Living Earth Living Earth
Living Earth Living Earth
A 40-day Reflection on our Relationship with God's Creation

Saturday
March 14, 2009

Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.  When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.
-John 6:11-12

Our call to earthkeeping calls us to receive with thanksgiving what God has given and use it wisely, that the gifts of God’s abundance are not lost to carelessness.  “Gather up the fragments,” Jesus said, “so that nothing may be lost.” 

Climate change, caused in large part by our use of fossil fuels, calls us to be more creative for the sake of Earth's future. Fuel alternatives made from soybeans, corn, sugarcane and switch grass are naturally renewable and may be viable replacements to gasoline.  But as farmland is converted to grow crops for corn-based ethanol -- the most common biofuel used in cars in the U.S. -- there are important issues at stake:

  • Energy balance: The energy used to grow, harvest and manufacture biofuels should be equal to or less than the energy released when it is burned.  For example, the energy produced by corn ethanol was not always greater than the energy required to grow and manufacture it, but improvements in crop yields and manufacturing processes for corn ethanol have resulted in a positive energy balance for this common biofuel.
  • Environmental impacts: The use of petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides, and fossil fuels used in harvest and transport of crops, all increase the environmental footprint of biofuels. 

  • Climate Change: Ethanol made from cellulosic plants such as grass emits fewer harmful greenhouse gases than ethanol made from corn; however, corn ethanol emits fewer greenhouse gases than gasoline.

  • World food supply:  The shift to grow biofuels has the potential to threaten the world's food supply if arable land is used to grow fuel crops rather than food and if food grains continue to be used for fuel rather than to feed livestock and humans.


    • Be Aware
    Learn more about the connection between biofuels and the world’s food supply from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. 

    Something to think about: It’s hard to say unequivocally if biofuels are a “win” for the environment, and with food prices rising steadily, creating instability in regions where scarcity of food is at a crisis level, it’s even harder to say if crops grown for fuel benefit human communities.  We can say this—we are fooling ourselves if we think we can halt global warming and other environmental degradation by simply shifting our massive and growing consumption of energy from fossil fuels to biofuels.  We must also learn to consume less—if we avoid or deny this reality, we fail to act as members of our Earth community.

    Writer: Rev. Yvette J. Schock. Contributor: Kathleen Wood. Design: Brewer Communications, Inc. Produced by: Advocacy Department, Church in Society Program Unit, ELCA. Theme photo © iStockphotos/ooyoo. Earth photo courtesy of NASA. Road photo © iStockphotos/ATVG. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and used by permission. All rights reserved. Web sites linked from this message reflect the positions of the outside organizations and may not necessarily reflect an official position of ELCA. Copyright © 2009 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. All rights reserved.

    		 

    Evangelical Lutheran Church in America