GasHole: Dirty Oil and the Biofuel Myth
by Allison Kilkenny (Huffington Post) This week marked the world premiere of GasHole, a new documentary film (narrated by Peter Gallagher) about the history of oil prices and the future of alternative fuels.
Biofuel gossip has been everywhere in the news lately. Bolivian President, Evo Morales,condemned the use of valuable farming land for ethanol at the recent U.N. summit, and Roger Cohen pleaded for a moment of sanity, suggesting in his New York Times op-ed that it may be foolish to universally condemn biofuels.
Depending on who you talk to, or whose column you read, biofuels are either the savior of humanity, or the worst thing to ever happen, ever. Some people think the farmed corn should be given to starving people. Others believe it should be used as fuel before global warming really accelerates and we’re drowned by the sea. The truth is that food is definitely unaffordable for the poorest among us, but biofuels aren’t entirely to blame.
…There are food shortages because oil is nearing $120 a barrel. The necessary evil, oil, is the fuel behind all the food production in the world, so when the price soured over $100 a barrel, the poorest people took the brunt of the shock. In short, they ran out of food.
Rather than branding biofuels the villain of the food crisis, the blame should be aimed at the persons pricing the oil.
…Instead of condemning biofuels, the American people should condemn their Washington leadership and the oil industry: the real thieving pirates behind the food shortage. READ MORE
