it's the weight of the world, i know, as you were mine, and we will find: time will change; still the world remains the same.

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Biofuels Deemed a Greenhouse Threat, and could worsen Global Warming, via the New York Times.

Just another wrench in that debate.

It's not like this is the first someone is crying "foul" on ethanol -- National Geographic had a bang-a-rang article a while back, on the most common bio-fuels and their energy capacity, vs. traditional fuels and their energy capacity, vs. alternative fuels and their energy capacity. (Definitely illuminating, even though I don't get any of the physics/math intricacies, because I slept through that year in high school.)

EDIT: I actually did one better and found the National Geographic interactive Biofuel website. Check out the energy balance of corn. Miracle fuel, that.
Then check out its corn's CO2 emissions and retail price as compared to sugarcane.

Not to get all Mulder Sculley conspiracy theory, but Hi!, yes, there's a definitive reason why ethanol has been pushed so hard in this country and abroad, and it doesn't have anything to do with corn burning so fresh, so clean. It does have a lot to do with corn-lobbyists being one of the strongest political lobbying parties in the country, and their ability to grease a few palms on both sides on the debate. Corn is vastly subsidized by the American government, which I'm sure doesn't hurt.

Eco-friendly vs. government interests. Like Stephen Hawking vs. The Rock.

Just in case anyone was listening like 5 months ago, Nature was already talking about the Evil Axis of Corn.

[Note: Ok, seriously, I tried to embed this video for almost half an hour. It really bordered on David and Goliath. Obviously I'm the biblical figure with the glandular disorder, cause here I am posting the link instead.]

King Of Corn -- Two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop which drives our fast-food nation.

Fair warning, don't watch this if you are currently eating corn. Cause you'll be freaked out.

Fair warning number 2, if you are currently eating anything, it probably already has corn in it.

Corn, and biofuels in general, aren't a silver-bullet. The pit we're in, environmentally and fuel-wise, is so damn deep because we keep wanting every option to be a magical solution. Why biofuels in the first place? They require the least change in our infrastructure -- cars run on liquid fuels, the plants that make the cars run on liquid fuels, etc, etc. The problem is persisting, perhaps, because no one wants to give up the ability to tow eight tractors and an elephant with their suped-up Dodge Ram. We don't want to sacrifice the lifestyle we already have, we want to keep it, and simeltaneously, solve the problem that our lifestyle causes.

There is a great, dark divide between what humans have the capacity to do, and what they should do. Yes, perhaps Ford could make an 25 person S.U.V. with a portable kitchen, plasma T.V.s, and the ability to tow a circus up Everest, but that doesn't neccesarily mean they should.

I'm not sure humanity's capacity for greatness lies in the length of our reach, so much as in the delicate discernment with which we use our grasp.