Biofuels Could Make Global Warming Worse

What could be more environmentally harmful than fossil fuels? Try biofuels. That’s right, a new study claims that we’ll make global warming even worse if we rely too much on the new generation of biofuels, because rules governing their production encourage deforestation. And, as another recent report illuminated, our forests are our most important line of defense against climate change.

From Reuters:

In a study to be published Friday in the US journal Science, a group of 13 scientists called for the rules, which contain a loophole exempting carbon dioxide emitted by bioenergy regardless of its source, to be overturned.

“The error is serious, but readily fixable,” said lead researcher Timothy Searchinger of Princeton University.

The study called for the issue to be addressed in the climate treaty that nations around the world are hoping to sign at the Copenhagen summit in December to supercede the Kyoto Treaty.

Researchers said numerous analyses — including one released by the US Department of Energy — have found that this loophole “could lead to the loss of most of the world’s natural forests as carbon caps tighten.”

The loophole needs to be closed before oil companies, power plants and other energy industry firms – who stand to benefit the most from it – can exploit it.

But that’s not the only problem with biofuels. Another study published in Science Express on Thursday noted that there’s not enough oversight on land use when it comes to producing biofuels, meaning some unscrupulous companies could cut down forest lands and use them to grow fuel.

Burning biomass releases almost as much carbon dioxide as burning fossil fuels, but that CO2 is partially offset by the plants themselves, grown for biofuel, absorbing CO2 from the air. That’s a big benefit – but we can’t cut down forests to grow these plants. Talk about counterproductive.

Link [Reuters]
Photo credit: Dave Reede

Saving Forests Five Times More Effective than Carbon Capture

The best way to fight against global warming isn’t expensive, potentially ecologically disruptive carbon capture methods. It’s saving the forests that we already have, which act as massive carbon sinks, protecting the planet against catastrophic climate change.

According to a new report released by WWF Sweden, world leaders have got to join together in an international agreement to halt forest loss as a highly cost effective measure on climate change.

From Panda.org:

“Sweden should follow the examples set by its northern neighbors in developing systems to halt deforestation,” said WWF CEO General Lasse Gustavsson.. “One Swedish krona to stem deforestation results in the same emissions reductions as five kronor for the controversial carbon capture and storage technique,”

Gold in Green Forests, a report issued today by WWF-Sweden, says that next to energy efficiency halting forest loss and degradation is the most cost-effective method for mitigating climate change.

The annual loss of natural forests in developing countries is equivalent to one third of Sweden’s surface area. Forest fires, the conversion of forests to agricultural land and the cultivation of energy crops are responsible for the high rate of forest loss.

A program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation, known as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is currently being discussed in the negotiations for a global climate deal. REDD aims to make it worthwhile for developing countries to maintain their forests, as opposed to cutting them down.

Preventing deforestation should be among our first lines of defense against climate change. It definitely makes sense financially. The trick is getting nations like Indonesia – which is cutting its forests down at an alarming rate to make room for lucrative palm oil plantations – to agree to the program.

The whole report is available over at Panda.org.

Link [Panda.org]
Photo credit: Flickr user zoutedrop

Amazon Deforestation Plummets 46%

Brazil pledged to slow down deforestation in the Amazon, and many environmentalists were highly skeptical – but new figures show that the logging rate did actually decrease dramatically between August 2008 and July 2009. Deforestation Detection in Real Time (DETER) and the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) say that deforestation rates dropped by a remarkable 46%.

Increased policing probably has a lot to do with it – the Brazilian government initiated 650 probes into illegal deforestation and arrested 298 people. However, this lower figure probably has something to do with the state of the global economy as well. When things pick back up again, the rate of deforestation will likely go through the roof.

There are already signs that this will be the case. June 2009 saw a stunning increase in Amazon deforestation, with an area the size of Los Angeles cleared in a single month. Though demand for timber products is still part of the problem, the biggest cause by far is cattle ranching, responsible for 80% of deforestation in the Amazon. Most of that beef is exported to Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

Though an appetite for meat is the main driver, vegetarians shouldn’t get too smug. Soybeans are the second leading cause.

Link [Treehugger]
Photo credit: The Guardian

Brazilian Cattle Ranchers Ask to Destroy Forest Lands of Uncontacted Tribe

In yet another battle between ranchers and indigenous peoples of South America, a cattle ranching company is set to destroy the forest where one of the last ‘uncontacted’ tribes in the world live. Survival International reports that the company, Yaguarete Pora S.A., requested permission from the Paraguayan government to tear down the forest on the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians’ land.

