Will Using Biofuels Lead to Starvation?

The U.S., Brazil and Canada are leading the way in transforming corn, wheat, soy beans and sugar cane into cleaner-burning fuel, but they’re also being accused of forcing other countries into starvation.

As food prices continue to rise and other countries are being stripped of their sugar and grain-based ethanol and biodiesel sources, many UN members are outraged.

The Dilemma

The goal of the Bush administration's alternative-energy policy was to have U.S. producers supply at least 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by the year 2020.

Last year over 81 million tons of grain was used for ethanol.

Brazil’s ambassador for climate change, Sergio Serra, said "There is no real relation of cause and effect between the expansion of the production of biofuels and the raising of food prices. At least it is not happening in Brazil."

On the other end, UN member Jean Ziegler of Switzerland said "Producing biofuels is a crime against humanity.”

You can read the entire article here.

What do you think?

So what is your opinion of the ethanol problem?

Do we continue to use up our natural resources for biofuels in order to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, even if it means other countries will starve?

Is climate change and global warming the main cause of the food shortage, since erratic weather conditions have damaged crops worldwide?

Or is human activity and global warming both at fault for the food crisis? And what can we do to prevent any type of food crisis from happening?

Just some questions for us to ponder as the push for biofuels and other renewable energy sources gain popularity.