The Big Green Lie

"Fuel worries inspire several front pages today but the anxieties take rather different forms.

"The Independent's front page fret is 'the big green fuel lie'. It reports that the ethanol business is booming, with George Bush preparing to attend a summit in Brazil this week to kick start the creation of an international market in the biofuel - a kind of Opec for ethanol. The White House has committed itself to substituting 20% of the petroleum it uses for ethanol by 2017 but is this clean-burning renewable energy source really the answer to the planet's prayers? The Independent is doubtful.

"'The problem is that many Americans, and Europeans for that matter, seem to think it is just a matter of flicking a switch: one moment fossil fuel, the next moment, sugar cane-plus-corn. Lifestyle - unaltered,' it comments.

"And 'sugar cane-plus-corn' is not so green anyway, says the Indy. The ethanol industry has been linked with air and water pollution on an epic scale along with deforestation in the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests. In addition, there is competition for grain between the world's motorists and its poorest people. So is it a 'big green fuel lie'? Well, yes, concludes the paper.

"To simply shift from fossil fuel use to ethanol is not going to get us out of our dilemma. It's not going to 'save the planet', or not alone. That will require a sharp reduction in fuel consumption, too."
The Wrap (Guardian)

UK plans to cut CO2 doomed to fail
George Monbiot: Just a lot of hot air
Independent: The big green fuel lie
Independent: A switch to biofuels will not save the planet

Tagged: energy, oil, bush, uk, usa, environment, disinfo, disinformation, science, blair