This is not a new topic even for this blog, but this TIME article covering the environmentally devastating effects of the West's lust for biofuels is probably the highest profile nod I've seen to a problem that many have already warned the world about.
My hero Lester Brown was talking about this as early as 2003, so I think most of the finger pointing at "scientists" is bull, but commonplace in the knee-jerk media who often lump scientists together when anyone who has been involved in science knows that every single idea is contested and questioned. The real culprit is the weak pandering of politicians who know their constituencies are much more comfortable piping biofuels into their cars and than actually changing their ways or even facing the truth on climate change and their role in causing it.
My last gripe is with the title of the TIME article. "The Clean Energy Scam" suggests there are known problems with all clean energy technologies when in fact the article only looks at biofuels. So far, there is no reason for anyone to reconsider the benefits of wind and solar power. The article suggests biofuels are not the answer, so what do we do? It seems to me that the obvious solution is to develop renewable energy at a massive scale and use this power to run a new electric transport system (cars, buses, trains). I think politicians would be doing us all a service if they would be honest about the dangers we face and work to get the public behind this kind of revolution. Carrying on with the biofuels rhetoric accomplishes nothing.
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