[ifitfitz]

This is a great thread, thanks to all who have joined in the discussion.

At the risk of being accused of hijacking this and turning it into a debate about the sustainability (or lack thereof) of our (now global) economy, here I go.

Price increases in food products are a result of higher fuel prices too. Most of the food we eat is transported large distances to arrive on our grocery shelves. So we enjoy lots of variety but we pay a high price--deferred, of course, to future generations. For the deep thinkers out there, check out the book "Omnivore's Dilemma" that explains how bizarre the food industry has become in the US, (and in many other parts of the world). You might not want to eat so much corn after you read this book.

Ethanol has its own problems, especially corn-based. Not only is corn pretty hard on the land (soil erosion, heavy fertilizer and chemical use etc) but it requires a lot of water. And manufacturing ethanol from corn takes something like 3 times as much water as you produce in ethanol.

You think we got problems with food vs fuel prices--wait until the water wars erupt throughout the western US including Texas. We now know that we ain't seen nothing yet as far as drought is concerned, and with population centers much bigger than they were during the dustbowl and the drought of the '50s, there are very dry times ahead.

The real challenge is that we humans, who have lived high on the hog for the last several generations, need to discipline ourselves to use fewer natural resources per capita so that we do not destroy the very life support systems here on planet Earth that have allowed our species to survive this long.

All of us Fit owners have reduced our consumption of fossil fuels by purchasing a gas-efficient vehicle. But when a truly independent and thorough analysis of ethanol (including the feedstock production and ethanol manufacture) is finally done, I would wager that it will reveal a whole new set of problems that we had not even considered.

Folks, we just need to drive less, walk more, and eat locally produced food.