Rational biofuel policies needed sooner than later
A paper published in the journal Science last week warns that care needs to be taken to ensure that policies surrounding cellulosic biofuel production do not result in environmental harm. The authors of the paper, twenty three leading ecologists, agronomists, conservation biologists and economists, warned that decisions taken now, during the early stages of our biofuel policies, will have dramatic effects on the future environment.
As we’ve looked at previously, biofuels are controversial since they can have quite negative effects on the environment and food supplies. Unfortunately, with the current state of our government, I fear it may already be too late to enact a rational policy in the US. There are already so many interest groups and politics involved in crafting this policy. Hot issues like subsidies, tariffs, and protectionism already pollute the political discourse.
The good news is that the scientists involved with the study are right– we do have the experience and understanding so that we can predict some of the unintentional side effects of large scale crop production– like “fertilizer and pesticide pollution, soil erosion, invasive species spread, the fouling of waterways, and species loss.” And we are also developing an understanding of the wider global food supply and energy consequences. Whether we can take that knowledge and use it to craft an intelligent set of policies remains to be seen.
- Similar Posts:
- EU looks to decrease biofuel targets in light of downsides
- USDA asserts biofuels play only minor role in high global food prices
- European agency recommends pullback from biofuel craze.
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