Biodiesel and Global Warming

For the last year or so I've been thinking that I would be driving with a calmer conscience if I had a smaller, more efficient vehicle that used a biodiesel-fueled engine. However, I have recently come across some information that, while being perfectly obvious, never quite occurred to me. Biodiesel is derived from biological sources such as vegetable oils and grains that could be otherwise used as food. And seeing as how the majority of people on this planet are already either starving or malnourished, maybe using the fuels that our bodies need isn't the most viable solution to the energy crisis.

If there is any pyrrhic victory that can arise from the global warming situation, it may be in food supply. Some scientists believe that the over-abundance of carbon dioxide in the air as well as the rising global temperature may actually help vegetation. A warmer northern climate would extend the growing season, which would allow more abundant crops to be harvested. Further, plants can be genetically altered to have the same drought-resistance that a cactus has. This would mean that if we experienced desert conditions in Alberta, our crops would not suffer. (Although the economics that tie themselves to this possibility create the impossibility itself.)

It is important to note, however, that with global warming, the inherent danger is not a more comfortable temperature; rather, it is the unpredictability of escalating dangerous weather patterns. Harvesting a massive crop of wheat will still be quite difficult during a tornado or hail storm, no matter how big an umbrella you have.

Sometimes I think that the same people who doubt the existence of global warming are of the same lineage as those who doubted the existence of gravity. And we all know where those same people are today... floating in the clouds somewhere.