"Starvation" in Tibet, says Dalai Lama.
calde...@yahoo.com
in Tibet. Some of the problem is due to the Chinese occupation, but
much of the food shortage problem Tibet is facing can be attributed to
the global food crisis created by biofuel production, which literally
turns mountains of the world's human food supply into fuel for our
cars and trucks. Those of you who meditate might consider using some
of your gained inner energy to fight this global food crisis. See
"The biofuel hoax is causing a world food crisis!" at:
http://home.att.net/~meditation/bio-fuel-hoax.html
You can find world food crisis news links, updated every day, at:
http://home.att.net/~meditation/biofuel-news.html
Meditation is great, but keeping the world from starving is absolutely
essential. Tibet, Nepal, India, and other countries with large low
income populations are obviously the most affected by skyrocketing
prices of basic staple foods, which have increased by 80% in the last
3 years according to the World Bank. Misguided United States and
European Union biofuels policies are to blame for "30 to 70%" of that
price rise, according to German Development Minister Heidemarie
Wieczorek-Zeul. Turning food into fuel on an overpopulated, food and
water starved little planet was not the best idea that George W. Bush
and Nancy Pelosi have come up with.
Christopher Calder
possum
<calde...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:6cccb15a-d43d-4af7...@k1g2000prb.googlegroups.com...
cripes! this is not a good idea at all. starvation and
food riots.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2008/04/food_riots.html
this could get the world begging for GM.
for once, i don't think bush deserves the rap - we maybe
have to carry the can ourselves...
possum
http://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_Biofuels.aspx?Name=biofuels&infoId=17156
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm
http://archive.corporatewatch.org.uk/genetics/monsanto.htm
calde...@yahoo.com
policies.
UN food official Jean Ziegler has repeatedly called biofuels "a crime
against humanity," and biofuel production will contribute to the
early, avoidable deaths of at least between 10 and 20 million people
in the year 2008 alone. In Bangladesh, economists estimate that 30
million of the country's 150 million people could be going hungry.
Only a post-disaster assessment by future studies can give an exact
body count for the Great Biofuel Famine. Of earth's 6.66 billion
residents, 4 billion live in poverty, and those at the bottom of that
group are already without sufficient food. Expanding biofuel
production will push millions of those poorest families into the
clutches of death, thanks to our leaders turning mountain's of food
into biofuel. Unless the biofuel bandwagon is stopped now, by the
year 2020 the world will be diverting 400 million tons of grain each
year for ethanol production, which is equal to the entire current
global rice harvest. There have been food riots in 22 countries, and
33 nations face political instability due to the skyrocketing cost of
basic staple foods, whose price has risen 83% in the last 3 years.
Biofuel production is equivalent to a new tax on food that starves the
poor in order to feed money to rich agricultural corporations.
Oil price increases have not shrunk the human food supply, but biofuel
production has! The more biofuels we produce, the less food we have
to eat, because we grow biofuel crops, even switchgrass, using the
same land, water, fertilizer, farm equipment, and labor we use to grow
food. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, the German Government Development
Minister, stated that production of biofuels is "30 to 70% responsible
for the rapid rise in food prices." Former President Bill Clinton
stated that "What's really hurting the food markets is America moving
into ethanol. People there are moving into corn and you have pasta
riots in Italy related to what some people are doing in farming in
America." The USDA states that by the end of May, US wheat supplies
will be lower than at any time since 1948 because so many wheat
farmers switched to growing corn for biofuel.
Biofuel farming and production accelerates global warming by
unleashing huge amounts of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides
gases. Biofuel farming creates water pollution and water shortages,
and needlessly erodes precious topsoil. A new study says biofuels
from cellulose sources, such as switchgrass, wood chips, crop waste,
etc., will never be cost effective.
