Green Daily

Great, just when we're really getting gung ho about an issue, researchers have to go and squash our excitement.

This time, it's corn ethanol, and apparently it's not as great as everyone thought it was.

In the study, published in Science magazine, researchers affiliated with Iowa State University claim that as we rush to plant corn to use as alternative fuel, we are uprooting other trees and crops that are absorbing carbon in the atmosphere. So, more corn means fewer trees and grasslands, releasing the carbon they were storing into the atmosphere and exacerbating global warming in the process.

Specifically, the scientists say, instead of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent as previously anticipated, corn will increase the emissions by 93 percent, over 30 years. (Similarly, switchgrass, another viable fuel source, will increase emissions by 50 percent over 30 years, they say).

Their solution? We should rely more on alternative fuels made from say, garbage, which doesn't require chopping down acres of trees and grasslands.

But, like anything else, garbage as energy has its downsides, too. It's site-specific (every landfill is different in size and in what it contains); it generates pollution in its production methods; and some naysayers say it could take away the incentive to recycle.

Once again, we are at a crossroads. We need to work quickly in order to decrease our dependence on foreign oils and try to avoid further damage to our planet. But if we work too quickly, as the researchers warn against, we could be doing just as much harm in the long run.