From Twilight Earth:

“We urge Paraguay’s government not to allow Yaguarete to work on the Totobiegosode’s land. To do so would violate their rights under international law and the UN’s Declaration on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, and may well destroy them as a people.” – Stephen Corry, director of Survival

The cattle company, Yaguarete Pora S.A., already own the land, but their license to work the area was rescinded by the government after satellite photos showing the destruction of the forest were published last year. The company also kept an investigative team from Paraguay’s Environment Ministry out of the area, adding to the questions many local organizations have about the impact of Yaguarete’s business on the forest.

A local support group for the tribe, GAT, said, “The Environment Ministry must not grant a new licence to Yaguarete. If it does, the last of the uncontacted Totobiegosode could be wiped out.”

It’s not a done deal – yet. The Paraguayan government has yet to respond. But, unfortunately, South American countries struggling to improve their economies tend to side with business when it comes to issues like this.

Survival International is working to protect tribal peoples and their land, and they need our help. Please consider donating even a small amount to help them in this battle.

Link [Twilight Earth] + [Survival International]

Photo credit: Survival International

InterIntel Working to Bring Environmental Solutions to Haiti

Daniel Schnitzer is Co-Founder and Director of Project Management at InterIntel, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity based in Cambridge, MA.  InterIntel works at the community level to improve energy services and environmental management with empowering, self-sustaining projects.  They are presently organizing three projects on the southwestern peninsula of Haiti. In this post, Dan explains how he started the organization with the goal of “democratizing sustainability”:

Back in August of 2008, during my first trip to Haiti, I was standing in front of the heaviest paperweight I had ever seen in my life. It was a perfectly new 170 kW diesel generator, connected to a non-functional streetlighting grid in a coastal town called Tiburon on the western tip of Haiti’s southern peninsula. My Haitian friends had told me that the local congressman spent tens of thousands of dollars and a great deal of effort into developing this project. But now that he had been re-elected, no one was sure whether this generator would ever give light to Tiburon. Electricite d’Haiti built the grid, but had since abandoned it.

During that trip I encountered many other symptoms of the governmental and market failure we read and hear about most often in the form of statistics like these: 800,000 children and 500,000 women die worldwide each year from respiratory disease caused by indoor air pollution from dirty biomass cooking fuel; in 2004, Tropical Storm Jeanne killed 3,000 people in Haiti; in 2008, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike tore paths of destruction through Haiti, causing untold property damage and killing at least 800; each year 30,000,000 trees are cut down in Haiti, which now has just 1% of its land under forest cover.

These symptoms are inequitable for the obvious reason that they disproportionately affect the poor, the oppressed and the disenfranchised. InterIntel and many other organizations operate on the conviction that solutions for many of the root causes of symptoms like illness, disasters and poverty are readily available. Further, we believe that solutions can go one step further than economic development; they can foster social justice.

However, time and again, the “solutions” pandered to the governments and people of least developed countries by the IMF, World Bank and USAID not only failed, but in many cases made situations worse. This is hardly surprising, though. What little participation countries receiving aid from these organizations have is controlled by their finance ministers, who represent the interests of the business elite – not the people.

That is why InterIntel takes a community-based, participatory approach to its projects. We use surveys to discover the needs, constraints and desires of residents, and depend on facts, not ideologies, to guide our work. In order to truly solve the root problems so ubiquitous in the developing world, we must engage in empowering, self-sustaining activities that put people to work, prevent capital flight, and transfer knowledge.

For example, InterIntel discovered through its surveys of 265 residents in the community of Les Anglais that the payback period on a $20US solar-powered LED lamp could be as little as three months, and typically at most fifteen months, based on the amount presently spent on kerosene and candle-based lighting. If such lamps were available, residents would have the option to use a light source that is better for their health and their budget. Our solution is to build a clean energy retail store to stock appropriate energy technologies like solar lamps, solar home systems, and efficient charcoal stoves. We have introduced three key features of this project – cooperation, training and microfinance – to ensure that it has the greatest possible impact.

I encourage you to read more about this and our other projects on our website, www.interintel.org.  In order to make these projects a reality though, InterIntel needs to raise a minimum of $20,000.  We estimate our total costs for the year to be $80,000.  Since receiving our 501(c)(3) status in mid-January of 2009, we have raised over $2,500 from individual donors and greatly appreciate donations of any size – even $25 is enough to purchase and ship two solar LED lamps to Les Anglais. Donations can be securely made through PayPal on our website: www.interintel.org. If you are interested in volunteering, please visit our website to learn more about us and send an email. You can also support our cause by sending our website to friends, family and colleagues, or by becoming a “fan” of InterIntel on our facebook page.
-Daniel Schnitzer

This is our first post from guest blogger Daniel Schnitzer. If you’re interested in blogging for us, send an email to dorothee@see3.net.

