By Lubna Abdel-Aziz The more we advance, the less we progress, or so it seems. Think about it! Why is our modern civilisation today, threatened with extinction? Have we gone too far in our search for progress, blindly, selfishly, recklessly? Our present ultra-sophisticated civilisation was built by industrious, progressive, dynamic individuals, groups and societies that thrust us forward to where we are today. Was it built on virtue, justice, kindness? Was it built on values, ideas or ideals? It now appears that all it was built on, was fuel. Now that our fuel sources are declining, will our civilization decline with it? Will it blow out in the atmosphere like an empty gas bubble? Had we cultivated a conscience with moral and ethical principles, along with our hunger for technology; we may not have in our moment of need, been faced with our imminent demise. Suddenly, modern man, this ingenious technological wizard, discovers that not only are his oil reserves running out, but that he has seriously imperilled his natural habitat, his own planet Earth. What with the thinning of the ozone layer, the acceleration of global warming, receding sea waters and melting glaciers, etc. etc. etc.. "Quick, quick!" cries modern man "we are faced with a disastrous energy shortage; we must find alternative sources, before it is too late." It may well be too late already. The latest measurements confirm that by the year 2020 the supply of oil and gas will not meet world demand. That voracious American appetite, where more oil is consumed than anywhere else in the world, continues to grow. Who would have thought China and India would consume so much? Oil consumption worldwide exceeds 25 billion barrels a year. Demand continues to increase. Does war with Iraq seems more justified now? Scientist, politicians, investors, technicians, are all hard at work, rushing madly to save the world. What is the best they have come up with? Food! Let us take away the food that sustains many of us and produce oil that we need badly to go from here to there! We need it for our cars, SUVs, trucks, ships, airplanes. How else do we transport all the merchandize that sustains buyer and seller? What about our electric power? More oil! More! More! Corn is emerging as the number one crop to provide an alternate fuel. But wait a minute. Maize, known as 'corn' in some countries, has been the major food staple in the pre-Columbian North America, Meso-America, South America and Caribbean cultures. Now it is widely cultivated throughout the whole world and more maize is produced each year than any other grain. The US produces almost half the world's harvest, but other countries such as China, Brazil, France, Indonesia, India and South Africa are also top producers. In fact it has overtaken rice and wheat at a production value of over $23 billion. While it is used as feed for livestock in Canada and the US, and livestock in turn feeds us, it has many industrial uses including transformation into plastics, fabrics, syrups, alcohol, and now the big E, ethanol. Ethanol is the bio-fuel that is generating such intensive controversy regarding its cost to humans. On the one hand it is a new source of alternate energy that may well be the answer that the habitual commuter is seeking. On the other hand it is a main source of food in Latin America and other regions that cannot survive without it. It is made into a thick porridge in many cultures, the polenta of Italy, the Angua of Brazil, the Mamaliga of Romania, and the Mealie pap of Africa. It is the main ingredient for tortillas -- the bread of Mexico and Central America -- and it is also enjoyed on the cob in many regions including Egypt and the US. So this is what they have come up with- alternative fuels made form the food we eat! More agricultural land is being made available for farm grain bio-fuels. Did we not give up our farms to make room for industry once some 200 years ago? Now we are turning the clock, so great is our panic that our precious cars may not be fed. Investments in bio-fuels rose from $5 billion in 1995 to $38 billion in 2005, and will reach $100 billion by the year 2010. Is all this good news for the concerned industrialists, environmentalists? New studies show that the bio-fuel boom is doing the opposite of what its proponents intended. Environmentalists are discovering that ethanol is not as eco friendly as they previously thought. "Only sugar cane-based ethanol is efficient enough to cut emissions by more than it takes to produce the fuel." The once revered Amazon as an ecological jewel is now being deforested to make room for farmland to the tune of 303,514 acres since mid 2007. Even if bio-fuels are produced in large quantities from corn and soybeans, they can only provide 20% of what the US market alone consumes -- the largest consumer worldwide. It is the loss of food supplies that is driving the price of other grains, and may indeed cause starvation in certain countries. Why not leave our food supply alone, and those ingenious brains turn their attention on other sources. A quick survey finds wind power, solar power, tidal power, geothermal power, hydropower, thermal depolymerisation, methanol, bio-diesel, or an oil lamp can replace petroleum. Even other oils, olive, canola, safflower, any or all, can help avoid a world crisis, and replace the food we need to survive. The much dreaded nuclear power can be better exploited. Why not our garbage? I have read that it can be transferred into fuel, and that would verily kill multiple birds with one stone. After all what is oil but the refuse of millions of years, geologically processed by nature into black gold. No research is being conducted on developing a speedy method of duplicating the geological process that produced that precious black oil. Since nature is always our teacher, and we always try to improve on it, let us try that. But would there be enough garbage to satiate our voracious appetite for oil? How difficult it is to imaghine that farmers can cultivate fields of garbage. There is no profit in garbage for anyone, therefore there is no research. If all else falls short can we drive our cars less, love and cherish them a little less, and love ourselves and our fellow humans a little more? It is true that love is blind, but in this case should not reason prevail. If we do not apply every control possible today, a tomorrow for this modern civilization may never come! A journalist asked Mr Gandhi "What do you think of modern civilisation?" Gandhi replied "That would be a good idea!" -- E. F. Sheumacher, on Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
