Are Biofuels Moving Us in the Wrong Direction?

As the political fuel behind biofuels propels us forward, is it time to take a step back for reflection? Craig Mackintosh says yes. Here is a glimpse of his very good work:

Biofuels from the Frying Pan to the Fire? Craig Mackintosh, 12/29/06:…When we take into account the scale of our past, present, and future transport requirements - are biofuels going to cut it? Do they hold the promise of securing our futures — nationally, economically, and ecologically? … Grist has an excellent collection of articles on the Biofuel subject …. Given the rate and scale of biofuel developments, I think it’s appropriate for me to bring their 'Not so fast: Issues and Implications' section to your notice. …

Throughout tropical countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, and Colombia, rainforests and grasslands are being cleared for soybean and oil-palm plantations to make biodiesel, a product that is then marketed halfway across the world as a "green" fuel.

In Southeast Asia, and increasingly in the Amazon, plantations of the African oil palm have become wildly lucrative. After monocropping the palms on recently cleared rainforest land, growers press the palm fruit and kernel for oil that can be used in both food and industrial applications, including — and increasingly — as biodiesel.

The palm oil industry is booming: global exports increased more than 50 percent from 1999 to 2004. To meet the growing demand, producers in Malaysia and Indonesia have ramped up production by clearing thousands of square miles of rainforest for new plantations.

In Indonesia, rainforest loss for oil palms has contributed to the endangerment of 140 species of land animals, while in Malaysia animals like the Sumatran tiger and Bornean orangutan have been pushed to the brink of extinction. Fish kills have become common in waterways surrounding plantations and palm-oil mills, as soil erosion from the cleared land and mill effluents have left waterways clogged with sediment and unviable.

The boom hasn't been limited to Southeast Asia. In one of the most disturbing examples of the biofuel hype’s hidden effects, right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia — a country mired in a four-decade-old civil war — have in recent years begun planting oil palm plantations over wide swaths of the territory they control. …

Farther south, another biodiversity hotspot is being rapidly cleared to plant a biodiesel crop. Nearly 80 percent of Brazil’s Cerrado region — a woodland savanna mix — has been cleared for agricultural production, mostly for soybeans, according to a Conservation International report.

Despite being home to thousands of endemic plant and animal species, the Cerrado has been promoted as "the last agricultural frontier" by green-revolution hero and Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug. Low land and labor costs and high yield potential have sent investors from as far away as Iowa scrambling to buy up these Brazilian grasslands, frequently in collaboration with U.S. agribusinesses like Archer Daniels Midland, whose first Brazilian biodiesel production facility is currently in the works.

Tad Patzek, a professor in UC-Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering who's known primarily as a critic of corn ethanol, says what's happening in tropical ecosystems is much more serious than the biofuel situation in the U.S. "We've already destroyed the prairie, and the topsoil in the Midwest is going, going, gone," Patzek says. "But the expensive noise we’re making here is being translated there into the total obliteration of the most precious ecosystems on earth." — 'What about the Land?'

I'd like to stimulate some discussion on this topic, as its importance cannot be underestimated. If we are considering using every available piece of land on the planet (and taking down our most valuable forests in addition) to fuel a ballooning population of vehicles, then discussion is the least we can do. …

I’m fairly sure the world still has serious issues with food and water shortages . As it stands, our dietary habits have us using more land per capita than the rest of the world (and not just our own land…). Combine this with the insatiable appetite our vehicles have, and will we not be taking this already out-of-proportion ratio into the realms of the obscene, and absurd? …

In the meantime, biofuel plants are going up everywhere and politicians are setting biofuel quotas into law. I guess I'd like to ask, where are we going with this? Are we not jumping straight from the frying pan into the fire? …

For a bit of hope (maybe?) re: Biodiesel from algae, see our earlier post on the subject, as well as another very good Mackintosh post titled As Corn Ethanol Threatens, Algae Makes Promises, 1/7/2007.

{Update Feb. 1}: Here's the latest on the Palm Oil mess, from The Oil Drum, Jan 30

Comments

[Andrea Burniske]

Your comments are very well taken. How do we raise the awareness of those who would purchase this biofuel without understanding how ungreen it really is. Also, I live and work in Colombia for a US NGO which implements projects in areas where palm projects are being promulgated. Not only are ecosystems being destroyed for these projects, but armed groups are driving indigenous and other vulnerable populations from their lands to do so. This action results in masacres as well.