Say No to Biofuels

U.S. Government willfully killing biodiversity in the South with GE Tree Plantations

The Dogwood Alliance, Global Justice Ecology Project, Sierra Club, and Institute for Social Ecology are campaigning together to stop the mass plantation of the extremely invasive Eucalyptus tree throughout the southern U.S. 

As the Dogwood Alliance press release states:

"This is absolutely unprecedented--the government wants to approve the mass release of 260,000 flowering GE forest trees in so-called "field trials," stated Dr. Neil Carman who works with the Sierra Club

Eucalyptus are internationally known for their devastating impacts--from invasiveness to wildfires to their ability to worsen droughts.  Massive wildfires in Australia earlier this year were fueled by eucalyptus, which contains a highly volatile oil.  These wildfires moved at 100 km/hr and killed 173 people, who literally did not have time to escape.  Additionally, eucalyptus grandis, one of the species in the GE eucalyptus hybrid, is also a known host to Cryptococcus gattii, a fungus that can cause fatal fungal meningitis in people and animals that inhale its spores.  C. gattii was recently found in the U.S. [2] in Texas.  "You cannot call over a quarter of a million trees over 330 acres "field trials."  These are experimental forests being planted outdoors under the disguise of "field trials" as a loophole.  The government must produce an Environmental Impact Statement to carefully review all of the potential environmental threats from this large-scale GE tree release," Dr. Carman continued.

Sierra Club calls for a moratorium on genetically engineered trees

From:  http://www.sierraclub.org/biotech/trees.asp

...action is needed both at home and internationally to create a worldwide moratorium on the further development and planting of GE trees at least until an effective framework for public debate, unbiased scientific evaluation, and regulation in the public interest - with the goal of preserving biodiversity - can be brought into being.

This means that the mass plantations of genetically engineered trees for cellulosic biofuels in the area of genetic engineering must come to a halt until better and more thorough science becomes available.

Small victories: Berkeley, Calif. discontinues biodiesel fleet vehicle use

While the rest of the world is falling over themselves trying to make money by converting trees into liquid fuel and burning it for endless purposes, the Berkeley Voice reports that the city of Berkeley, California, has discontinued the use of biodiesel in its fleet vehicles.  The reason is that when the biodiesel policy was first instituted in 2003, the supply came mostly from used restaurant cooking oil, but has now gradually transitioned to a supply that is farmed from soybeans.  (This trend indicates that overall, the supply of used vegetable cooking oil is not enough to serve entire municipalities. Sooner or later one must resort to farmed biofuels.)  Widespread farming of soybeans for use as biofuel is also not efficient at all, and displaces other food crops, uses valuable water resources, and required tons of petroleum-based fertilizer to grow. 

Berkeley city officials have realized that, "Although biodiesel pollutes less than regular diesel when it comes out of a tail pipe, the farming involved to produce crop-based biofuels actually increases pollution worldwide."  Let's hope other municipalities and governments realize this scientific fact before multinational corporations raze the entire southern hemisphere to plant their genetically modified fuel crops for recreational and business use by developed countries.

The REAL Monsanto

Monsanto and other biotechnology companies are chomping at the bit to develop genetically modified trees for production of cellulosic biofuels.  Learn about the unfair practices of this mammoth company in the May 2008 Vanity Fair expose.

Belgian government plants a "frankentree" for World Biodiversity Day

The World Rainforest Movement has reported on the government of Belgian symbolically planting a genetically modified tree to commemorate world biodiversity day. What a pity that the tree has low lignin, a natural protectant, and is useful ONLY as cellulosic biofuel.  I guess the world is intent on collecting every last scrap of forest and burning it up into the sky.  Also read WRM's page on all of the GMO tree activity in Belgium.

EPA does "fuzzy math" in its Corn Ethanol pollution calculations

The Network for New Energy Choices quotes a new report by Earth Track and Friends of the Earth stating biofuels are being propped up by the Obama administration with our tax dollars to the tune of $420 billion from 2008 through 2022.  States NNEC,

The proposed rule includes an accounting gimmick that would discount ethanol’s greenhouse gas emissions over a 100-year timeframe, a window that both undercounts the actual volume of emissions and puts off emission reductions too far into the future.  Under this century-long option proposed by the EPA, corn ethanol’s emissions would be lower than gasoline, but not until 100 years from now.  That’s a strange proposal from an administration that is spending tremendous amounts of political capital to make greenhouse gas emission reductions a priority.

Does anyone really think we have 100 years to dally before we address climate change?