Peak oil
Stop turning cheap food into expensive fuel
IPN Opinion article
Biofuels don't make sense for the environment, the economy or the taxpayer.
Famine also caused by bad policies
IPN Opinion article
Some claim that East Africa's looming famine is caused by drought, population or climate change, but the real cause is government policies which hinder subsistence farmers.
The pitfalls of protectionism shown by Brazil and Mexico
IPN Opinion article
Brazil and Mexico are in danger of going down the path blazed by Venezuela: after years of opening up trade and improving their economies they are reintroducing protectionism in oil and gas. This energy analyst describes how the real patriotic move would be to stimulate exploitation - and therefore employment and the economy - by welcoming foreign firms instead of coddling state-run and domestic firms.
Idle Speculation on Hunger
IPN Opinion article
Cracking down on speculation might make politicians feel good but the evidence shows that it had nothing to do with the food crisis: the real cause was bad policies.
Freer farmers equals cheaper food
IPN Opinion article
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization last week predicted another food price crisis although it expects harvests to rise too. But the US Department of Agriculture has just lowered its soy and maize forecast for the year. Clearly, there's going to be a problem. Eminent economist Douglas Southgate explains how production can increase massively on existing agricultural land, without deforestation and regardless of the potential of GM crops, just by removing the many barriers to agricultural and economic efficiency that are created by governments.
Twelve step programme to poverty
IPN Opinion article
World Environment Day on 5 June offers the poor a tempting formula: developing countries must slow economic growth to avoid becoming eco-vampires like the industrialized economies. Its "Twelve Steps to Help You Kick the CO2 Habit" mean we Africans should be content to live quaintly in our mud huts lit by solar and wind power.
How bad government caused the food crisis
IPN Opinion article
Recent shortages and price rises of staple food in Asia and Latin America have been caused as much by parasitical politicians as by poor harvests.
