“As
Biofuel Demands Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs” by Elisabeth Rosenthal
was published in the New York Times on January 5, 2013. Over the last decade
the search for alternative fuels has been a hot topic. Biofuels, which are
fuels made from different plants such as corn and sugar cane, are some of the
more popular alternatives. With the demand for corn to produce these fuels
increasing so is the price of the corn.
Landowners who had previously leased parcels to small farmers are now
leasing the land to large biofuel corporations instead. In countries like
Guatemala this change is causing a food shortage and 50% of the nations
children are now chronically malnourished. Lands that were once used to grow
corn are also now being used to grow African palms. The oil that is produced by
the palms is now the countries third largest export. Large industrial sized
fields also divert rivers in order to irrigate their fields which takes water
away from smaller farmers growing food for their families. An American mandate stating that fuel
that we purchase at the gas pump be blended with at least 10% of biofuel and a
European mandate stating that by 2020 the same is done, is contributing to the
food shortage that exists in Guatemala.
While
alternative sources of fuel, which are clean burning and leave less of a carbon
footprint on the environment are a great idea, it should not come at the
cost of a persons ability to eat. Smaller
nations like Guatemala are at the mercy of larger nations like the United
States and they are often negatively affected by American decisions. The United
States first hurt Guatemala by importing a surplus of cheap corn in the 1990s
which left Guatemala farmers unable to compete and farming in the country
dropped by 30%. Now that American farmers can obtain a higher price for their
surplus from biofuel companies the extra corn is no longer going to Guatemala
on top off the fact that they already put local farmers out of business.
If
people are starving because of a lack of a resource that we are using for fuel,
we should loosen the fuel requirement. The article states that the EPA can wave
the 10% biofuel mandate only if it does not “harm the economy of a state or a
region of the United States.” In other words if a large company would lose
money in order to feed starving children they would not allow it. Guatemala
farmers who a banded their land because the United States put them out of
business do not have the opportunity to go back because their land is now being
leased to biofuel producers. The United States should place a hold on the bio
fuel mandate regardless of the economic impact until there are no starving
children.
Liam did a great job on his review on the article “As Biofuel Demand Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs.” He did many things well. One thing he presented well, was the facts and definitions. I like how he brought in statistics and defined words that the reader may not know or understand. Another thing Liam did well, was that he got an up to the moment article. Since the article was written just a few days ago, this is a serious problem. A third thing he did well was choose a country away from the United States. He just a very interesting topic concerning this country. Although Liam’s review was good, there were a few things he could do to make it better. One, he could have added more of his opinion on this topic into it. Second, he could have added scientists’ or opinion on this interesting topic. One interesting thing I learned from this review was that with corn prices rising, this could cause countries such as Guatemala to have food shortages. It shows how much we have here in the United States compared to many poorer countries throughout the world. Overall, Liam did a great job on his review.
ReplyDeleteMy peer Liam wrote a summary on the article “As Biofuel Demands Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs” by Elisabeth Rosenthal, which underlines the need for biofuel while angering the hungry. Three interesting things I found were how countries like Guatemala this change is causing a food shortage and 50% of the nation’s children are now chronically malnourished. The second thing is that biofuels, which are fuels made from different plants such as corn and sugar cane, are some of the more popular alternatives. Lastly the American mandate stating that fuel that we purchase at the gas pump be blended with at least 10% of biofuel. His write up was very well done but I wish he included more of his opinion on the subject. Another thing that could have been fixed is describing what this may mean for the future of the environment and population. To conclude the very thing I found interesting was how clean burning and leave less of a carbon footprint on the environment are a great idea, it should not come at the cost of a person’s ability to eat.
ReplyDeleteMy classmate Liam Lynch wrote a great review on the article “As Biofuel Demands Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs. He did a great job on this review, and there were a few main things that stood out to me. First off I love the facts that he provided in the review, it allowed the reader to understand how severe the issue is. Another thing I enjoyed about the article was how Liam made the whole review flow, it was a great read, and he gave the information a clearer way. The final thing I really enjoyed was how Liam gave his own opinion on what he thought should really be done. There were a couple things I thought Liam could have done to make the review a little bit better. I think he could have included some actual quotes from the article; this would have given the review more of a professional feeling. I also think Liam could have condensed his summary more, and focused more on the main issues of the article. One thing I took away from this article was how America needs to step in more when there are issues like this, people are starving and we are standing by. All and all I thought Liam did a great job and I thoroughly enjoyed his review.
