The Sticker Price of Ethanol

A few weeks ago, when a little orange bar on the dashboard of my truck warned me that if I didn’t satisfy its need for the elixir that gives it energy to keep me from being stranded, I stopped at a gas station along US-19.

It wasn’t the sticker price that made me do a double take – by then there was an assumption that it would be, and was, a few pennies more than the day before, a fact that I had become accustomed to as the forever-increasing cost of a fill-up dug a little deeper in the funds available from a wallet-sized debit card.

I was concerned about the sticker prominently displayed on the gas pump that informed me an additive was now a part of the mixture that keeps my truck motoring. I had no choice but to accept what is, in my opinion, a ten percent disillusionment that ethanol might help save the planet from the affects of all the nasty residues that our civilization has accumulated over the past century.

As our country became industrialized, and the billows of smoke rose from the stacks of factories, the harmful gases of fossil fuels filled the skies and acted as a smoke-screen to what would eventually be realized as poisons to planet Earth.

I did double take at the sticker that had a permanent look about it. A frown and a little shake of the head wouldn’t take away the concern I felt for what was glaring at me in the eyes. I had little choice but to fill ‘er up or before long I’d be stranded.

The media has told me repeatedly that an ethanol level of 10% ethanol wouldn’t have an effect on engine performance but with somewhat fewer miles per gallon. I seldom imbibe these days but I felt a little woozy at the thought of what the side affects will be for a misbegotten attempt to right the wrongs of uncontrolled carbon footprints into the atmosphere. I had a sense of malnutrition. I heard a growling sound but to this day I don’t know if was my stomach or a guttural sound from the depth of my lungs.

I know full well the need to rid us of foreign oil dependence. I also acknowledge an immediate obligation to contain the emission of green house gases. But there has to be a better way to accomplish this goal without adding to the pangs of world hunger. Diverting corn from the mouths and stomachs of people has become a major problem, creating a health risk for millions upon millions of those in third world countries.

Nearly everything we consume with our daily bread hits our pocketbooks right where it hurts: having to divert any of our earnings from the consumption of discretionary spending, most prominent being high tech electronics. This is not good for capitalism; it narrows the scope of profitable businesses and harms the growth of the economy.

Right now, thanks in part to Al Gore and his inconvenient solution to global air pollution, we’re addressing the carbon footprint of man without consideration of our fellow inhabitants of the planet.

Diverting grain products from the mouths of the hungry is misplaced because lobbyists and a Congress willing to supplement the profits of mega-farmers intensifies the ill affects of a hasty solution. Higher food prices are already giving them hedge funds with profits detrimental to the rest of us. Small, family owned farmers don’t reap the same benefits.

Rather than giving consideration to mega-farmers, these misspent moneys would be better given to areas in need of assistance due to natural disasters. The best example is the recent floods in Missouri. These areas won’t recovery from the loss of crops, and livelihoods, without emergency funding from the federal government.

Fertilizers laced with phosphates have their own side affects with poisons that make rivers, lakes and even larger bodies of water uninhabitable to every form of freshwater and sea life. Woops! There goes another food source!

Politicians are eager to get on bandwagons to appease the electorate but their loads are marching bands supporting another term in office. Their wagons need to be filled with life’s grains of plenty.

Yes, steps must be taken to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions but until there is committed dialogue on solutions to save planet Earth from the ravages of mankind, and when food is again bountiful, the sound of growling will continue to fill the air. I won’t know for sure if it’s coming from me or from the empty mouths of the hungry.