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The Bush administration wants to cut gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years and instead raise the production of alternative fuels, including bio-fuels like ethanol, to 35 billion gallons a year by 2017. That goal has spiked the demand worldwide for corn, the main source of ethanol in the United States. The definition of bio-fuel is any fuel that is derived from biomass \u00e2\u20ac\u201d that is recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts. It is a renewable energy source, unlike other natural resources such as petroleum, coal, and nuclear fuels. Bio-fuel includes ethanol from corn; bio-diesel from fats or oils such as soy-bean oil; and unrefined vegetable oil, such as waste vegetable oil discarded from restaurants. Many environmentalists have been championing the use of bio-fuels to combat global warming and pollution, and it seems as though some powerful nations such as the US, Britain, and China are finally warming up to the idea. But my guest, George Monbiot, has criticized the move toward bio-fuels because, in his words, “oil produced from plants sets up competition for food between cars and people. People – and the environment – will lose.” <\/p>\n![\"Bio-fuels\"](\"http:\/\/www.enr.state.nc.us\/upclose\/images\/Zoo-Biofuel.jpg\")
GUEST: George Monbiot, columnist for the Guardian Newspaper in Britain, author of several books including, “The Age of Consent: a manifesto for a new world order”<\/em><\/p>\n