Ethanol fuel is not "clean." Ethanol blended fuels burn cleaner on a
per gallon basis, but not on a per mile basis, because ethanol
contains 30% less energy per gallon than gasoline. You have to burn
much more ethanol per miles traveled, so on a per mile basis ethanol
does not reduce automobile exhaust emissions.
Biofuels are a false hope. Every year the human race burns up the
equivalent of 400 years worth of total planetary vegetation in the
condensed form of fossil fuels. How are we ever going to replace all
of that concentrated biomass energy by growing a relatively small
volume of biofuel crops on our desperately overpopulated, fresh water
starved little planet?
Our politicians have created a world food crisis and famine, with
millions going hungry from Bangladesh to Louisiana. President Bush's
Katrina style mishandling of the United States food supply may be the
biggest man made disaster of the 21st century. How are America's
homeless, veterans, the disabled, the elderly, and all those living on
low fixed incomes going to survive our new "GREEN" policies, which
John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama publicly support?
Please ask why our politicians are supporting biofuels and all the
financial loses, environmental destruction, food cost inflation, and
tragic global starvation they cause.
For all the details on biofuels and better alternatives, see "The
biofuel hoax is causing a world food crisis!" at:
http://home.att.net/~meditation/bio-fuel-hoax.html
Christopher Calder
omj...@gmail.com
wrote:
snip off topic stuff..
> Christopher Calder
Could be there are too many people on the planet. Regardless, Shiva,
Gaia, whoever, will make needed adjustments. 10 million, 20 million,
several billions, whatever... This to shall pass...
Now that's yoga :-)
Jared
o
^
dick blisters
<omj...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:352376d4-4210-4c42...@a23g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
Nick Cramer
> <omj...@gmail.com> wrote in message> > snip off topic stuff..
> > Could be there are too many people on the planet. Regardless, Shiva,
> > Gaia, whoever, will make needed adjustments. 10 million, 20 million,
> > several billions, whatever... This to shall pass...
> >
> > Now that's yoga :-)
> And so now we have farmrs getting into bio-fuel instead of food
> crops.....
Yes. The price of flour in the US has skyrocketed as many farmers are now
planting corn instead of wheat.
--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~
possum
"dick blisters" <dickbl...@telenut.net> wrote in message
news:4AyNj.195737$pM4.140488@pd7urf1no...
just wait til the energy companies get into liposuction
>
>
dick blisters
"possum" <zen1...@zen.co.uk> wrote in message
news:4806c073$0$26086$db0f...@news.zen.co.uk...
>
calde...@yahoo.com
it is hurting people right here in the USA. Public schools can no
longer afford to provide decent lunches for our kids. US food banks
are running low on supplies, and millions of low income Americans are
unable to afford enough food to get them through the month.
When you are the one starving, its not such a joke or a light issue to
be glib about.
To put this in perspective, the infamous Cambodian dictator Pol Pot
only killed 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979. Biofuels will
contribute significantly to the deaths of 10 to 20 million in 2008
alone, and that may turn out to be a underestimate. You only realize
the magnitude of a great famine like this until years after it is
over. Mao's "Great Leap Forward" 5 year plan caused the death of tens
of thousands of Chinese, but he had good intentions just like Barack
Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain, who all support biofuels.
See my essay below on the Mao famine.
Parallels - Biofuels and Mao's "Great Leap Forward"
An essential economic point that our political leaders and media
have missed about the world food crisis is that rising oil prices have
not shrunk the human food supply, but biofuel production has. Higher
oil prices naturally raise the cost of everything that takes energy to
produce, but additionally United States and European Union policies
have actually reduced the amount of food available for humans to eat
by artificially mandating a shift of agricultural resources to biofuel
production. President Bush's 2007 "Energy Independence and Security
Act" turns our food into fuel, and is reminiscent of Chairman Mao Tse
Tung's 1958 Five Year Plan, known as "The Great Leap Forward," in
which China's agricultural based economy was forcefully shifted to
greater industrial output.
