Is food/crop-based fuel a viable replacement for oil as a main fuel source?
If we use oil for fuel then, in the long term, we will destroy our environment. If we use food/crop-based fuel we may increase world hunger in the immediate future. My take on this dilemma is that either way we are destroying the future of humankind for the purpose of convenience.
As for food production, stating that there is overproduction of food while people starve is a flawed statement. Global economics depends on food overproduction. If a country overproduces a certain food staple that excess is not just there for the wealthiest of that country to indulge while the poor starve. Overproduction is part of an economic principle (I forgot what the exact term for the principle is, but you can look it up in any economics book). Overproduction benefits everyone, for example, if one country can produce corn the cheapest and another country can produce wheat the cheapest then both countries overproduce their crops for trading. This in turn makes the products cheaper than if a single country produced all of its own food staples. Now this is representative of the current situation and there is still starvation. However, if the overproduction was used to produce fuel, then it would definitely increase world hunger. It would do so because the overproduction would no longer be available for trade with other countries for other food staples that are expensive for the respective country to produce. The result, the prices rise for the food staple that is in higher demand for fuel production and the food staple that used to be available cheaper through trade. Expensive food correlates with starvation. Bottom line, to used overproduced food staples for fuel is a bad idea because of the effect it will have on the global food economy which will produce a negative effect on the populations.
As for continuing to use oil for fuel, this continues to be a concern for environmentalists. The thing everybody has to realize is that the world’s goal should be to preserve humankind. We tend to live in the moment and worry about how we can get what we want without any caution for the future. Great we get our oil and can drive our cars and everything is great because we have what it is that we want for the moment. However, this couldn’t be a more selfish attitude. If we end up causing irreversible damage to the environment, our generation may be okay, but what about future generation. The attitude of “we’ll all be dead before this is a problem” is immoral. What about your children, grand-children, great-grandchildren, etc. The heads-of-industries and heads-of-states who continually push oil should think about this for a minute.
As for a solution, I don’t know. There are brilliant people out in the world who are trying to solve this dilemma without avail… I am afraid that I am in the same boat. The one thing that we do know is that there is a problem. We cannot continue on with irresponsible oil use. As for flex-fuel, this does not seem to be the solution to this problem. If we continue in this manner or if a viable solution is not developed within a proper time frame then we will continue to destroy ourselves for convenience over necessity.
