Burn up your own Crops!

I saw an article last week insinuating that the UN is the new colonialand imperial master. My thought was, a shadow of truth, but stilted rhetoric without real substance.



But than this week the arrogance of the FAO "experts" in Rome has flattened me. They debate whether burning food to fuel vehicles maydivert edible crops in developing countries. Maybe this is the newcolonialism. The UN seems to want in on the action, broker to theworld's 800 million motorists, who want to maintain their mobility withthe smug feeling that they are sticking it to the oil producers. This self-righteousness is going to get someone killed.

The FAO banner reads, "Combustion Or Consumption? Balancing Food AndBiofuel Production." The consequences of large-scale bioenergyproduction for worldwide food security and biodiversity, takes on newmeaning when it is the developing countries providing the biomass. Alexander Maller, Head of FAO's Natural Resources Management andEnvironment Department, said "While there is legitimate concern amongsome groups that bioenergy could compromise food security and causeenvironmental damage, it can also be an important tool for improving thewell-being of rural people if governments take into accountenvironmental and food security concerns." Is it only me, or does thatsound like the ghost of old colonials.

It is not the oil produces that will suffer (their profit margin seemsto be unchangeable) it is the two billion poorest people, who are simply trying to survive that will bear the burden. The ivory and wild rubberof one century may become the biofuels such as biodiesel and ethanol -produced from crops like maize and sugarcane of this century. And we all know the only people who can eat money are the politicians.

"Rome is burning it's own crops," is not a phrase we are likely to hearas long as they can conveniently shift the biomass burden to those whohave the weakest voice and the most to loose.

EarlyBird