This article explains that Ethanol, the bio-fuel that is supposed to help ease our growing climate crisis, is just as bad for the environment as current fuel sources. Why you ask? The procurement of Ethanol has a huge impact on our water supply.
In the U.S., we can use corn-based Ethanol instead of petroleum and gasoline. First, we need corn. Quality-control dictates that we use pesticides to safeguard the corn, pesticides which runoff into the water supply and could potentially contribute harmful elements to our drinking water. There's a way around that, through timed-release fertilizers injected beneath the soil surface, but our water supply is also being messed with in other ways.
Essentially, the corn needs an incredible amount of water just to grow. Irrigation can be used, but pulling that water in can damage surrounding areas that themselves need a lot of water too.
What's the solution to this aqueous problem? Using other stuff instead of corn to make Ethanol, like grass, wood, and sawdust.
It's surprising that many of the proposed solutions to global warming and polution are themselves problematic, and end up being only half-measures that will ultimately need solving once they become the standard. Oh well.
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