Perhaps more than any other time in the past, I have been thinking a great deal about the developing world lately. That is partly due, I suspect, from my involvement as a volunteer editor for Kiva.org, a group that promotes microfinance projects. My thoughts have lately turned to the issue of using corn as a biofuel, and after reading an article in The Independent, I am convinced that there can be no stronger symbol of the Western world’s indifference to poorer nations than corn as a substitute for oil. Recent research shows that it does not reduce carbon emissions, but perhaps more disturbingly, food -scarce nations in Africa, in their rush to become the green version of OPEC, are forcing their citizens into starvation.
But the truth is not quite that simple, is it? Where do we stand on the issue? Are we, as citizens of the West, not choosing the continuation of our own lifestyles and conveniences over the very lives of people in far off lands?
I hope you will read The Independent article.
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