" Brazil is set to produce most of its biodiesel from soya beans, which have virtually no advantage over conventional fuels in terms of overall greenhouse gas emissions, let alone the millions of hectares of tropical forest that have been cleared for large-scale soya plantations. Automatically classifying biofuels as renewable energy regardless of how they are produced is dangerous. We cannot afford to address climate change while creating another environmental problem, deforestation – itself the source of 80% of carbon emissions in Brazil. The world must promote only those biofuels which offer the greatest environmental benefit, such as sustainably produced forest and wood products in temperate countries, and sugar-based bioethanol in tropical ones.
A mandatory eco-certification scheme for biofuels must be established, applying to all biofuels regardless of where they are produced. This system must be based on environmental and social criteria, and be easy to apply and flexible enough to meet local conditions.
Lula says that through investment in ethanol and biodiesel, Brazil is determined to "plant the oil of the future". But for biofuels to play a key role in a new carbon-free energy future, policy makers – both in the North and South – must ensure that biofuels are produced in an environmentally and socially friendly way. In Portuguese we have an expression which sums this up: Biocombustíveis sim, mas não de qualquer jeito! This means: yes to development but not to any development, yes to biofuels but not to any biofuels!" *
Is it a stretch to say that Epicurus was the first environmentalist? He wouldn’t have recognized the label, but his philosophy fits environmentalism like a glove. He would have applauded the phrase "biofuels, but not any biofuels."
* Giulio Volpi is coordinator of the WWF’s climate change programme for Latin America and the Caribbean panda@wwf.org.br
Perhaps the one thing the US has in spades over the rest of the world is a stellar research and development system, built up over decades and financed by Government. The anti-intellectuals know-nothings who have been running the country have done their utmost to damage this effort, but it is still just there and should be used as a basis for a great national effort to replace foreign oil and find imaginative and ground-breaking ways of mitigating global warming.
Think of it, Republicans— a huge new industry you can make MONEY from! And the basic research can be paid for by other fellow-citizens. What a deal!
You can see from the Presidential Primaries so far that global warming is still not taken seriously in the US. The candidates talk generalities about the need to replace foreign oil, but have no programs to really address it. McCain is basically against doing anything and Exxon will get at Hillary.
What we first need is a gas tax and a tax on SUVs, but that would guarantee a one term presidency. Then agree that we need a huge national efforty to discover good technologies.
You keep on about this. Why should we sacrifice our cars and our lifestyle when it is the Chinese and Indians that are the real problem? As for research, it’s best done by the private sector. If it’s not being done it’s because there is no incentive at the present moment. It’s future generations that are going to be affected. Why wreck the economy? And what’s this got to do with Epicurus?
What it’s got to do with Epicurus, Charlie, is that the discussion about philosophy and the meaning of life is itself quite meaningless if there’s no human life left on the planet! Epicureanism is about a good life of moderation and ataraxia. Global climate change is it’s biggest threat.
We are inexorably destroying the human race, Charlie, and along with it scores of species, forests and now-filthy, fish-less seas. Your enjoyment of life and disregard for common sense, Charlie is something of a Pyrrhic victory – – that is, you are consuming greedily, without a care in the world or a tad of foresight. But it will all come back to get you, (or your grandchildren if you ever have any). They will likely be homeless, hungry, besieged by desperate refugees, overwhelmed with rising oceans and huge storms, with undrinkable water and a denuded landscape. And your hero, Charlie, Mr. Do-nothing Bush, will not be known in those coming days so much for his crass invasions but for betraying the world by refusing any action on global climate change. He will be regarded as selfish, greedy and feckless, along with the rest of us who have hoped it would all go away. That’s a prediction Charlie. Frame it and hand it on to your descendants! Good luck, Charlie. Hope you live to see it. I won’t.