Demand for Palm Oil Destroying Indonesian Rainforests

The soaring global demand for palm oil is accelerating the destruction of the Indonesian rainforests. According to Greenpeace, palm oil plantations are linked to forest and peatland destruction which releases massive amounts of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

Agribusiness Threatens World’s Tropical Forests

The Rainforest Action Network is challenging one of the fastest growing threats to the world’s tropical forests: the rapid expansion of industrial agriculture. Fueled in part by the growing demand for biofuels, U.S. agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge and Cargill are establishing soy and palm oil operations in some of the planet’s most biodiverse forests.

Soy has become a major contributor to deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest and its surrounding wooded savanna, the Cerrado, while palm oil plantations are expanding at a rate of 2.5 million acres per year into the tropical forests of Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

RAN is calling on agribusinesses to protect these vital ecosystems by stopping industrial agriculture in these areas.

How can you help the world’s tropical forests? Join RAN’s Protect-an-Acre Program.

Stop the Junk Mail Monster!

Most everyone hates junk mail but do you know the extent to which it destroys forests and wastes your time? According to the nonprofit ForestEthics, every year more than 100 billion pieces of junk mail—almost 900 pieces per household—arrive in American mailboxes. Here are some facts from their website:

Junk mail in America accounts for about 30% of all the mail delivered in the world and more than 100 million trees a year are logged to produce it. Almost half of junk mail goes to landfills unopened, yet Americans still spend eight months of their lives dealing with it. The Canadian Boreal Forest and Indonesian tropical forest—both play a vital role in protecting us from the effects of global warming—are being destroyed to supply paper to this wasteful industry.

Did you read that people? Eight months wasted by opening, stacking, tearing up and throwing out junk mail! This has got to end. Do your part to stop junk mail by signing the petition at donotmail.org.

Did you know? Greenhouse gases created each year by junk mail are the annual equivalent of:

-9,372,000 average passenger cars

-11 coal-fired power plants

-Heating 12.9 million homes

-Mowing more than 20 billions lawns

[via ForestEthics]

Who’s Who in Green: Chico Mendes

Hailed as an environmental hero since the 80’s, Chico Mendes fought a dramatic battle against the burning and logging of the Brazilian rainforest and ultimately gave his life for the cause.  He was born into a rubber tapping family in 1944.  Rubber tapping is a harmless method of extracting sap from rubber trees, and it’s been practiced in the Amazon for decades.  Mendes himself became a rubber tapper as an adult, and this sustainable agriculture system is what unwittingly led him into the world of environmental activism.

While the rubber tappers sought to extract resources from the Amazon without harming it, other industries weren’t so keen on keeping the trees standing.  Miners and cattle farmers wanted to tear down the forests so they could replace it with strip mines and pasture, which make a far bigger profit.  The rubber tappers weren’t going to give up without a fight, though – it was their only way to feed their families, and they felt tied to the trees.  So they would march down the logging trails, disarming the guards and attempting to convince the ranchers’ workers to stop the destruction.

It was tough work, and Mendes saw a friend and ally assassinated in 1980 for standing up to the ranchers. It was then that Mendes decided to take his battle higher up, advocating for the idea of creating forest reserves that could be managed by traditional communities and sustainably harvesting goods like rubber and Brazil nuts. He then founded the Xapuri Rural Worker’s Union, becoming its president.  The union sought to hold their ground against the ranchers, and enjoyed some successes over the years. Mendes taught the surprisingly large numbers of rubber tappers who came to the union meetings about deforestation, cattle ranching and the threat to their livelihoods.

It was at this time that Mendes captured the attention of the international environmental movement.  Mendes and the Xapuri Rural Worker’s Union aligned themselves with environmentalism and in 1985, Mendes was the subject of a documentary by an English filmmaker.

In 1987 Mendes became renowned for his stewardship of the Amazon, flying at the request of the National Wildlife Federation and the Environmental Defense to Washington D.C. to convince the Inter-American Development Bank to consider the preservation of the forest and its inhabitants while carrying out their road project.  This success led to two international environmental awards.

Mendes began his campaign to stop logger Alves de Silva from logging an area that was planned for a reserve in 1988.  It was a struggle, but he managed to stop the planned deforestation so the reserve could be created.  He also gained a warrant for de Silva’s arrest for a  murder committed in another state, but the warrant was never acted upon by police.

Months later, a week after his 44th birthday, Chico Mendes was assassinated at his home in Xapuri.  Alves de Silva and his son, Darli, were sentenced to 19 years in prison for their part in the killing.

The sensational nature of Mendes death only served to bring his cause even more attention, and the Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve was created in the area where he lived, in his honor.  Mendes has since been the subject of several plays, movies and songs and will always be remembered for the spirited activism that highlighted the plight of his homeland.

