[Opinion] The Ethanol War

Ethanol is the second most widely known chemical substance in the world after water. Alcohol’s main ingredient is ethyl alcohol, ethanol. If one drinks ethanol, his or her cerebral controlling mechanism becomes dull and feels high. This is the condition in which a person gets drunk.

Ethanol can also be used as a fuel. As the international community is under pressure to curb greenhouse gases to slow down global warming, ethanol is getting attention as a viable alternative energy. Using ethanol as a car fuel could reduce carbon dioxide emissions. For this reason, every country is vying with one another to secure a stable supply of ethanol.

U.S. is the first country that has gotten into a fight over ethanol. U.S. President George W. Bush declared in his State of the Union Address in January that the U.S. would try to lower its oil consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years and increase its ethanol consumption seven-fold. The price of corn, a material for making ethanol, started to soar in the U.S., the world’s largest corn producing country. President Bush discussed the ways to expand the production of ethanol with Brazil, the world’s second largest corn producer, during his tour to South America last month. The talk between the U.S. and Brazil was the start of a strategic alliance between the world’s first- and second-largest corn producers.

Yesterday, President Bush and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had a meeting again in Camp David, Maryland in the U.S. The two leaders showed signs of a close friendship, agreeing to a 12-point proposal, including increasing ethanol cooperation between the two countries and reinforcing multilateral free trade. It was the first time a leader of a South American country had been invited to the U.S. president’s retreat, Camp David. With its alliance with Brazil, the U.S. is seeking to secure energy cooperation and prevent anti-U.S. sentiment from further spreading to other parts of Central and South America at the same time, where anti-U.S. feelings are running high.

Cuban President Fidel Castro, currently ill in bed, took up arms against a sudden honeymoon between the U.S. and Brazil. Castro said, “Once the U.S. starts to secure ethanol as a car fuel, developing countries will have no food left. This could kill an additional 3 billion people worldwide out of starvation.” Castro showed his hostile feelings against a U.S.-Brazil alliance, expressing concern over the shortage of food the Third World could possibly undergo.

In fact, we need to determine exactly how much value ethanol has as a bio fuel. However, we are now living in a world where the line between a friend and an enemy has become blurred when it comes to energy sources.

Chung Seong-hee, Editorial Writer, shchung@donga.com