Be Careful what you wish for

[nels25]

sometimes even wanting to do the right thing can cause much pain and trouble in another area.

Case in point: In order to help deal with global warming and the dependence on oil, we have (along with other nations) been promoting the use of bio-fuels specifically ethanol.

Sounded like a good idea at the time (and may still be), but the law of unintended consequences has now set in.

By putting more grain (especially corn) into bio-fuels and the subsequent with drawl of it from the food chain we have caused (in no particular order) the following:

Higher food prices all over the world with the accordingly impact on the economies of the nations of the world.

Oil prices going up and not down as intended.

And most likely a coming back lash that may increase the demand for searching for and drilling for oil (which was supposed to be averted).

so as I say sometimes it pays to be careful for what you wish for, or at least take the time to think it through.

[SteinbachMB]

1. I blame global warming mania

...but judging from some in here, some people think I'm nuts for questioning this mentality.

But no, use food crops to....fight "global warming." Okaaaaay.

[nebenaube]

2. sorry

What you meant to say is "in order to deal with 'peak oil' and our dependence on oil, we have been promoting the use of bio-fuels; specifically ethanol". The issue has nothing to do with global warming. Switching fuels does nothing to reduce global warming. It does reduce our dependency on the middle east though and that was the point. Now we see that the better solution is to stop driving the damn car and to restructure our society so we don't need the damned things to get around.

[nels25]

3. Okay my mistake to an extent

but I thought that in addition to the peak oil situation, use of bi0-fuel was supposed to limit the emissions of gases that car's emit that damage the atmosphere.

At any rate getting the nation as a whole to stop driving is going to be a gargantuan under taking.

You are talking about rearranging approximately a 100 years of lifestyle, to say nothing of the restructuring of the economy (see auto industry and it's associated components).

How would you redo the society to meet this goal with out using the heavy hand of government in some way, shape or form.

Compelling people to comply by law or some sort of government edict will only insure that we get tossed out on our ear in the next election cycle.

Like I stated this needs to be thought out, as of now I do not believe it has.

[Dyllyn]

4. I don't think the outcome was unintended

People were saying this at the time the new policy came in

[bighart]

5. let's not forget about the forced introduction of heavy metals into our homes

via the mandated use of the wonderful compact fluorescent light bulb either.