So-called green capitalism, the push by industry to reap profit from the public’s desire to see a cleaner environment, is having disastrous effects on Latin America.
Biofuels have seen massive growth, buoyed by voter support for alternatives to oil and gas. The plant-based products, often used for powering vehicles and other machinery, are most commonly known through the use of ethanol and biodiesel. Although humanity has used plants for energy for centuries, the immense demand for corn, sugar cane and soybeans—the most popular materials for biofuels—is deepening class divisions globally.
For the world’s poorest countries, capitalism has created a disaster. The biofuels industry has swooped in to Asia, Africa and Latin America, buying up land and resources, as well as corn, beets and other foodstuffs for biofuel production.
In Guatemala, the New York Times reports, subsistence farmers have been pushed to the brink of starvation. Tortillas and eggs (from chickens eating corn) have spiked in price, while many hectares of land have been bought up, forcing the poor to farm along the sides of roads. Malnutrition is growing as the situation worsens throughout Central America, stuck in the middle of capitalist globalization.
U.S. renewable energy standards require biofuels be blended into the country’s fuel supply at steadily increasing volumes. Europe has similar mandates, with reduction of fossil fuel emissions key to pushing through legislation. Although studies suggest biofuels may not be as clean as advertised, the drive for raw materials in advanced capitalist countries is creating a strain for developing nations.
In addition, what has been largely sold to the public as “energy security,” a bid to avoid use of gas that could strengthen independent Middle Eastern states such as Syria and Iran, has been a windfall for Big Oil. BusinessWeek reports BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and a host of other corporations are investing in biofuels. Royal Dutch Shell is buying up sugar cane mills, plantations and refineries in a Brazilian ethanol venture worth billions.
The biofuels scandal should be a sober reminder that, when capitalist industry and their political allies are selling ideas as good for the environment and national interests, profit as well as the misery of poor and working-class people is never far behind.
