I am no longer alone. Others now know that alien species are abducting the planet's rainforests. I was greatly relieved to find this article in New Scientist via Treehugger a few days ago.
Admittedly, the number of environmentalists who think biofuels are a bad idea are outnumbered by people who have been abducted by aliens a million-fold, but maybe it's a start (I know, my posts on the subject are starting to look obsessive/compulsive).
The drive for "green energy" in the developed world is having the perverse effect of encouraging the destruction of tropical rainforests. From the orangutan reserves of Borneo to the Brazilian Amazon, virgin forest is being razed to grow palm oil and soybeans to fuel cars and power stations in Europe and North America. And surging prices are likely to accelerate the destruction.
Here it comes.
... surging demand from the food market has raised the price of rapeseed oil too. This has led fuel manufacturers to opt for palm and soya oil instead. Palm oil prices jumped 10 per cent in September alone, and are predicted to rise 20 per cent next year, while global demand for biofuels is now rising at 25 per cent a year.
If you have some money to spare, I have an investment tip for you. All you need do is convince yourself of one of following: We don't need rainforests, or biodiesel will not destroy them. End of story, hands on ears ... na, na, na, na.
Oh, you can add Uganda to the list also:
Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, responding to criticism of his decision to convert nature preserves into palm-oil plantations, tells us:
"... the clearing of forests for the plantation did not pose environmental danger because the palm plantation would be a forest in its own. ... when [I] led the Luweero bush war, [I] was called names such as a vagabond. ...Now the one who was a vagabond is Your Excellency ...Jesus Christ too was killed by envious people despite all his good deeds."
Sounds an awful lot like another president I know.
Comments
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MikeCapone Posted 9:55 am
26 Nov 2005
I'm more interested by algae production, especially in bioreactors that are "plugged" into power plants; the algae uses the CO2 emissions to grow..
I'm sure that a couple of lakes could be converted too. Sure it's bad to destroy lakes, but it's still better than to keep burning fossil fuel.
--
SUVs are squared-out minivans.
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amazingdrx Posted 4:38 am
27 Nov 2005
When the waste stream biofuel runs short of demand, then coal can be refined cleanly with the same wind and solar powered technology to produce a blended fuel that will work in regular gasoline and diesel motors.
This would eliminate imported oil.
As plugin electric cars come into wide use, the percentage of transportation energy obtained from fuel combustion can be reduced so that eventually oil and even coal are no longer needed.
And with the mass production of the new lithium ion nano tech quick charge batteries, a fillup of a plugin electric "gas tank" will take only a little longer than filling a regular gas tank.
That means no more fuel will be needed. The remaining biofuel production can be reserved for specialized uses like air travel.
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jdhlax Posted 3:33 pm
28 Nov 2005
While Amazing's ideas seem to hold some promise, my gut feeling is that they're just more of those phony magical solutions. Even if they're not, all consumption causes some environmental harm, so we should still be trying to at least significantly reduce driving.
Jeff Hoffman
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Biodiversivist Posted 11:03 pm
28 Nov 2005
"The race is now on between the technoscientific forces that are destroying the living environment and those that can be harnessed to save it." -- E. O. Wilson
In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com
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amazingdrx Posted 8:15 pm
02 Dec 2005
Quality of life over quantity of possesions and consumption. A large portion of energy consumption could be elminated that way. And then these "majical solutions" might actually be able to supply the reduced energy expectations of humankind.
But in the long run only reproductive rights for women all over planet earth will solve the problem of exponentially expanding human population and consumption.
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