The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has suddenly reversed its support for biofuels. The panel now admits growing crops for fuel “poses risks to ecosystems and biodiversity.”
Scientists—and many Green activists—turned against ethanol and biodiesel years ago because it took too much land. However, the United States and EU governments have kept their farmer subsidies. “Environmentalism” had suddenly become political payoff.
The key science for the turnaround was supplied in 2008 by Princeton’s Tim Searchinger in Science Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increased Greenhouse Gases Through Land Use Change,” Science 313:1238–1240). The research revealed that plowing up more grassland for renewable energy crops frees massive amounts of soil carbon to gas off into the air. When rainforests are cut in Brazil to grow sugar for ethanol or in Indonesia where peat-lands are drained to grow palm oil for EU biodiesel, the gas-off of soil carbon is far greater. That means tripling our food costs and paying higher costs for auto fuel has achieved no real reduction in greenhouse emission.
I warned them. My 2006 report on President George W. Bush’s higher ethanol mandate was titled Biofuels, Food or Wildlife? The Massive Land Costs of U.S. Ethanol. I warned that the United States might lose another 50 million acres of wildlife habitat.
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I think Obama would carry the rainbow flag. JS
Pig are a flying. The UN is making sense.
Put something shinny and spinning in front of obama and tell him it is a green energy perpetual motion machine and he’ll commit bizillions to development.
I wish they would make up their phucking minds.
Of all the jackass things this guy has uttered — and that’s a LOT! — this has to be truly close to the most absurd, given his audience and the trajectory of their hopes, aspirations and careers. What? Is he going to turn the military into greenies, marching in lockstep to his EPA, now? I’m with Krauthammer in his summary.
Barry, the commie to the core wants to preserve the planet for him and his enablers.
I think the UN simply woke up to the fact that a billion or so people would starve to death if this bio-fuel boondoggle continued and that could threaten their cushy jobs. Screw the UN, the US, Canada, Britain and a couple of other western countries should just quit and boot them out. Maybe to Saudia Arabia. Yeah, that’s a country that would welcome their antics.
Gobelbull warming, wind farms, diminishing Polar Bears, Teens (Afros from 13 to 30) Affirmative Action, biofuels, there is no Ben Gazi etc etc
are the fucking Kommiecrats insane!
Buffalobob, he’s set to do exactly that tomorrow when he announces his new energy plan.
So, unicorn farts CAN’T power the world of tomorrow?