On Ethanol…

I’m wondering if we’re really thinking this whole ethanol thing through . No, not from an environmental way or a renewable fuel way, but in a competition way.

What makes ethanol? Beans and corn. What do cows eat? What do chickens and pigs eat? And horses… and what’s in dog food? What about soy based infant formula? And for the vegetarian types and those who like tofu… what’s in tofu?

Josh and I are in the process of switching to biodegradable cleaning products . We have some more selfish reasons for using them, I’ve explained to people. I have some problems with asthma and allergies, and a lot of cleaning chemicals bother me. “Green” products don’t bother me. Josh also has allergies. And we just want to reduce unnecessary irritants Baby is exposed to.

And we try to make decisions that are responsible. Since I commute, at least in our neighborhood, we have a Cub, Target, Kohl’s and other stores we need. We eat a variety of protein products, Josh not so much on the tofu front, but he will eat tempeh. We hope to garden next year… little things like that.

But we make these decisions on our own. I’m not sure increasing ethanol mandates is really the way to do things. Or at least, I’m not sure it is the way we show love to our neighbor. We show love to our neighbor by looking out for their interests as well as our own. And I don’t think increasing demand for food and feed products is really looking out for or neighbors best interest. Food is a need. And I don’t think people care as much for ethanol as they do for milk, eggs, beef, chicken, ham, etc. I think that we should also explore nuclear energy and other energy resources before doing something that is going to increase food prices.