Renewable Never Meant Green

One of the greatest detriments to the ecologies of regions around the world, but primarily in Indonesia, are biofuels. "But biofuels are green, aren't they?" One might ask this, soley for the reason that they are technically renewable, but they are wrong. One of the worst offenders is corn ethanol. Long story short, its dirtier, drives up the price of food worldwide worsening world hunger, has an inferior energy density to petroluem, and even if we commited all of our farmlands for growing ethanol made from corn it would supply only 12% of our nations gasoline demands-not diesel or jet fuel- because it lacks the chemical complexity to power those vehicles.

However, one of the even worst offenders is palm oil. In fact its much worse because it actually threatens biodiversity across the globe as well as certain exotic species' existence. I mentioned Indonesia earlier, and one example of such is the Sumatran tiger which is critically endangered as well as the Sumatran Orangutan.



It is endangered because in order to make palm oil for biofuel you must clear forest. Forests are what tigers need to survive. As begreen.org wrote, "One environmental necessity for a tiger’s survival is thick groundcover or understory to camouflage them from prey and protect them from the sun. The problem is the natural forests are constantly being converted into farmed plantations and logging operations which has driven the tigers away with virtually nowhere to hide." The biggest mistake people have made is that simply because something is renewable, it must be good for the planet. Rainforest Action Network wrote that "Approximately 85 percent of palm oil is grown in the tropical countries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) on industrial plantations that have severe impacts on the environment, forest peoples and the climate."

1. Palm oil destroys rainforests.

Forests are the world's largest carbon sink, so by destroying them to make an already dirty fuel, you are dramatically increasing emissions.



     2. Palm oil threatens forest people.

The only reason this is legal is because this is done in a third world country and not the USA. This forces people to relocate and has potential to cause poverty.

     3. Palm oil causes climate change

Although personally not a subscriber to the anthropogenic climate change theory, many environmentalists obviously attribute the dramatic rise in greenhoue gas emissions (GHGs) as the cause for climate change.

So what's to be done to stop palm oil companies like Cargill? I suggest joining an advocacy group like Rainforest Action Network and being armed with the facts about palm oil's devestating effects on exotic species, the environment, and biodiversity.


I'll leave you with this video.