The higher food prices of 2008 cannot easily lead to increased
food production, as would normally be the case, because of Bush's
government mandated shift of land, water, fertilizer, farm equipment,
and manpower resources to biofuel production. With biofuels out of
the equation, farmers could have easily passed higher energy costs on
to consumers without shrinking food production, and they could have
increased food output to meet the greater demands of an expanding
world population. Higher prices normally give producers a strong
incentive signal to make more of a product so they can make more
money. Now those incentive signals are confused and ineffective
because of forced government biofuel mandates. Farmers must now
produce for the automotive biofuel market as well as for the human
food market.
Chairman Mao Tse Tung banned private farms in 1958 in his shift
to communes and greater industrial output at the expense of
agriculture. This led to a 15% drop in grain production in 1959 and
another 10% reduction in 1960. Biofuel production has consumed an
estimated 33% to 38% of America's corn crop, depending of whose
statistics you believe, and has caused many farmers to grow corn to
make ethanol instead of wheat to make bread. Bush's 2007 biofuel
legislation has demanded even more of our food to be turned into fuel
in the name of "energy independence," but at the tragic cost of global
food supply security. Mao's top-down meddling in agricultural
production was compounded by droughts and storms, just as Bush's top-
down meddling in agriculture has been compounded by a drought in
Australia which reduced wheat production, and a winter storm in China
which caused major crop failures. A convergence of forces turned
Mao's well meaning 1958 plan into the greatest famine in history, and
resulted in the death by starvation of tens of millions of people.
Bush's well meaning 2007 "Energy Independence and Security Act" may
eventually take even more lives worldwide.
-----
Find biofuel disaster news links at: http://home.att.net/~meditation/biofuel-news.html
For a full explanation of biofuels and better alternatives, see
http://home.att.net/~meditation/bio-fuel-hoax.html
Christopher Calder
Richard Corfield
> The biofuel aggravated food crisis is not just a problem for others,
> it is hurting people right here in the USA. Public schools can no
> longer afford to provide decent lunches for our kids. US food banks
> are running low on supplies, and millions of low income Americans are
> unable to afford enough food to get them through the month.
Though a statistic I read somewhere was that at the moment biofuel
accounted for only 1% or so of our growing capacity. It was small. If
our growing capacity has suffered that much, with only 1% drop, then we
really were running very close to capacity. This unless there have been
other causes of drop in output, and other causes of increase in demand.
We don't hear of the grain mountains any more, but there is still land
that farmers are paid to leave arable.
I wonder whether biofuel is being a bit of a scapegoat in this situation,
based on those statistics.
> When you are the one starving, its not such a joke or a light issue to
> be glib about.
True.
On a different note, there was a sermon I heard by a Christian bishop once
that apparently those starving refugees that worshipped were happier than
those that didn't. Read into that what you will. He specified Christian
worship, in a sermon intended to win over new converts, so no statistics
were given for other religious activity. I suspect the level of discomfort
in the camps wasn't such that faith started to fail.
- Richard
--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard Corfield <Richard....@gmail.com>
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street,
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ except in the Twilight Zone
Julian
"possum" <zen1...@zen.co.uk> wrote in message
news:4806c073$0$26086$db0f...@news.zen.co.uk...
>
Finally... the USA will be fuel self-sufficient!
calde...@yahoo.com
what they are saying. Ignorance of the facts is criminal if you are
supporting policies that kill people.
CC
dick blisters
possum
"dick blisters" <dickbl...@telenut.net> wrote in message
news:D%ANj.66328$Cj7.39285@pd7urf2no...
yep. fatliponol didn't have legs...
