Environmentally conscious traffic and international transportation

 

I was going to give the whole biofuels thing a rest for a little while, after putting together the big 'Biofuels - it's Getting Annoying Now' post a few days ago, but then the President of Brazil had to put a defensive article up at the Washington Post (I'm sure it's not just because of us!), and made some remarks that really can't go without comment....

Tomorrow I will visit with President Bush at Camp David to follow up on conversations we had a few weeks ago in Sao Paulo. We have taken an important first step toward committing our countries to developing clean and renewable energy sources that will ensure the prosperity of our peoples while protecting the environment. - Washington Post

Fantastic. It sounds great! But..., Lula da Silva is short on details about how this poverty alleviation and environmental protection will work.

We are launching a partnership to enhance the role of ethanol fuel in our countries' energy mixes while moving to make biodiesel fuel more widely available. Simultaneously, we are creating opportunities to expand these programs onto the global stage.

... The agreement between Brazil and the United States provides for diversifying the production of biofuels through triangular alliances with third countries. This networking can include oil-producing countries interested in blending ethanol or biodiesel into their own fossil-fuel stocks. This is a recipe for increasing incomes, creating jobs and alleviating poverty among the many developing countries where biomass crops are abundant.

For these proposals to gain traction, foundations for a worldwide market in these fuels must be put in place. Brazil and the United States joined India, China, South Africa and the European Union in launching the International Forum on Biofuels this month. Its goal is to ensure conditions for ethanol, and later biodiesel, to become globally marketed commodities. This will be achieved only if trade in biofuels is not hindered by protectionist policies. - Washington Post

Regional economies reduced to stats

Historically, such international agreements have only ever served to bring prosperity to a few key players and transnationals. What is the point of difference here? Is there a new improved version of the global marketing model being put forth that has slipped below our radar? Unfortunately, no. There is nothing new. The goal is clear - "Its goal is to ensure conditions for ethanol, and later biodiesel, to become globally marketed commodities. This will be achieved only if trade in biofuels is not hindered by protectionist policies." This same process has been applied to every other industrial sector, which major industry players now control to their own end, and through which the local people (unprotected by ... er... "protectionist policies") have become mere statistics on the boards in the stock exchange.

And when countries are pitted against each other, competing for western consumer dollars - how will that help the environment? Free trade deals are made through immediate profitability for the most powerful players in the market - and long term considerations of sustainability get tossed aside as an expensive hindrance to gaining a market share. The disconnect between the shareholder and the peasant is enormous - thousands of geographic miles, and a cultural world apart. And, although biofuel proponents keep beating the 'carbon neutral' drum - telling us that the CO2 released when the fuel is burnt is countered by the CO2 absorbed during the plant's growth - the energy required in their cultivation (fertilisations, pesticides, herbicides, mechanisation, etc.) are a neglected afterthought, as is the systematic release of the vast amounts of carbon tied up in soil organic matter, that are released through the mechanical manipulations of the soil, and through applications of nitrogen. Additionally, with the determination to push this whole industry into a global market exchange (i.e. resources heading from South to North), the transportation factor will seriously impact on this already out-of-kilter CO2 balance.

Also of concern is the area of GMOs. Increasing popular distrust and rejection of GMOs is being watered down by a "the good seed is for people to eat, and GMOs are for fuel" mentality that numbs the mind into accepting the continued patenting and control of life.

The expansion of bioenergy production is of great interest to companies engaged in GMO, genetically modified organism (GMO). They hope to obtain greater acceptance from the public if they present GMO products as sources of "clean" energy.

"All the companies that produce GMOs -- Syngenta, Monsanto, Dupont, Dow, Bayer, Basf -- have investments in cultures conceived for the production of biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel. They have, besides this, agreements with transnational companies such as Cargill, Archer, Daniel Midland, Bunge, which dominate the world market for cereals. In the majority of cases, the investigation is directed at obtaining new types of genetic manipulation of corn, sugar cane, soya, amongst others, converting them into non-eatable cultures which increases dramatically the risks which on their own already imply transgenic contamination" explains Silvia Ribeiro, researcher for the ETC Group, Mexico.

... The main polluters, responsible for global warming are precisely the big companies that destroy the forest and pollute the environment, the same companies -- petroleum, automobile, agricultural amongst others -- that expect to profit from bioenergy. - Dissident Voice

Later in the Washington Post article Lula da Silva writes:

Agriculture provides not just foodstuffs but also a way of life for millions of small-scale farmers globally. The spread of sugar cane, soy and other oleaginous crops for biofuels will ensure that needy farming families have the financial means to feed themselves. - Washington Post

Unable to compete in the global market, the small-scale family farmer is forced into slums, leaving the land to be taken over by increasingly centralised corporate interests. This is true, not just in the South.

But this globalised system has only ever served to foster the "get big, or get out" process of mergers and centralisation - pushing more and more of these small-scale farming families into third world slums.

People on the ground during Bush's recent visit to Brazil share the same concerns:

Some protesters, carrying stalks of sugar cane, protested the ethanol agreement, which is being formally signed by officials with the U.S. State Department and the Brazilian foreign ministry. The demonstrators warned that increased ethanol production could lead to social unrest because most operations are run by wealthy families or corporations that reap the profits, while the poor are left to cut the cane with machetes. - HitNews

It's not rocket science to see that an international market for biofuels will see tremendous environmental problems getting glossed over while a small minority make a killing clicking the ticket on every gallon of gas. As they say, those that don't study history are destined to repeat it. We must be getting pretty dense however, as we don't even need to look back in time - how about just considering the present? Coffee for example:

 

The quantity of grains that is required to fill the tank of a pick-up would be sufficient to feed a person for a year. - Dissident Voice

In a competition for food between people and cars, the cars will win every time. Car owners have money. Those without cars do not. It's simple logic.

Rather than "increasing incomes, creating jobs and alleviating poverty" it's not hard to predict a global trade in biofuels will bring an escalation of environmental degradation, poverty and inequality, and with it - civil unrest and terrorism.