The GROW campaign for Oxfam America wants you to take action and tell the Obama Administration to waive the mandate for corn ethanol NOW. This is from their latest alert and Act Now campaign!
We’re in the middle of the worst drought in more than 50 years. American farmers are ringing warning bells: their crops are dying by the acre.
US Drought Monitor as of August 21, 2012.
The US is the world’s largest exporter of corn, wheat and soybeans – so when our crops suffer, the world pays higher food prices and families go hungry.
What’s making matters even worse? The EPA’s mandate for corn ethanol – a rule that requires a large portion of US corn crops to be used to make ethanol. Instead of being eaten by hungry families, those crops are burning up in our gas tanks.
Higher food prices could cause severe food crises, like the current one in the Sahel, to spread to other regions of the world. We can’t wait any longer to take action! Join us in calling on the Obama Administration to waive this mandate.
Act now: Tell the Obama Administration to waive the mandate for corn ethanol so the world can afford to eat.
Act NOW: Food isn’t fuel.
In 2011, 40 percent of the corn produced in the US was made into ethanol because of the EPA’s mandate for corn ethanol. We’re burning up millions of bushels of corn for fuel – corn that could be used as food.
As food prices skyrocket and poor families go hungry, we can’t stand idly by. By waiving the EPA’s mandate for corn ethanol, more fields can be used to grow crops as food – not fuel – and we can alleviate some of the pressure on the global food market, helping stop food prices from rising out of control.
