Ethanol is a clear, colorless alcohol fuel made from the sugars found in grains, such as corn, sorghum, and wheat, as well as potato skins, rice, and yard clippings. Ethanol is a renewable fuel because it is made from plants. There are several ways to make ethanol from biomass. The most commonly used processes today use yeast to ferment the sugars and starch in corn. Corn is the main ingredient for ethanol in the United States due to its abundance and low price. Most ethanol is produced in the corn-growing states in the Midwest.

The starch in the corn is fermented into sugar, which is then fermented into alcohol. Other crops such as, barley, wheat, rice, sorghum, sunflower, potatoes, sugar cane and sugar beets can also be used to produce ethanol.

HISTORY OF ETHANOL
Ethanol is not a new fuel. In the 1850s, ethanol was a major lighting fuel. During the Civil War, a liquor tax was placed on ethanol to raise money for the war. The tax increased the price of ethanol so much that it could no longer compete with other fuels such as kerosene in lighting devices. Ethanol production declined sharply because of this tax and production levels did not begin to recover until the tax was repealed in 1906.

In 1908, Henry Ford designed his Model T to run on a mixture of gasoline and alcohol, calling it the fuel of the future. In 1919, when Prohibition began, ethanol was banned because it was considered a liquor. It could only be sold when it was mixed with petroleum. With the end of Prohibition in 1933, ethanol was used as a fuel again. Ethanol use increased temporarily during World War II when oil and other resources were scarce.

In the 1970s, interest in ethanol as a transportation fuel was revived when embargoes by major oil producing countries cut gasoline supplies. Since that time ethanol use has been encouraged by offering tax benefits for producing ethanol and for blending ethanol into gasoline. In 1988, ethanol began to be added to gasoline for the purpose of reducing carbon monoxide emissions.

As the evidence for global warming has become undeniable, there has been a tremendous surge in the production of ethanol from corn.  One of the environmental axioms we often talk about in class is that "there is no such thing as free lunch".

I would like you to make a list of 5 negative or adverse environmental impacts that will result if we continue to increase ethanol production from corn alone.