ORGANIC BYTES #127

SUSTAINABILITY ALERT:
THE DARK SIDE OF ETHANOL AND BIODIESEL SUBSIDIES
Americans now understand that climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases are a major threat to our survival. Unfortunately, large corporations have convinced Congress to ignore real solutions to the crisis (like significant advances in fuel-efficiency), while providing billions of dollars per year in subsidies to big-agribusiness for agrofuels.

More than a hundred U.S. based and international organizations, including the Organic Consumers Association, are calling for a moratorium on the more than $8 billion of annual government subsidies paid to large corporations producing agrofuels from industrial-scale genetically engineered crops. Family farmers currently receive only a small portion of annual funds allocated to agrofuels. While billions of dollars in subsidies for corn, soy and palm oil-based agrofuels, certainly result in higher profits for corporate giants such as Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, and Monsanto, their overall contribution to reducing reliance on foreign oil and greenhouse gases is negligible (see facts below).

Government support for agrofuels in the U.S. costs taxpayers roughly $2 per gallon in subsidies at the gas pump. These misguided funding priorities have taken tens of billions of dollars of funding away from essential greenhouse gas reduction policies, such as energy conservation, solar and wind power, fuel-efficiency technologies, and mass transit. While the OCA supports the production of biofuels from recycled waste (such as used vegetable oil, manure or sewage) and biomass sustainably grown and harvested for the benefit of local communities, the current focus is a recipe for disaster. Learn more and sign the Agrofuel Moratorium Petition today: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_9980.cfm

RELATED QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"Farmers are seeing little of the huge profits ethanol refiners like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) are banking... ADM will earn an estimated $1.3 billion from ethanol alone in the 2007 fiscal year."

From New York Times article: "How ADM makes a killing on ethanol"

"The United States, in a misguided effort to reduce its oil insecurity by converting grain into fuel for cars, is generating global food insecurity on a scale never seen before."

Economist Lester Brown speaking to the Des Moines Register 1/25/2008

QUICK AGRO-FUEL FACTS

• Increasing fuel efficiency by just 3% would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil more than all of the agrofuels combined.
• The amount of grain it takes to fill an average gas tank with ethanol would be enough to feed a person for a year (source: Foreign Affairs)
• If the United States stopped growing food and converted its entire grain harvest into ethanol, it would satisfy less than 16 percent of its automotive needs. (source: Earth Policy Institute)
• The majority of U.S. biofuels are produced from pesticide intensive genetically engineered crops (soy, corn).
• Monocultures of soy and sugar cane in Latin America and palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia have led to massive deforestation and the loss of invaluable biodiversity.
• Current methods of industrial-scale biofuel production worsen global warming by increasing deforestation and degradation of peatlands and soils, while also creating more nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer use.

OCA WEB FORUM TOPIC OF THE WEEK
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF BIO-FUELS?
OCA's web forum provides an online discussion space for like-minded folks. Over 1500 people have registered to the forum and are posting thoughts about everything from organic gardening to food safety to sustainability issues. This week's feature topic is on bio-fuels. What's good about them, what's bad about them, and what role do they have in the future of the sustainability movement?
Click here to read what other people have to think and join in the discussions: http://organicconsumers.org/forum/index.php