I must say that, when a few weeks back, the drumbeat over Ethanol production creating the problems with rising food costs, I had quite a few doubts. I still do, but it was quite an eye opener to read that up to 30% or so of the corn production in this country is devoted to Ethanol production. Who knew it would grow so fast?

But of course, like everything else, we find ourselves wanting for genuine leadership from the White House and are left instead to blame the very same Ethanol that many people were only just recently praising. I wrote an article while back pointing out that some basic math proves Ethanol production alone cannot solve our energy crisis. I’m neither the greatest proponent nor the harshest critic of Ethanol, but that farmers would want to move into the more lucrative business of energy production shouldn’t come as any kind of surprise when fuel prices soar and there is no clear sense of direction in this country.

Another interesting argument is that we should suspend farm subsidies as a means to control the food price problem. The argument goes that we are paying farmers not to grow crops and increasing production would ease the world food prices. While the Farm Bill is without doubt a pork barrel mess of gargantuan proportions, it doesn’t seem to make sense to increase production for the sake of what is basically a conservation problem in the first place. Besides which, the original reason for the Farm Bill and farm subsidies was that over production caused the Dust Bowl. Perhaps some happy medium can be attained, but if so, we’re not hearing a lot of that kind of talk out of Washington.

So, what is to be done? Facing macro-economic crises on a scale that buggers the imagination of most Americans, we are once again left to fend for ourselves and find our own to find solutions, all of which seem too small to matter. Trusting that a drop begets a torrent and realizing there are whole blogs dedicated to much better ideas than my own, I’ll throw a few out that Sarah and I are trying to build towards. Anyone else coming up with new ideas for “resource effective” living? Post them in the comments:

1. Fast food is evil! Every snack cracker, Super Jumbo Prehistoric Posterior Value Meal and boxed lunch you’ve ever eaten is larded with corn syrup. There are any number of levels on which this is bad, but principally for this discussion, it is adding to the demand for corn production without really adding any value to your life. This one’s really tough, but we’re trying to slowly wean ourselves off those things and onto fresher pastures.
2. Build your sanctuary. As Americans, we tend to work ourselves to the bone, cut corners at home, and then long for a vacation every year. For Sarah and I, it is time to start thinking about making home feel like more of a sanctuary so we don’t have the same need for escape. Having a garden has been a big change for the better and the trendy new thing to do is landscape the hell out of your front yard. Eschew the boring suburban grass lawn and grow something that shows off a bit of personality!