“Oil, ethanol, land and water have produced a moment of Brazilian alchemy. Energy is the country’s new brand.”
Roger Cohen, senior IHT-columnist, wants his readers to leave their treadmills of thinking, of judging and of making decisions in a world of changed energy-supply and -demand.
He is fascinated by the Brazilian way of economic development as well as [...]

By Pete Harrison (Reuters)
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2008
Biofuels are responsible for 30 percent of the increase in global food prices, pushing 30 million people worldwide into poverty, the aid agency Oxfam said in a report Wednesday.

Will the food crisis that is menacing the lives of millions ease up — or grow worse over time? The answer may be both. The recent rise in food prices has largely been caused by temporary problems like drought in Australia, Ukraine and elsewhere. Though the need for huge rescue operations is urgent, the present acute crisis will eventually end. But underlying it is a basic problem that will only intensify unless we recognize it and try to remedy it.

By Philip Bowring (International Herald Tribune)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2008
Sugar subsidies in the West have done much to turn world food markets upside down.

(The New York Times)
SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2008
The U.S. Congress should realign its tax and subsidy programs to encourage the biofuels that will not compete for the world’s food supply.

(The New York Times)
MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2008
The human costs of the diversion of food into energy are all too evident. Relief agencies must get the support they need to feed the most vulnerable people.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/03/opinion/edfood.php