In the Amazon, there is a land rush, accelerated by the most unlikely source – biofuels. An explosion of demand for farm-grown fuels has raised global food prices to a record high.
Propelled by mounting environmental concerns, biofuels has become the trendy way for politicians and corporations to show that they are serious about finding alternative sources of energy and in the process slow global warming.
Biofuels has done the opposite.
By diverting grain and oilseed crops from dinner plates to fuel tanks, biofuels are jacking up the world’s food prices, and endangering the hungry. The grain it takes to fill up the tank of 1 SUV can be used to feed a person for 365 days. Harvest are being plucked to feed our cars instead of our stomachs, and the U.N. declared it was a global emergency. Soaring corn prices has sparked tortilla riots in Mexico, flour prices have destabilized Pakistan, which was not exactly tranquil when flour was affordable.
Researchers have ignored the amazingly simple problem with biofuels, that using land to grow fuels lead to the destruction of forests, wetland, and grasslands that store enormous amounts of carbon. U.S. farmers are selling one-fifth of their corn to ethanol production, so U.S. soybean farmers are switching to corn, so Brazilian soybean farmers are expanding into cattle pastures, so Brazilian cattlemen are dispatched to the Amazon, where they clear new grazing lands in the Amazon rainforest or the Cerrado savanna, releasing vast amounts of carbon. In fact, only sugarcane based ethanol is efficient enough to cut emissions by more than it takes to produce the fuel, the rest of the ‘green’ fuels are net carbon emitters. U.S. leads the world in corn and soybean production, but even if 100% of its crop are turned into fuel, it would be only enough to offset just 20% of on-road fuel consumption.
The price of soybeans goes up, an the forests go down.
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