Friday, September 28, 2007

The Seven Commandments of Mexican ethanol

From Salon.com's How the World Works:

What is the perfect biofuel solution? Or is the very concept hopelessly utopian? Globalization and the Environment highlights an exploration of how one might go about constructing a sustainable ethanol economy that simultaneously serves the interests of social justice, the environment, and renewable energy, in the context of Mexico.

The overriding goal of author Ricardo CantĂș in his delightfully titled "Ethanolomics: The Think-About's of the Mexican Ethanol Project" is to devise a strategy for improving the living standards of the rural poor in Mexico via an invigoration of the agricultural economy, without committing the major sin of inducing price hikes in food staples that will hurt the urban poor.

Achieving the desired balance will not be easy. As ground rules, Cantu provides a set of guidelines:

They are:...MORE
(Sorry about the tease, I've got to dash).