ReplyDeleteI read Liam’s article on “As Biofuel Demands Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs.” It was very interesting to read, he presented facts and definitions well. Another thing Liam did well was he made the review flow so it was a nice, easy read. A third thing Liam did well was giving his own opinion to the article, it was nice to see his own opinion on things. A few things Liam could have done better were quoting the article more and explaining the quotes, another thing was Liam could have not summarized as much and given specific details more. One thing that I took away from this article was to watch by carbon footprint, this review was very interesting to read and Liam did a great job.
ReplyDeleteI read my classmate Liam’s review on the article, “As Biofuel Demands Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs”. This topic he chose is an interesting topic which relates biology with economy and society. Liam did a great job on using numerical facts about the research around the growing demand of biofuel, which makes the review more professional. He also summarized the reason and the influences of topic, such as the lack of land and food.
ReplyDeleteLiam also had an opinion about adjusting the biofuel mandates, which is great, but to improve the review, he may talk about the ways he thought that can actually help countries like Guatemala. Another thing I recommend is adding some quotes from the article; I found there’s a lot of professional vocabulary words in the article. He may also focus on a specific continent; it will make the review more organized with a focused point.
Overall, the topic is very interesting and complicated, which has a lot to go deep in. It’s cool to find out how these demands connect the world together.
I read my fellow classmate Liam’s review of the article, “As Biofuel Demands Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs” and I thought that he hit a lot of good, key points when it came to his topic. One of the things that Liam presented especially well was his explanations. Liam presented this topic very well because he explained everything that was going on and didn’t let anyone who read the review fall behind. Liam also definitely chose a topic that he enjoyed discussing, because it showed that he was interested in Guatemala. To make this review even better, Liam could have perhaps added a few quotations from the original article and then he could have given his own opinion about the quotes or just the entire article itself. Liam also could have explained the statistics that he shared in his article, I almost felt as if they were being thrown at me with little background or reasoning. The thing I found most interesting about this article was just how delicate our current environmental situation is and just how much its effecting our lives already.
ReplyDeleteMy fellow classmate, Liam Lynch, wrote a very interesting review on the article, "As Biofuel demands Grow, So do Guatemala's Hunger Pains. One of the best features of this review was the great statistics and date. For example, Liam included that 50% of the children in Guatemala are now malnourished. In addition, Liam did a great job providing analysis beyond the article. For instance, Liam stated, in addition to corn, sugar cane is a useful biofuel. Lastly, Liam thought of some really good suggestion that I hand't thought of, but agree with.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Liam's review was good, a few things could be done to make his review better next time. Liam added his own opinion, but he failed to add the scientist's opinion on the recent discovery. For example, Liam didn't state what the scientists would like to do about the discovery. Lastly, I would have preferred if Liam talked about what this discovery means for us, like how we can help or how this effects us.
This review was exceptionally done and taught me many new things. For instance, I learned that the hunt for biofuels is helpful for the environment, but can have serious negative affects, such as food shortages. It was also interesting to learn about hoe smaller countries are at the mercy in topics like this.
I read Liam Lynch’s article called, “As Biofuel demands Grow, So do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs”. One of the good things that Liam did is include great detail with facts. For example many percentages were based on the article such as the farming percentage dropping by 30% in Guatemala, in the 1990s. Another thing I think he did well was his ability to give us his opinion. He told us what he thought and analyzed the facts well to tell us what we can do to fix this problem. I also noticed that Liam picked a recent article. The more recent the more relevance there is to the world right now.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Liam’s review was good, a few things could be done to make his review better. For example, Liam added his own opinion, which is good but we didn’t hear as much from the professionals and what they have to say. Their opinion is very important as it will impact the actual actions that will be made in order to solve this problem.
The review was informative and interesting. I learned that searching for biofuels can cause food shortages to the world, but can be helpful to the environment. I just thought it was very cool to learn more about the food shortages and how it is effected by biofuels. I am very curious as to what will be done to fix this.
I read Liam’s article review “As Biofuel Demands Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs”. Liam did a fantastic job giving strong examples from the article. For instance, the fact Landowners who had previously leased parcels to small farmers are now leasing the land to large biofuel corporations. Also, I liked how Liam included words from the article, and his choice of words and description made her article very easy to understand.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Liam’s review could have been improved, if he incorporated a little more summary about how over the last decade the search for alternative fuels has been a hot topic. I also really enjoyed how he incorporated his opinions into the review because I was able to relate them to my own.
One aspect that impressed me is how scientists were able to make biofuels from different plants such as corn and sugar cane, are some of the more popular alternatives. This article was very interesting to me because I find it You can produce fuels from the environment with such ease. Overall, I think Liam did a fantastic job on this review and it really opened my eyes to see how we can help save the environment step-by-step when using biofuels.