Environmental campaigner George Monbiot is calling for a freeze on the global production of bio fuels because, according to his research, they're killing the planet.
Writing in The Guardian, and on his own website, www.monbiot.com, Mr Monbiot claims that current bio fuel production is not only causing deforestation and endangering many species, inclduding the Orang Utan, but that it could cause starvation and even famine in the developing world.
"In 2004 this column warned that biofuels would set up a competition for food between cars and people. The people would necessarily lose: those who can afford to drive are, by definition, richer than those who are in danger of starvation. It would also lead to the destruction of rainforests and other important habitats
"The UN has just published a report suggesting that 98% of the natural rainforest in Indonesia will be degraded or gone by 2022(10). Just five years ago, the same agencies predicted that this wouldn’t happen until 2032. But they reckoned without the planting of palm oil to turn into biodiesel for the European market. This is now the main cause of deforestation there and it is likely soon to become responsible for the extinction of the orang utan in the wild. But it gets worse. As the forests are burnt, both the trees and the peat they sit on are turned into carbon dioxide. A report by the Dutch consultancy Delft Hydraulics shows that every tonne of palm oil results in 33 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, or ten times as much as petroleum produces(11). I feel I need to say that again. Biodiesel from palm oil causes TEN TIMES as much climate change as ordinary diesel."
Thankfully, Mr Monbiot's call to action is not all doom and gloom. He is suggesting a five-year freeze on the expansion of bio-fuel crop growing, to allow technology that uses waste crops (straw, wood chips etc) for bio fuels to catch up.
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