Global warming due to carbon emissions from the unchecked use of fossil fuels. Rising oil and gas prices. And, ultimately, a resource that will run out when the last reserves are drained.
There are a lot of problems associated with petroleum—the catalyst behind the major industrial development of the
 Fields of corn surround the Golden Grain Energy ethanol plant in Mason City, Iowa. |
What are biofuels? They are fuel products made from plant matter, such as ethanol from corn or sugar cane and biodiesel from soybeans.
An immediate problem related to biofuels is that food products—corn and soy—are being diverted to make fuel. As a result of the increasing demand for ethanol and biodiesel on the world market, prices for corn and soy are increasing. In recent months, rapidly rising corn prices have doubled the price of tortillas in Mexico. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Mexico City to protest the way that biofuels have literally taken food out of the mouths of the poor.
In Colombia, there is an increasing demand for palm oil, another product that is used to create biofuels. It is also used for cooking. Due to biofuel demand, palm oil production in Colombia has surged. Four years ago, only 172,000 hectares were planted with palm oil. Today, there are nearly 400,000 hectares, and that number is expected to increase.
The demand for land has led to right-wing paramilitaries seizing large tracts for biofuel production. Farmers have been forced off their land at gunpoint. Their banana groves and cattle-grazing fields have been turned into palm oil plantations. Thousands have fled the violence and intimidation.
Biofuels and development
Biofuels also are not as environmentally friendly as one might think.
According to University of Minnesota researchers David Tilman and Jason Hill, “Only about 20 percent of each gallon is ‘new’ energy. That is because it takes a lot of ‘old’ fossil energy to make it: diesel to run tractors, natural gas to make fertilizer, and of course, fuel to run the refineries that convert corn to ethanol.
“For this reason, if every one of the 70 million acres on which corn was grown in 2006 was used for ethanol, the amount produced would displace only 12 percent of the U.S. gasoline market.” (Washington Post, April 1, 2007)
Depending on where the producing agent is grown, biofuels can be worse for the environment than burning fossil fuels. How can that be?
In South America, rainforest land has been cleared to grow a biofuel crop. In the United States, land set aside for conservation is now being planted with corn. The use of “old” fuel to create and harvest the new fuel is compounded by the loss of uncultivated land, which actually absorbs atmospheric carbon.
Science has not spoken the final word on the use of plant materials as an energy source.
Humans have been using plant matter as a source of energy for a long time—whether burning wood or feeding corn and oats to horses and oxen. It is possible that scientists can develop new methods of creating biofuels that do not utilize food crops and that are in fact better for the environment than fossil fuels. For example, Tilman and Hill describe some promising research on creating biofuel out of native prairie grasses in Minnesota.
The biggest problem with biofuels right now is that they are being developed within the framework of capitalism.
Capitalist production is driven by the quest to maximize profits. If corn, soy, sugar cane or palm oil can become as valuable a commodity as petroleum, growers will sell to the highest bidder and convert food into fuel.
If poor people cannot afford tortillas or if meat and milk prices start to soar because feed prices have shot up, the capitalists do not care. Rainforest and conservation lands can be converted to biofuel crops if the price is right, with no concern for the long-term environmental impact.
Cuba has shown that it is possible to take care of people’s needs while preserving the environment. The country’s socialist planning takes the profit motive out of decisions regarding development and energy use.
