LAist: Wanna See Ben Affleck in a Corn Suit?

gberg1983

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:57:47 -0800

I dunno, personally I think its good they are drawing attention to the issue. Plus, Affleck in a corn suit is funny. I dont think it would be very easy to find a "geothermal energy" suit.

Jeremy Jacquot

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 13:29:48 -0800

Sure thing! We should chat some more: I've covered the farm bill before and have been trying to keep up with all the recent amendments and new subsidies.

Carrie Meathrell

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:30:07 -0800

SWEET! Treehugger! I like you. :) I'm doing some research on the Farm Bill, so maybe we can keep this conversation going soon....

Jeremy Jacquot

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:20:03 -0800

Carrie, you're absolutely right. Corn-based ethanol is definitely one of the worst sources of renewable energy we could rely on (I've often talked about it over at TreeHugger, my other gig), and I have to say that I was disappointed to not see the "Clean My Ride" guys promote other alternatives over it (like geothermal energy, cellulosic ethanol, etc). I guess the only real benefit of the campaign would be to (hopefully) bring younger, less informed social networking/Facebook users into the eco-conscious fold and put pressure on Congress to revise the disappointing energy bill.

Carrie Meathrell

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:01:02 -0800

Ethanol is a problem: it's only going to increase production of corn and direct further subsidies to the monolithic agro-industrial complex that is currently ruining our food supply. The NYT says: "Corn-based ethanol can only marginally reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. But it does little, if anything, to improve energy efficiency, and the mounting concern of some politicians is that relying on corn is leading to collateral damage in other parts of the agricultural economy and threatening the nation’s status as the leading corn exporter. The big increase in the works may mean consumers would end up paying more at the supermarket."