Biofuel or food?
In recent decades, economics studies have gotten us used to seeing our shared property - the atmosphere, the water, natural resources, fauna and flora - as something to be taken for granted. Land and water used in the past to grow food have been allocated for crops used to produce different types of biofuels, and the result has been an increase in food prices that today threatens quite a few countries. Feasibility studies of these projects must take into account the costs which, in the past, we used to overlook. We must decide what we want to consume - automotive fuel or food? Biofuels are a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional transport fuels and are climate-friendly. "Not all renewable energy is totally 'green," Wind turbines, for example, disrupt scenic panoramas, are often a source of noise pollution and harm fauna in their vicinity, such as birds. When calculating costs, a zero cost is affixed to birds, but it should not be forgotten that animals are part of the food chain, and the elimination of one species affects other species of flora and fauna and thus ecological balance is disrupted. Many countries are converting rainforests, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels. They are just thinking about the economic benefits and environmental impacts are not taken into consideration.
If increased proportions of food crops such as corn or soy are used for fuel that may push prices up affecting food supplies for less prosperous countries like Bangladesh. Rapidly rising food prices may lead to food riots in the world. Increased use of biofuels puts increasing pressure on water resources in at least two ways: water use for the irrigation of crops used as feedstock for biodiesel production; and water use in the production of biofuels in refineries, mostly for boiling and cooling. Also, extensive use of pesticide for biofuel crops is reducing clean water supplies. In some locations such as Indonesia deforestation for Palm Oil plantations is leading to displacement of indigenous peoples. The price of land should be determined not according to its value for construction purposes, but according to its environmental value. We should urgently make the distinction between food and energy crops.
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