Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to Thursday’s editorial, “The grain gaffe.” American… Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to Thursday’s editorial, “The grain gaffe.” American citizens make up fewer than 5 percent of the global population, and yet we consume nearly 25 percent of the globe’s fossil fuels. This having been said, our recent attempts to placate those voices coming from within and without to ameliorate this burden we place on the rest of the world and the environment are paltry at best. It is clear that we need to begin massive infrastructure development so that we can move out of the fossil fuel age and into one that is free from dependence on petrol, natural gas and coal. For what will happen to the plastics and pharmaceutical industries, both essential not only to the quality of life but also to the maintenance of life for many, when readily harvested hydrocarbon sources begin to vanish? Perhaps government-funded infrastructure development would also help to alleviate the United States’ current economic crises as well. As for crop-based ethanol sources, I cannot fathom how we can justify burning possible human calorie sources in our SUVs when so many people around the world continue to suffer from starvation. We need to try to develop alternative energy sources devoid of influence from the oil, automaker and agricultural lobbies.

Shaun Tomaszewski junior neuroscience and microbiology