: )
>>
>
>
possum
possum
<calde...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:16bba80d-97c0-4864...@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
>
> CC
a flog 'em and hang'em policy towards the criminally
ignorant will get you in a lot of trouble and no further,
you eejit!
possum
vivo...@gmail.com
wrote:
Dalai Lama, done nothing for Tibet people, but always blame the
Chinese government. I think the government has done enough for Tibet
people. for example, in our university, students from Tibet pay less
or no tuition money, and they also get considerable extra money for
the government for their daily life.
dick blisters
<vivo...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:78720535-0e0a-4a74...@k37g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
By the tone of your post, my assumption is that you are Chinese and in that
case I would require specific documentation that prove your allegations in
regard to the benefits Tibet students receive.
Shava_X
If You are blaming bio-fuels for food shortages, You are, for the most
part, wrong:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/business/worldbusiness/17warm.html?scp=9&sq=Australia&st=nyt
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/opinion/24cohen.html?em&ex=1209182400&en=3ebf7d439c88f220&ei=5087%0A
Climate change and economics, including "free" trade agreements and farm
subsidies, are the primary culprit. For instance, bio-fuels have nothing
to do with the global shortage of rice. Rice is not used for bio-fuels,
nor is wheat. And without bio-fuels, Global Climate Change is going to
get worse, which will make food shortages worse, etc...
Shava_X
> Tibet is starving and so are people all over the world because of our
> policies.
>
> UN food official Jean Ziegler has repeatedly called biofuels "a crime
> against humanity," and biofuel production will contribute to the early,
> avoidable deaths of at least between 10 and 20 million people in the
> year 2008 alone.
Wrong, completely wrong.
> In Bangladesh, economists estimate that 30 million of the country's 150
> million people could be going hungry.
And bio-fuels have nothing to do with the cause of that. In fact, they
are part of the solution.
Well, You are poorly informed aren't You?
Let's start with Rice, the staple food in Indonesia. Rice is not use for
bio-fuels. The primary reasons rice has become scarce are environmental
and economic. Droughts and new diseases are causing rice harvest in the
South Pacific region to fail. Land for rice is not being diverted to
bio-fuel production. In Australia, it is either being left fallow due to
lack of water, or converted to growing grapes for wine because they
require far less water and are substantially more profitable.
You are also incorrect in claiming that high oil prices are not a major
factor. Petroleum products are used in nearly every facet of modern
agriculture. The petro-diesel that the tractors run on is the most
obvious example, but nearly all of the chemical fertilizers, pesticides,
and herbicides that have dramatically increased yields over the past 50
years or so, are made from petroleum. So as the price of oil goes up, so
does the cost of producing food. Some of the poorest farmers may not be
able work as much land, and all of them will have to increase their
selling price. If the price of oil went back to $40 or $50 per barrel,
the price of food staples would plummet and this crisis would vanish.
Your claim that switchgrass uses water is also complete BS. One of the
great advantages of switch and prairie grasses is that they do not need
irrigation, or chemical treatments (pesticides and herbicides). Much of
the herbicid dumped on farmland is put there to kill off prairie grass.
Prairie grass does not necessarily reduce land used for food production
either. Millions of acres of land and left fallow every year. It is
considered good agricultural practice and helps to maintain the
productivity of the land. The U.S. Government pays farmers to leave
enough land fallow to produce enough wood to supply most of the nation's
electricity needs. Leaving land fallow and using it to grow prairie grass
can be done at the same time. And the same technology that allows ethanol
to be made from prairie grass can also produce ethanol from 'crop waste'.
Have You ever seen a wheat of corn plant? Most of the plant is not food.
Most of it is thrown away, often it is burned. With the proper
technology, land can produce bio-ethanol and food at the same time. By
using it to produce prairie grass for bio-ethanol, environmentally
sensitive grasslands can be saved from conversion to farmland, reducing
irrigation demands, saving wetlands, reducing environmental
degradation, etc.And some bio-fuels, such as biodiesel, can be produced
with land and water that is unsuitable for agriculture.
The only reason bio-fuels currently have any impact on food production is
because of a lack of proper technology, and economic barrier that favor
corn over sugar cane.
