The oil crisis and the snare of false solutions
Bolivian President Evo Morales is often quoted as saying, “We strive to live well. We do not strive to live better than others.” This statement captures the essence of the transformation in values that the present generation of United States citizens is wrestling with due to the unsustainable cost in carbon emissions that the U.S. lifestyle represents. The question of the day is, “How can U.S. Americans live well, with sufficiency, while enabling other people to live well also?” This is an issue related to the economic challenge of genuine sustainable development and interconnected with peace and human security. It bears on global climate change and represents a basic moral question raised to a global scale: Who is my neighbor?
In developed countries, the emerging value system is future directed; it thinks beyond immediate personal and national satisfaction and takes into account the wellbeing of future generations of people. It invites everyone to lessen their consumption and use less power (power down) in order that others, in underdeveloped areas, may live above the poverty line, with human dignity. To walk lightly on the Earth is a popular exhortation that expresses exactly the way Jesus lived, personally free and as a source of liberation and wellbeing for others.
A form of liberation that is gaining individual attention is freedom from overdependence on fossil fuels, expressed in the increased use of public transportation and in the use of energy efficient private vehicles. This, of course, is because the Earth cannot support the present rate of carbon emissions. At the same time, the amount of oil in the Earth has peaked, ending the era of cheap oil. In turn, the demand for more public transportation and greater vehicle efficiency is driving industry and ultimately public policy, at least on the State level.
New technologies for producing energy must be examined in an integrated sense in order to proceed correctly. Also, it can be tempting to think that lifestyle changes are not required because new technologies will ensure the present level of living. It is too narrow to think that as long as we can produce alternative energy sources that provide energy independence our energy problem is solved. Every choice we make has complex ramifications and oversimplification can lead to regrettable false solutions.
One of the energy sources being proffered as an oil substitute in the United States is corn ethanol. The following section examines corn ethanol in terms beyond energy independence and concludes that corn ethanol is a false solution to the energy crisis. Here are the facts:
- 22 pounds of corn are required for the production on one gallon of ethanol.
- One and a half gallons of conventional gasoline is required to produce one gallon of ethanol.
- 1,700 gallons of water are required for the production of one gallon of ethanol.
- 450 pounds of corn are required to fill the tank of a SUB once with ethanol.
- Corn ethanol adds to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere when the entire production process is taken into account.
- Corn ethanol produces 12 gallons of waste that enters the sewerage system for each gallon of fuel produced.
In addition, corn:
- is the largest soil degrader
- uses nitrogen fertilizer
- uses greater amounts of insecticide and herbicide than any other crop
- is genetically modified with the result that it can no longer be exported (i.e., 60-70 percent of all U.S. corn).
- is receiving the largest subsidy in U.S. history, $6 billion of tax payer money a year, this is 90 times greater than the oil subsidies.
Finally, it is morally repulsive to use land to feed vehicles when 3.7 billion people are water stressed and malnourished.
The solution to the energy crisis requires the consideration of multiple factors including planning that takes into account future wellbeing for the entire earth community.
Some suggestions are:
- Scale down energy consumption and improve energy efficiency.
- Rethink subsidies for oil and corn ethanol.
- Seek subsidies for new alternative energy sources.
- Think in terms of local small scale solutions.
- Discourage long distance hauling of commodities that can be locally produced.
- Encourage the consumption of locally grown organic foods instead of transporting food over long distances.
- Use water very carefully.
- Demand viable public transportation
- Support regional self reliance.
- Give priority to the protection of the natural world.
- Value international treaties that set standards for carbon emissions.
- Model sufficiency, not surplus consumption.
- Think in terms of equity for all people.
- Realize the importance of modeling the correct way to act before requiring this of others.
- Help inform candidates for public office and others about the negative aspects of large scale corn ethanol as a source of energy.
- Be aware of the complexity and interconnectedness of reality, including all technological developments.
- Reframe your understanding of your neighbor in light of shrinking global resources.
Ask candidates:
- What is your position regarding signing the United Nations Climate Change Protocol?
- Will you support debt relief for developing countries so that they can respond to the urgencies of global warming caused in large part by carbon emissions from the United States and other industrialized countries?
- What is your position concerning large scale corn ethanol production?
References:
The massive costs of land use for U.S. ethanol
International Forum on Globalization