All our kernels in one basket?

LA Times: Corn is king
As any studious reader of Michael Pollan knows, almost everything in the North American food supply chain starts with corn. Now, by subsidizing the growing of corn for use in biofuels, the US has inextricably linked our food and fuel economies. That means that a drought in the US midwest — not an unlikely occurrence — could now have disastrous consquences that touch nearly every area of our lives.

The great (vegetable) oil shortage

International Herald Tribune: The other oil shortage
Prices for all edible oils — palm, soy, corn, and others — have been skyrocketing, in large part due to Western subsidies of oils used for production of biofuels. Like most environmental issues, sadly, what is a mere inconvenience in the supermarket for Western consumers is a life-or-death issue for those in poor countries who rely on oil to cook their food, and cannot afford the drastically higher prices. Even worse, many of the subsidies originally created to “help the environement” are actually encouraging the destruction of rainforests, as growers clear land to grow now lucrative oil palms.

Green restaurants

Toronto Star: Green from the roof down
A number of restaurants in London, England are aiming to be “eco-eateries”, serving only local organic foods transported by ground in bio-diesel vehicles, using few refrigerators or freezers, avoiding chemicals, even composting all organic waste and using it to grow their own produce.  In a perfect world, this would not be worthy of a news article — it would be common sense.  Sigh.