It’s something of a downer for the democratic system when an authoritarian one ends up making the correct decision:
China’s communist rulers announced a moratorium on the production of ethanol from corn and other food crops yesterday at the very time that Western leaders are rushing to embrace alternative food-based fuel technology.
Beijing’s move underlines concerns that ethanol production is driving up rapidly the costs of corn and grain. It appears to reflect a growing reality about food-based alternative fuel: it is far more expensive both economically and environmentally, than Western politicians are likely to admit.
No, I wouldn’t want to abandon democracy just because it sometimes leads to those wrong decisions, but could we please get the EU to wake up to the fact that 10% bio-fuels really isn’t going to help matters? (To the extent that the EU is a democracy, of course.)
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