Your claim that bio-ethanol produces more Greenhouse gasses than petroleum
fuels is either outdated, or just plain wrong. Go read the newest studies
on the matter:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7175397.stm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17910749
Bio-ethanol from prairie grass shows a reduction of CO2 in excess of 90%
compared to petroleum fuels. And that is extremely important.
Global Climate Change has already caused increases in food prices by
reducing yields. If something is not done about it, it will only get
worse. Bio-fuels are the only technology that can replace petroleum fuels
within the next 50+ years. Hydrogen You say? Most hydrogen is produced
from petroleum. Hydrogen is a non-starter. It would take decades to
replace the infrastructure and implement the technology needed to make
pure hydrogen a viable alternative to petroleum fuels. There is an
intermediate step that could ease the transition, bio-fuels.
You are correct when You claim a large part of this crisis has been caused
by politicians, but it is not because they are supporting bio-fuels. So
called "free-trade" agreements, and other economic policies are a major
culprit. Why is Italy so dependent on U.S. grown wheat? Probably for the
same reason Mexico has become so dependent on U.S. grown corn. Because
trade agreement have allowed subsidized U.S. crops surpluses to be dumped
on to the markets of those countries and drive many of the local farmers
out of business. That was cutting global supply long before bio-fuels
became a buzzword. That may have cut prices too, but those price drops
were bound to reverse sooner or later, with or without bio-fuels.
Re-starting a farming industry is no trivial task, and the prohibition on
economic aid to local farmers included in most 'free-trade' agreements and
often by international aid agreements makes that impossible. But when
those blocks are overcome, and local farmers are put back to work, the
food shortages tend to disappear. Look to the example set in Malawi:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7366899.stm
In 2002 it was dependent on food aid. If that had continued, it would be
experiencing the same problems as Hatti. But instead, by going against
the international wisdom that says direct subsidies to farmers are bad, it
has not not only become self-sufficient in food production, it has even
become an exporter, something U.S. and E.U. farmers are no doubt
displeased with. Just as with oil prices, if the ridiculous economic
barriers which favor farmers in rich nations and put farmers in poorer
nation out business were lifted, this 'crisis' would go away (for now).
Economic barriers are a primary reason bio-ethanol production is
interfering with food production in the first place. Artificial economic
blocks have kept sugar cane from competing with corn. Why? because corn
derived ethanol can not compete with sugar cane derived ethanol.
Producing ethanol from sugar cane cost less and produces more, all while
not interfering with staple food production. But corn growers have more
and better lobbyists.
Bio-fuels are not the real problem. They have become the scapegoat, the
whipping-boy. Global farming is dependent on petroleum, and restricted by
inane economic policies. Nobody wants to question those. "Free-Trade"
and its practice of putting local farmers out of business is orthodox, it
is considered 'good', so no one questions it. The same goes for
agricultural dependence on petroleum. Reverse either, or ideally booth,
of those, and the crisis goes away until world population truly grows
beyond the world's ability to produce food. The impact those have dwarfs
the current impact of bio-fuels. But nobody wants to look at those, so
all the blame get heaped on the 'new kid', bio-fuels, which are the only
available means to reduce or eliminate the world's need for petroleum and
curb Global Climate change. With out that, the world's ability to produce
food will decrease.
So go ahead, eliminate bio-fuel production. You will only slightly reduce
the price of staple food crops, and delay by a few years the oncoming
crisis in global food production, all while giving Global Climate Change a
green light to wreak havoc on the globe and further reduce the world's
capacity to produce food.
Shava_X
> The biofuel aggravated food crisis is not just a problem for others,
> it is hurting people right here in the USA. Public schools can no
> longer afford to provide decent lunches for our kids. US food banks
> are running low on supplies, and millions of low income Americans are
> unable to afford enough food to get them through the month.
>
> When you are the one starving, its not such a joke or a light issue to
> be glib about.
