Corny Mistake

November 7, 2007 at 7:42 pm Leave a comment

Oh, NYC Department of Sanitation. You’ve got such good intentions. You sweep our streets, you pick up our recycling, and you magically keep our city of 8 million sparkling clean. I really can’t say enough good things about the sanitation department.

But the other day I saw this and it kind of gave me heartburn:

It’s cool that the department is using special cars that (they assume) are better for the environment, but I have to be honest – ethanol isn’t really green. I admit, ethanol is kind of a cool fuel in theory, and it’s nice that it’s US-made, but there’s a lot more wrong with ethanol than right.For example, ethanol is made (mainly) from corn, which is grown on large monoculture operations that are well-known for polluting the midwest and its waterways with ridiculous amounts of pesticides and fertilizer. Ever heard of the Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone? Well, corn field fertilizer is a big reason for why it exists. And as more and more corn is grown to make ethanol, more and more pesticides and fertilizers are going to end up in our soil and waterways and everywhere. (read more about ethanol here: Network for New Energy Choices)

Again, I really like Sanitation Department. They’re cool. But driving a hybrid is preferable to driving a flex-fuel vehicle. And riding bikes (for ticketing cars and doing other sanitiation activities that don’t require 4 wheels) is even better.