Friday, June 29, 2007

Call them Agrofuels

And a whole lot of aggro they are.

The NGO GRAIN wants us to think even more seriously about the impact on agriculture in poorer countries of the push by greedy countries for more biofuels. And one of their suggestions is that "biofuels" is too gentle a word.

Call them what they are: agrofuels.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6252594.stm

2 comments:

John Leech said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John Leech said...

used to live in South Bend Indiana (in recycled housing - the old Botany lab of Central High): downwind from the ethanol plant. P U

It's big for corn farmers especially big corn - supports price of their commodity.

Not sure it helps the environment - except that it is probably a better smog-reducer additive than MTBE which seems to be a toxic chemical

Paul Poe writes: The use of "oxyfuels" does indeed improve air quality--but MTBE is a dangerous groundwater toxin and carcinogen. Ethanol achieves the benefits of MTBE without these side effects. State and Federal governments are recognizing this and acting accordingly.

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=8005

Of course reducing rain forest to monocultural wasteland is a considerable 'side effect'...