/
Oh, really?
Does "bad science" result in consumers in affluent nations throwing out 30-40% of the food they purchase?
Did "bad science" result in about 30% of crops used to produce meat?
Did "bad science" result in steadily increasing crop yields?
Did "bad science" result in the drop in the number of hungry people in the world?
Or did bad science permanently poison your understanding of the situation, because you're so utterly desperate to attack environmentalists?
So basically, you just ignored pretty much everything I wrote, so you could keep repeating your deliberately oversimplified claim. Impressive :roll:Food prices have been maintained/increased due to large amounts of food being diverted away from feed people to make biofuel that does not actually save on CO2 output in any case (is that good science as far as you are concearned???).
And if Woody had gone straight to the police, none of this would have happened!Food prices should have been dropping very markedly because there has been a very effective agricultural revolution in making the world be far more productive of food. Between better breeding of seed crops and GM output today is far higher than it was just 20 years ago. Prices should have fallen.
So basically, you just ignored pretty much everything I wrote, so you could keep repeating your deliberately oversimplified claim. Impressive :roll:
Unfortunately, it appears a formatting error prevented the charts from displaying. Although you've seen it before, I'll show the chart with global food prices and global oil prices. Again, note that I added a consistent indexed $75 adjustment to the oil price to make the correlations really, really obvious:
View attachment 67244648
One point that should be obvious is that prices shot up in 2008 -- and declined rapidly by December 2008. It should be screamingly obvious that a Top Secret document which attributes the 2008 rise in prices to biofuels is obviously missing a critical component, because it doesn't explain that massive drop in prices. Nor does it describe any of the subsequent price changes.
What does explain it? It's on the tip of my tongue. Seriously! I can't see on the chart what it is -- oh, wait, it is screamingly obvious that there is a strong correlation between food prices and oil prices. Since food requires energy at almost every step of the process, the causality is clear. In fact, it seems very likely that this is the primary cause of fluctuations in food prices.
And as we've discussed here and elsewhere, your primitive analysis ignores all sorts of of factors which impact prices, including:
• changes in demand for different types of food
• changes in crop yields
• production costs
• subsidies
• globalization of food production
• globalization of food markets
• weather events and climate change
• wasteful habits of food consumers in affluent nations
• monopolistic practices by Big Agriculture (especially Monsanto)
• the increasing consolidation of farms, especially in the US
• the development of better futures markets and methods of delivery
• the relatively small percentage of global grains used for biofuels
• the substantial portion of global grains used to raise livestock
• the fact that grains is only a part of global prices in the first place
• impacts of political changes, such as Trump's trade war with China
• how the rise in incomes for the poorest in the world changes what the poor eat, which in turn impacts the price of food overall
And yet again! You completely and utterly ignore that when prices for a commodity fall too much, then farmers will not be able to produce the commodity. Corn, again, is so rock-bottom cheap that American farmers can't grow it without a subsidy. Your repeated claims of "low prices good!" shows the utter ineptitude of your understanding.
And yet again! Lots of environmentalists do not advocate for biofuels. The few that do focus on the use of agricultural waste, e.g. European environmental organizations are pushing for "second generation" biofuels (which are made from non-food/non-land based biomass, i.e. waste products). And yet, you repeatedly ignore this fact and keep blaming environmentalists for a policy pushed mostly by conservative politicians, who are in the pocket of Big Ag. Get it straight.
And if Woody had gone straight to the police, none of this would have happened!
I.e. Global food prices is an incredibly complex subject that you clearly do not understand. Reducing it to one factor is every bit as flawed as blaming environmentalists for a policy that they don't advocate.
Now do you see why people criticize you for holding such simplistic positions....?
Uh, hello? The correlations to go back to at least 1990. 28+ years of correlations is not "short term."Short term fluctuations do indeed follow the oil price.
Wow. So again, you completely ignored not just tons of relevant facts, but also my point that there are over a dozen factors that have impacts on global food prices. #monomaniaThe long term trend on your pretty graph is upward for the food and downward for the oil. It also starts after the biofuel thing started.
Are you out of your forking mind?The amount of agricultrual produce produced had increased a lot. The demand from humans has not. The price should have dropped.
That doesn't respond to a single point I've made.Palm oil is a massive problem fo rthe world due to large areas of tropical forrest being chopped down for palm plantations. This is due to the elevated food price.
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