14 DAY TRIAL // Some of our past articles dealt with how climate change and global warming are beginning to alter weather patterns worldwide, leading to extreme phenomena such as droughts and flash floods.
As was to be expected, these weather manifestations ended up impacting on national agricultures throughout the globe, meaning that quite a lot of regions came to understand that their present crops are by no means what they used to be.
Consumer Energy Report indicates that, as opposed to previous years, America has now had its corn crops degraded to such an extent that those in the business of trading this cereal had to considerably boost prices so as to stay afloat.
More precisely, only 40% of the corn grown in this country can now be classified as being either good or in excellent condition, something that leads to prices going up by as much as 21%.
The same source informs us that, given this situation and also taking into consideration the fact that corn is one of the most intensely used raw materials when producing ethanol, national prices for this energy source have had no choice but to also increase.
As one can easily imagine, this means that fuel containing said chemical compound will soon become significantly costlier than it presently is, and odds are that American drivers will not be very happy about it.
To add insult to injury, while corn crops get destroyed and ethanol prices go up, American high officials are pushing to E15, a biofuel which contains 15% ethanol, to go on the markets as soon as possible.
Thus, we recently reported on the fact that one gas station in Kansas became the first to sell E15.
Last, but not least, the food industry might also find itself suffering, especially seeing how corn is part and parcel of American dietary habits.
From an environmental standpoint, this situation only goes to show that climate change and global warming, both of which come as a result of human activities, can impact on our lives in unforeseeable ways and should be dealt with as soon as possible.