A paper released by the School of Public Policy, University of Calgary (Canada) looks into the ethical dimensions of environmental policies which are related to biofuels. The paper titled, "Ethical risks of environmental policies: the case of ethanol in North America"  is by Michal Moore and Sarah Jordaan. According to co-author, Michal Moore, "Policymakers, especially in the [United States], have been in a rush to expand biofuel protection." The race to promote biofuels is based on the motivation that these "green fuels" are renewable and emit less greenhouse gases. The paper states, that "while there are some biofuels that can be developed with relatively few impacts, others can result in broader, complex social concerns that should be included in the policy debate. These concerns include impacts arising from the conversion of natural landscapes and changes in food supply." Before encouraging and supporting the production of more biofuels, the paper raises some basic questions to "encourage a fuller debate": (1) What is the effect of biofuel production on food costs, especially for poor populations?; (2) Should more land be used for biofuel when the return of energy per acre is low? Are there better uses for that land?; (3) In addition to worrying about the impact of global warming, should we not consider the impact on land of massively expanding biofuel production?; (4) What are the other economic impacts of large scale production of biofuel? A methodology is also proposed to capture ethical risks related to the energy and environmental choices. The full paper can be accessed at the University of Calgary's Institute of Public Policy's website (URL above).