Huge investment is needed in innovative technologies to give us energy in the futureSorry, Africa, but I need your next meal to run my pick-up down to the mall. Just shove your corn in my tank, will you? This thing only does 20 miles to the gallon. Don't blame me, blame all those middle-class Indians and Chinese who want to live like us. They're the reason food prices are rising. What, you're hungry? Can't you call the UN?
The moral dimensions to food and energy prices, and the links between them, are becoming inescapable. There is huge resentment about biofuels at this week's World Food Summit, even though prosperity is the main reason for higher food prices. There was outrage in India recently, when Condoleezza Rice appeared to blame its middle-class for costlier food.
Why shouldn't we eat the same as you, asked Indian MPs. We're still thinner. And why should the West suck up prime agricultural land to grow subsidised biofuels just to keep driving cheaply? It's bad enough that a high oil price makes fertiliser and tractor fuel more expensive. It's utterly irresponsible to burn food to make fuel. More >>>
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