Nestle CEO Opposes Bio-Fuels
Published: March 27th, 2008
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Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck has come out against biofuels, warning that trying to fill up to 20 percent of energy demand with plant-sourced fuel could result in a food shortage. As a food company executive, Mr Brabeck's opinion is neither surprising nor entirely altruistic. However, his warnings echo remarks from UN Special Rapporteur On The Right To Food, Jean Ziegler, last year. In October, Ziegler cautioned that every 13 gallons of corn-based biofuel could feed a child for a year, and called for a five-year ban in the EU on converting croplands to biofuel production. Just something to keep in mind the next time you put 30 gallons of E85 in your Suburban.
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BuckD, No one has a right to food. This sort of demagoguery is the foundation of modern despotism. What people have the right to is the fair opportunity to feed themselves through their own efforts. The distinction is not small.
Bio fuels can be good, just so long as they are not corn-based. Many people love to focus upon just this one source to further their own particular ends. Perhaps more attention should be paid to sources such as bio-waste, and switch grass (easy to grow, no one is deprived of food, uses little water, has a huge energy return). As for people having the right to food, I believe that is one of the tenants the world agreed to in the U.N. declaration of Human Rights (a document of which the U.S. is a signatory). Further, rather than leading to despotism, such a noble idea demonstrates that which is good in humanity.
@ Landcrusher If the Government of the United States subsidizes corn based ethanol, not to mention price supports for other agricultural products like cotton, wheat and what not, that hardly results in a fair world market. As I recall, all the famines in the modern era were due not to demagoguery but to government interference in free markets. The despotism comes first, then the famine. And Americans can't understand why the rest of the world doesn't wuv dem. Maybe instead of squandering a trillion dollars to build bases and try to secure oil in Iraq, if we had instead spent that money developing technologies and just plain helping people get food to eat we'd have a lot more good will and a lot fewer people wanting to kill Americans. I seem to recall some kind of saying, about flies, honey and vinegar…