>
> To put this in perspective, the infamous Cambodian dictator Pol Pot
> only killed 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979. Biofuels will
> contribute significantly to the deaths of 10 to 20 million in 2008
> alone, ...
No, if that does happen, bio-fuels will not be the cause. It will be
caused by a combination of unchecked population growth (increasing demand
means increasing prices), Global Climate Change (reducing crops yields),
skyrocketing oil prices (which in turn increases the price of agricultural
products), and inane economic policies which pad the pockets of farmers in
rich nations, while putting farmers elsewhere out of business.
Shava_X
> On 2008-04-17, calde...@yahoo.com <calde...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> The biofuel aggravated food crisis is not just a problem for others,
>> it is hurting people right here in the USA. Public schools can no
>> longer afford to provide decent lunches for our kids. US food banks
>> are running low on supplies, and millions of low income Americans are
>> unable to afford enough food to get them through the month.
>
> Though a statistic I read somewhere was that at the moment biofuel
> accounted for only 1% or so of our growing capacity. It was small. If
> our growing capacity has suffered that much, with only 1% drop, then we
> really were running very close to capacity. This unless there have been
> other causes of drop in output, and other causes of increase in demand.
>
> We don't hear of the grain mountains any more, but there is still land
> that farmers are paid to leave arable.
>
> I wonder whether biofuel is being a bit of a scapegoat in this situation,
> based on those statistics.
>
>> ...
Bio-fuels are being scapegoated. Environmental and economic factors are
playing a far, far more significant role in the increase in food prices.
Shava_X
"people who have no clue at all", coming from You, that is the kettle
calling the pot black.
Bio-fuels are not the problem. They can be a part of the solution.
norbu....@gmail.com
wrote:
Chris,
It was just an off the cuff response - usenet tends to be like that.
If you want a carefully reasoned
response and a call for criteria for action then say so. Possum,
Julian, etc are not shallow
ignorant people - Next time ask for ideas about we can do to make a
difference.
my own idea is that we can get involved in our local governments,
create sustainable ecologies
and industries and then call on the national governments to do the
same. Once that starts
to happen, and we can show examples to the world, we can call on
international governments
and agencies to create policies that honor human rights and ecological
sustainability.
Rather than there being some dogma or truth that will make a
difference it seems that a grass-roots
movement is the way to make real change. Town by town, city by city
the change will happen,
until the wind-bag political lords will have to get in step or risk
losing their positions.
Do you have any ideas along these lines? How to implement changes to
local government policies?
i think that would be the place to start. i'll try to post something
in a few days if you don't...
Local farming, vegetable gardens, cutting down on electricity,
trains vs. trucks, green energy,
etc etc...
dick blisters
"Shava_X" <voodo...@rocketNOSPAMmail.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2008.05.04....@rocketNOSPAMmail.com...
> On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:08:07 -0700, calde...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>> Tibet is starving and so are people all over the world because of our
>> policies.
>>
>> UN food official Jean Ziegler has repeatedly called biofuels "a crime
>> against humanity," and biofuel production will contribute to the early,
>> avoidable deaths of at least between 10 and 20 million people in the
>> year 2008 alone.
>
> Wrong, completely wrong.
>
>> In Bangladesh, economists estimate that 30 million of the country's 150
>> million people could be going hungry.
>
> And bio-fuels have nothing to do with the cause of that. In fact, they
> are part of the solution.
>
tradable commodities.
dick blisters
"Shava_X" <voodo...@rocketNOSPAMmail.com> wrote in message
news:pan.2008.05.04....@rocketNOSPAMmail.com...
food. many of the poorest people in the world cannot purchase rice,etc at
current prices.
Shava_X
And that has everything to do with supply. A year or two they could
afford rice and other staples, now they can not. Why? Because the supply
has decreased, while demand has increased. Any time that happens, with
any product, price will go up. If supply increases, prices will go down.
Shava_X
There is far more to it than that. Economic policy and dependence on
petroleum play major roles.