U.S. Biofuel from Corn Ethanol Is Not Renewable, Does Not Address Climate Change

U.S. Biofuel from Corn Ethanol Is Not Renewable, Does Not Address Climate Change

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Regulators at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) are poised later this week to declare that biofuel from corn ethanol cannot help the state address climate change. In assessing the true environmental cost of corn ethanol, it was found this biofuel is worse than petroleum when total greenhouse gas emissions are considered. This is because as with all monocultures, corn ethanol for biofuels leads to numerous other indirect land use changes. Increased industrial agriculture results in rising land pressures and the loss of soil and forest carbon sinks elsewhere.<br /><br />Such a declaration would be a considerable blow to the corn-ethanol industry in the United States and would likely set a national precedent. The regulation is part of California&rsquo;s low-carbon fuel standard to reduce greenhouse emissions from transportation fuels by an average of 10 percent by 2020. Substantial research has shown converting corn to ethanol leads to more clearing of rainforests, meaning producing corn ethanol as a transportation fuel does little to slow global warming. This would be the first piece of regulation to account for such so-called &ldquo;indirect land-use effects&rdquo; of corn-based ethanol.<br /><br />So called &ldquo;next generation&rdquo; advanced cellulosic ethanol fuels from non-food plants and plant parts, including forest biomass, will not resolve these problems. All industrially produced biofuel crops from biomass, edible or not, still require land, soil, water, fertilizer and other finite inputs. Biofuels based upon further expansion of unsustainable, industrial agriculture policies will intensify deforestation, toxic pollution and dependence upon fossil fuel based fertilizers worldwide. It is clear that industrial biofuels are not &ldquo;renewable energy&rdquo; given that soils, water, land and fertilizers are all in limited supply.<br /><br /><br />
<p>Ecological Internet and Rainforest Rescue are concerned with America&lsquo;s growing ethanol industry, and the precedent it sets for massive agricultural industralization of the world&lsquo;s remaining rainforests and other natural wildlands. Please call upon the CARB to heed the overwhelming evidence that agrofuels worsen climate change through further deforestation and the destruction of other soils and ecosystems, drive food prices up, force more and more people worldwide into hunger and malnutrition, and decimate biodiversity and ecosystems.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/protestaktion.php?id=395">http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/protestaktion.php?id=395</a></p>
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<p>Let California Air Resources Board know all industrially produced biofuel crops from live biomass, edible or not, still require land, soil, water, fertilizer and other finite inputs. It is clear that industrial biofuels are not "renewable energy" given that these inputs are all in limited supply, and indirect land uses lead to destruction of soil and forest carbon sinks elsewhere. Send the California Air Resources Board a letter voicing your concern today:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/protestaktion.php?id=395">http://www.regenwald.org/international/englisch/protestaktion.php?id=395</a></p>

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