WHY BIOFUELS ARE NOT GREEN
Biofuels are made from plants, such as palm, jatropha and corn. These are processed into oil, which is subsequently burned as fuel.
Despite the 'eco' sounding name, biofuels are not green and are one of the main reasons for increased tropical deforestation. They also compete for space with land needed to grow food in some of the world's poorest countries. Biofuels are already being used as part of our transport fuel mix in the UK and massive government subsidies mean there are a number of companies trying to open biofuel power stations throughout the country. Our current energy needs are so vast that growing fuel to meet our energy needs would require an enormous amount of land, meaning precious habitats like rainforests would be destroyed to make way for monoculture biofuel crops plantations or take land that is currently used to grow food out of circulation, increasing poverty and hunger in places like India and parts of Africa and South America.
Although this scene may look green, plantations are monocultures. Instead of the thousands of plant species you find in forests, here there is only one. Rather than all kinds of animals, birds and insects, plantations are devoid of life.
They are, in fact, green deserts.
To find out more about the devastating effect of the industry, please visit the Biofuelwatch website.
We've been concerned about palm usage for a while. The palm oil industry has seen a boom in demand and is now the most widely used vegetable oil in the world. At the current levels of demand, palm is not sustainable and the industry is already responsible for the destruction of rainforests, forced land-grabs and endangering lives. With palm and other oil crops used as a biofuel, the situation will only get worse.
We have teamed up with Biofuelwatch to protest the plans for biofuel power stations in the UK and against a mandatory mix of biofuel in our transport fuels. The most important things we can do is reduce our overall energy consumption and to make sure that the government stop subsidising biofuel energy production.
