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Liata's Rant Rave, info, and Idea book
Where I post stuff I just feel the need to post. Whether its a Rant of why I like black socks, or Hate american football, or maybe I'll post something that is more thought provoking, such as the practicallity of our modern transportation system, or a
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Ethanol Corn Crops vs. Food Corn Crops, and HFCS |
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Ok, sooner or later a lot of people that try to get to know me will find out that I am a tree hugger. I try to keep on top of new with the Environment, I support recycling, alternative fuels, and Energy, and so on and so forth.
One thing I've put a little more thought into recently is Ethanol fuel. I know its not perfect, and I know that its not exactly a zero emission fuel (though its emissions are way friendlier to the environment than gas), but it is way better than Oil based fuels we're stuck on now, and most if not all but the oldest cars are able to run on 100% ethanol with little or no modifications. So I think it would be a move in the right direction to start making more of the fuel we put in our cars from Ethanol.
Now on to more of the point of this little entry, one of the biggest points people bring up when people start talking about using more corn based ethanol. And that is it would compete with crops used for food. Sure if we transfer over to pure corn ethanol we'd need a lot of crops. So if we don't want to put a major dent into our food reserves, then how do we do it? Well thats kinda why I'm writing this. I'm sure others have thought of this (though with a preliminary net search I haven't found anything similar). HFCS is used in almost everything now days, including a lot of food products that don't even need it really. For those that are reading this and don't know, and are too lazy to bring up google, HFCS is High Fructose Corn Syrup. Now I'm aware of the corn refinery's recent ad campaign to dis-spell the 'myths' of their product. Personally I won't believe either side until there is solid scientific proof, though I think that will be long in coming, though I'm more incline to believe its not exactly as healthy as sugar and natural sweeteners and I have a feeling that this ad campaign is a bid to keep from losing business, and is a little reminiscent of the 'scientific studies' tobacco companies put out to 'dis-spell the myths' about cigarettes. A little drastic of a comparison but still I see similarities there.
Anywho, we should stop using so much anyways, and not just because of the health side effects that may or may not be there. But for the simple fact that its more harmful to the environment. Yup. It takes more energy to produce HFCS than it does to refine sugar and natural sweeteners. I'm willing to bet that in the end it takes more gas for shipping and farming the Corn and HFCS than it does for sugar and sugar canes.
So this is what I'd think should happen, and it would be a wonderful start in the right direction: Lifting the tariff on Sugar, and possibly increase sugar producing crops. Cut back HFCS production and send the corn meant for them to Ethanol Production, I'm sure there would be more than enough to fuel America with them alone, we use enough HFCS...its in our freakin' bread even!
Now I know it'll probably never happen, we live in a capitalist society, and while it is great, it means things like how much HFCS is produced and used is up to consumers, and as more people buy products with it, like bread, more of it will get produced. And I see consumers of America buying more because of these ads my the corn refineries. But maybe people should start buying more locally produced breads, or making their own bread (its not as hard as it sounds), or buying organic bread, and start cutting back on other products with HFCS, if not for their health, but also for the environment.
 Liata_Firebreeze · Fri Sep 19, 2008 @ 05:09am · 0 Comments |
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