Importing a Bad Idea

Corn ethanol -
an irrational fantasy.

Lots of studies have shown that converting corn into ethanol is a bad idea, both economically and environmentally. It only makes sense politically in the United States, where the road to the presidency runs through Iowa - corn country.

Corn ethanol doesn't make environmental sense because the energy and ingredients used to make it - seeds, fuel, fertilizer, etc. - generate more climate change gases than the reduction in gases obtained by using less petroleum when ethanol is mixed into fuel. Also, when corn is turned into fuel rather than eaten, land someplace else in the world may be deforested to plant more food crops.

But Colombia may soon import that unenvironmental and

Cars pig out on food that
could feed people.

unecological ethanol from the U.S., because it's cheaper than home-grown sugar cane ethanol. U.S. corn ethanol is only cheaper because of absurd subsidies the U.S. government pays to farmers. And, shipping the ethanol across the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico will only make it an even worse deal economically and environmentally.

And, while importing foreign ethanol may be cheaper, it will come as a cost to Colombia's sugar cane industry, which is already complaining that this will hurt their business and cost jobs.

Infographic: Food or Fuel.com

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours