To use a better fuel, or to just decide to use less

Biofuels are confusing. They’re being marketed world-wide as being less environmentally harmful than petroleum products, suggesting that by using a less polluting fuel we can justify a reliance on cars and trucks.

from UTNE Reader, August 2007-10-20 -

How large-scale soy production is threatening the environment.

In Paraguay, “soy production has increased exponentially due to worldwide demand for animal feed and the rise of an insatiable biodiesel industry. Biodesel made from soy oil is touted as good for the environment, even more efficient that ethanol. If current trends continue, by 2020 global demands will require 370 million acres of cultivated land worldwide” (Ontario, which has an area larger than France and Spain combined, is 265.5 million acres)

“An acre of forested land absorbs almost twice as much CO2 as land used to grow biofuel crops, thereby cancelling out any climate advantage advertised by biofuel production” To further add to the “cons” column, factor in the amount of water and agrochemicals required.

“Soy cultivation dumps more than 24 million litres of agrochemicals in Paraguay every year. They include Paraquat, which has no antidote if ingested; Metamidofos, which has reduced sperm count in exposed males; and Endosulfan, which caused birth defects in the infants of repeatedly exposed mothers.”

“The soy workers also wash their machines in the river after spraying (pesticides) – combined with the agricultural run-off, this means that there are no fish left in our rivers, and the water is completely contaminated.”

Locally we recently applauded the ribbon-cutting of a new biofuel plant set to begin production in Aylmer, processing corn for fuel. According to Biofuels Canada, the Integrated Grain Processors Cooperative (IGPC) are “committed to creating value and economic growth in Southwestern Ontario and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through the production of renewable fuels”

Right - so we’ll cultivate huge crops of corn or soy, requiring substantial quantities of agrochemicals for pest control and accelerated growth, and most likely vast amounts of water to ensure the growing season remains on sched. We’ll then harvest the crop using fuel-run machinery and process the corn in a fuel-guzzling plant which is operated by workers who will all drive to and from work, and then ship the fuel about in big tankers … and this is our “green choice”?

Let’s face the truth and stop lying about our motivation. The biofuels we’re going to be using are never going to be better for the world; we’ll be lucky if they’ll be just as bad for the world as our current fuels are. What they will be is available, which is more than we can say for our current fuel supply which will likely be exhausted in the next two decades.