It's interesting that the articles focus on diversion of corn and soy from meat production to fuel. And this, I assume is diverting wheat from direct human consumption to animal feed.

Given the small amount of meat and dairy in my shopping cart each week, yet the rising cost of groceries, I think the real problem is transportation energy. Perhaps an economist can tell us how much of the rise in the cost of food can be accounted for the fact that it is transported long distances.

When will the price of food produced on local organic farms become relatively low compared to food produced on industrial farms and moved thousands of miles?

Forward!

I have this strange notion that the vast majority of Americans do not realize how much energy is consumed just moving stuff around. Is it just me -- and fellow environmentalists -- that realize this? An American notices it when they fill up their gas tank, but do they notice the price of building materials creeping up? Do they realize that companies depending on distribution hubs will have to raise prices? Do they realize that internet-based companies that ship material goods across the country one individually-wrapped item at a time on planes so you can save 50 cents versus buying the object at a local shop are an accident waiting to happen?

Just wondering.

Forward!

since he is on his "Energy Independence South of the Border Tour" as we speak. (How, exactly, does buying sugar cane & soy from Latin America make us "energy independent" again?)

I heard this fabulous tidbit on NPR this morning:  W was scheduled to visit a Mayan sacred burial site, after which Mayan priests planned to perform a cleansing ritual, as they feared W would leave behind "evil spirits."

Do you think we could pay them to perform that cleansing ritual in DC?