The United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler, has called for the suspension of biofuels production. He said it is a major cause for the food crisis that has thrown millions into poverty.
Jean Ziegler: “Biofuels, with today’s current production methods, are a crime against a great part of humanity. They’re an intolerable crime, and I requested the United Nations General Assembly in New York in my last report to the Human Rights Council that a moratorium be imposed as a five-year ban against this transformation.”
According to Jean Ziegler, the United States burned 138 million tons of corn last year and transformed it into bioethanol and biodiesel. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ziegler said, “Burning food today so as to serve the mobility of the rich countries is a crime against humanity.” Ziegler’s comments came while the UN held an emergency summit in Switzerland to tackle the global food crisis.
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WOW, isn't that crazy!! I mean, I kinda thought about it this way once but for so long its been a by-product of the restaurant industry, but now, with 670 stations nationwide, the stations are buying the oil from the restaurants and also buying it from farmers, which, I guess, is kinda a crime against humanity.
The best thing about this big statement from the UN today is that it's directed towards the move to ethanol production which is so gross so thats cool.
But what about HEMP!! Its been proven to be almost 5 times more productive for making biofuels than Corn is. And Hemp is not "Burning food today so as to serve the mobility of the rich", its burning Hemp. But then there is still an argument for the effort taken to grow hemp instead of growing food for the hungry of the world.
The answer I think is to do it all. rebuild trains in the inner cities, and use compressed-air cars for local use otherwise (theyre amazing for flat ground cities and theyre already on sale in europe for 6000 euros) . and use Hemp grown bio fuels for busses etc.
but nothing will ever happen until the oil industry changes. I highly recommend to all the movie "Who killed the electric car"