http://scienceprogress.org/2008/04/biofuels-vs-fuel-dont-get-lost-in-the-maze/ Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:59:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://scienceprogress.org/2008/04/biofuels-vs-fuel-dont-get-lost-in-the-maze/comment-page-1/#comment-1822 Jonathon Severdia Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:37:37 +0000 http://www.scienceprogress.org/2008/04/biofuels-vs-fuel-dont-get-lost-in-the-maze/#comment-1822 Where the disentangling needs to happen is between the causes that we can do nothing about (drought, demand) and the causes which are consequences of deliberate policy decisions (biofuel mandates, ag protectionism). I think conflating these two sets of causes stokes a brooding fatalism that lets inept policymakers tiptoe away from responsibility for their tragic mistakes. Their idiotic and self/constituent serving behavior is the common denominator to both biofuel policies so wrong the backlash now threatens legitimate technologies coming down the pipeline, and to an overarching agricultural policy that contributes to myriad other problems, the greatest of which is starvation in countries that cannot compete with first world subsidized agriculture. The way forward is complicated, but if we don't hold policymakers' feet to the fire for their blunders, the situation will never improve. Where the disentangling needs to happen is between the causes that we can do nothing about (drought, demand) and the causes which are consequences of deliberate policy decisions (biofuel mandates, ag protectionism). I think conflating these two sets of causes stokes a brooding fatalism that lets inept policymakers tiptoe away from responsibility for their tragic mistakes. Their idiotic and self/constituent serving behavior is the common denominator to both biofuel policies so wrong the backlash now threatens legitimate technologies coming down the pipeline, and to an overarching agricultural policy that contributes to myriad other problems, the greatest of which is starvation in countries that cannot compete with first world subsidized agriculture. The way forward is complicated, but if we don’t hold policymakers’ feet to the fire for their blunders, the situation will never improve.

]]>