On global food shortages: for one reason or another, the maps I've seen (UN, for one) usually show calories per person by nation. The average US person overconsumes calories by 25-30% (no surprise: the obesity epidemic), but many countries are represented as lacking adequate daily calories by 80 to 99%. The worst include a belt of sub-Saharan African nations. This seems to suggest that there are significant shortages of starchy foods (complex carbs, not simple sugars), i.e., cereal crops. This is one argument used against ethanol and against the livestock industries of the US, Europe, Australia, etc., as ethanol and livestock divert starch calories from human diets. With that in mind, much of the world does have protein shortages as well, whether it is overall protein, or it is amino acid balance (e.g., the well-known tryptophan shortage associated with maize staple diets, if not supplemented by whole beans, meat). An advantage of some alternative grains such as amaranth is that their amino acids ARE fairly balanced. Ethanol production, subsidies, emissions all exist in this larger discussion of politics and the distribution of foods and the consumer habits of people. (I often move between focused topics, e.g., ethanol emissions, and big-picture views because that's my intellectual habit. Some people object to it. Colleagues usually call it "holistic" or "synthetic" thinking. I suspect that the world would benefit from more of it, but I may be tooting my own horn a bit. Lee -----Original Message----- From: Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ed Woolsey Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 2:08 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: biomass, corn stover, and the new wave of synthetic biology Assuming we're all correct here. Sierra knocking ethanol at least elevates the current nonsustainability discussions. If that reduces or eliminates the incentives going into ethanol...so be it. We've incented cheap, nonsustainable ethanol and that is what we have gotten. But remember that world wide... fossils get over 10X the subsidies as renewables. Using hydrous ethanol to firm up our real food production system makes a lot of sense to me. (tillage,harvest) Using ethanol to blend into gasoline...at any ratio...does not make any sense, expecially when the ethanol comes from nonsustainable #2 yellow corn. I'm not optimistic that our Country/World has the ability to gradually reverse the coming train wreck. Like the adaptation strategies that we need to be implimenting right now related to Climate Change, providing for some "real food security" might turn out to be a very very wise investment. btw last I new the worlds ppl were short on protein and not starch...ethanol production uses starch and concentrates protein 3Xs and should make it cheaper to move protein into human food streams. Our side should just understand that ethanol can be produced sustainably and that it can be used ....even in internal combustion engines...pretty cleanly. If we don't understand this issue fairly well, we lose credibility in biomass energy debates, and more importantly we lose a major component for a clean energy future. I always try to be open to any other ideas and new info so feel free to disagree with anything I write, I won't be offended. "Leakage" is a very important concept (fact) but using this as an argument against all biomass energy production seems counterproductive...letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp