Adam Smith Institute

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Cleaner fuel and mahogany tables

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Good news for those who support ethanol production as a means to reduce greenhouse gasses. You can get a beautiful mahogany table and chairs set, made from rainforest land converted to farmland to grow crops for ethanol.

According to Time Magazine, ethanol production isn’t just raising food prices:

An explosion in demand for farm-grown fuels has raised global crop prices to record highs, which is spurring a dramatic expansion of Brazilian agriculture, which is invading the Amazon at an increasingly alarming rate.

Worse yet, ethanol is increasing food prices, which in turn has significantly increased the demand for soybeans. Hmmm… where could soybeans grow? Northern Brazil. On land formerly known as the Amazon. Remember the 1980s and 1990s when saving the rainforest was all you talked about in science class? The last great environmental cause is being destroyed by the current one. In fact: “Bio-fuels now look less green than oil-derived gasoline."

So please, Congress, Parliament, EU, Gordon, George: just stop. Like always, your mandates, regulations, and subsidies are doing the reverse of their supposed intentions.