Who does the biofuel business benefit?

Nov 2006

The biofuel business will help to position the biotechnology industry, to recycle the oil and automobile industry and to expand the profits of industries marketing biofuels. This does not imply that all that has been said is applied to the use of vegetable oils, cane bagasse or other agricultural or forest waste to supply the energy needs of small local communities.
According to the author, the problem we are now facing is one of scale. We refer to the problems that arise when we have to satisfy the demands of consumers who want to continue enjoying their standard of living based on squandering, but who also want to have a clear conscience when they put into the tank of their vehicle 5.75% of biofuel that may come from the Amazon forest of Brazil or from Paraguayan lands from which the peasant population has been violently displaced or from their own farmlands. Unless we can change the development model and initiate a transition towards a post-oil society, where the energy consumption patterns are changed, biofuels cannot be a solution to curb climate change. With this in mind, we should continue to work towards a society that promotes and respects everybody's food and energy sovereignty.

By: E. Bravo (Acción Ecológica)

 
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