Infinite MonkeysIf you lay awake at night worrying about Global Warming, you need to get a grip.
But if you lay awake at night worrying about the over-reaction to the nonexistent crisis, you have good reason.
No, we're not all gonna be stuffed into Priuses (wish I knew someone who knew Latin so he could tell me the plural for Prius). It's much worse than that.
No, what we have to fear is George F'in Bush.
Yep, Mr. "Say No To Kyoto" Bush outlined targets last year to use Ethanol, a corn-based fuel as a gasoline alternative.
So?
Trust me, the consequences of this short-sighted meangless excercise in feel-goodism are frightful. If you are faint of heart, please, do not continue reading.
Ethanol boom may fuel shortage of tequila
Mexican farmers burning agave fields and replanting them with corn
Reuters Updated: 5:16 p.m. PT May 29, 2007
MEXICO CITY - Mexican farmers are setting ablaze fields of blue agave, the cactus-like plant used to make the fiery spirit tequila, and resowing the land with corn as soaring U.S. ethanol demand pushes up prices.
The switch to corn will contribute to an expected scarcity of agave in coming years, with officials predicting that farmers will plant between 25 percent and 35 percent less agave this year to turn the land over to corn.
"Those growers are going after what pays best now," said Ismael Vicente Ramirez, head of agriculture at Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council.
The large, spiky-leaved agave thrives on high, arid land and can take eight years to reach maturity. To remove the plants, growers cut them at their stems and often burn the fields to remove the roots.
Tequila, drunk in shots and cocktails around the world, is named after a town in the western Mexican state of Jalisco.
Production of agave, from the lily family, soared in recent years as farmers cashed in on record prices brought about by a shortage of the plant at the start of the decade.
Despite rapid growth in tequila drinking, especially overseas, the over-supply of agave has driven prices for the plant to rock-bottom levels.
Many growers have started to abandon the crop in favor of corn, whose price has rocketed in line with massive growth in U.S. demand for ethanol after President Bush outlined targets last year to use the corn-based fuel as a gasoline alternative.
Agave supply is also being hit this year by disease in the fields, partly due to farmers caring less for the plants after prices dropped.
"The problem that we are going to see, perhaps by mid-2008, is that a lot of agave is sick," Agriculture Ministry official Arnulfo del Toro said. "That will have to be taken out and production is going to drop a lot."
Copyright 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18926019/
Bastards!
Damn, that's bad. But it could be worse. If we start having bourbon shortages, sign me up for the revolution!
Posted by: H.L. Monkey at June 20, 2007 10:25 PMPutting aside the horror of a spirits shortage, there is a more substantive reason to oppose ethanol — especially if you live in Smog Central, Los Angeles.
Smog, according to that right-wing rag BusinessWeek, causes more smog.
An excerpt from the takedown:
Even more damaging, the EPA's own attorney admitted to the judges that because of its higher volatility, putting ethanol into the nation's fuel supply would likely increase smog where it was used. One of the judges, on hearing that the EPA was actively promoting a substance that could in fact diminish air quality, wondered aloud, "Is the EPA in outer space?"
Posted by: Dr. Zaius at June 20, 2007 11:02 PMwish I knew someone who knew Latin so he could tell me the plural for Prius
Sadly, it would be Prii. Modern Western pronunciation would likely be "PREE-eye." But the double i thing just doesn't have any legs in "American." (The classical ancient Latin would be "PREE-yee.")
Trust me. Stick with "Priuses."
Posted by: Monkey Brad at June 21, 2007 12:35 AMGlobal Warming? Ha. We skeptics have this on our side.
The mud at the bottom of B.C. fjords reveals that solar output drives climate change - and that we should prepare now for dangerous global cooling.
Go big in wool futures now!
Posted by: Dr. Zaius at June 21, 2007 03:28 AM