Chico Mendes’ Green Score: Score: 65,342

Link [Global 500]
Photo credit: American.edu + Encarta

Study: Half of All Mammals in Decline

Yet another disheartening sign of dramatic changes in ecosystems across the world: a new study reports that one in two mammal species on Earth are in decline, and at least one in four are at risk of extinction. The study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature shows that mammal populations are declining faster than scientists previously thought.  The data, compiled by 1,700 experts in 130 countries, might even be a bit rosier than actual reality: there are hundreds of mammal species that weren’t included in the study.

From MSNBC:

“The reality is that the number of threatened mammals could be as high as 36 percent,” Schipper said in a statement released by the IUCN at a gathering in Barcelona.

“Our results paint a bleak picture of the global status of mammals worldwide,” Schipper and his co-authors said in the study. “We estimate that one in four species is threatened with extinction and that the population of one in two is declining.”

“The situation is particularly serious for land mammals in Asia, through the combined effects of overharvesting and habitat loss,” the experts wrote in their study, “and for marine species, victims of our increasingly intensive use of the oceans.”

Habitat loss and degradation is mostly to blame.  The fastest population declines are being seen in countries where industrialization is occurring at a rapid pace, including Central and South America, West, East and Central Africa, Madagascar and in South and Southeast Asia.  Among the most critically endangered animals is the Iberian lynx, with an adult population estimated at no more than 143.

Because of our own spread across the earth, wiping out forests and other animal habitats, we could see hundreds of mammals go extinct within our lifetime.  Those naïve about the interconnectedness of nature might think, ‘oh well – animals go extinct. It happens. What difference does it make to us?’  It truly makes all the difference in the world – it’s the butterfly effect times a thousand. We rely on the diversity of nature in so many ways.  The mass extinction of mammals across the globe could be disastrous for humans, as well as the rest of the earth.

Skyscraper farms and population-dense urban areas with clean mass transit are looking smarter and smarter.  We’ve got to stop our destructive sprawl into the few remaining areas of untouched land.

Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Before and After Images of Global Devastation Hotspots

Skeptical about human impact on the environment? WeHeartWorld has taken UNEP’s Atlas of our Changing Environment, which shows hotspots of human destruction around the world, and picked 11 places that portray the most dramatic changes through satellite imaging.  There’s absolutely no doubt that the human race has negatively affected these areas, which include regions of Spain, Mozambique, Tanzania and China, among others.  We’ve diverted rivers, cut down forests, wasted water resources and set fire to ancient trees. We’ve destroyed ecosystems, killed billions of animals, turned entire regions from lush, fertile lands to dry, near-barren deserts.

Here are two of WeHeartWorld’s picks.  Judge for yourself, and check out the rest at WeHeartWorld.com.

Almeria, Spain

This pair of satellite images shows the impact of massive and rapid agricultural development in Almeria Province along Spain’s southern coast.

In the earlier image, the landscape reflects rather typical rural agricultural land use. In the 2000 image, much of the same region-an area covering roughly 20 000 hectares (49 421 acres) – has been converted to intensive greenhouse agriculture for the mass production of market produce.

Greenhouse-dominated land appears as whitish gray patches.

In order to address increasingly complex water needs throughout Spain, the government adopted the Spanish National Hydrological Plan (SNHP) in 2001.

Initially, this water redistribution plan involved the construction of 118 dams and 22 water transfer projects that would move water from parts of the country where it was relatively abundant to more arid regions.

In 2004, the Spanish government announced it would begin exploring more environmentally friendly water-saving technologies, such as wastewater recycling and seawater desalinization.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

“Where People Go, Nature Dies”

Santa Cruz is situated in Bolivia’s rich, fertile lowlands, a region highly suitable for agriculture.

In the 1975 satellite image, the region’s forested landscape appears as a dense, essentially unbroken expanse of deep green that extends to the Rio Grande (Guapay) River.  It was beautiful from the sky and on the ground.

By 1986 roads had been built that linked the region to other population centers.

As a result, large numbers of people migrated to the area.

A large agricultural development effort (the Tierras Baja project) led to widespread deforestation as forests were clear-cut and converted to pastures and cropland.

By 2003, almost the entire region had been converted to agricultural lands, including the area east of La Esperanza across the river.

In the area north and west of Los Cafes (upper left), notice the grid of squares on the landscape, each with an internal star-shaped pattern.

At the center of each square is a small community.

We’re doing such a great job taking care of this planet to ensure that it’s still hospitable for generations down the road, aren’t we? People suck.

Link [WeHeartWorld]

1/40th of the World’s Rainforests Cleared in 5 Years

A satellite image shows where the dark green pristine forest areas in the Brazil rainforest are being encroached upon by the light green and brown deforested areas.

I am so sick of having to save the rainforest. Really, it boggles my mind that there are still people out there who think it’s okay to cut it down. It’s amazing that some people just don’t care. We’re screwing over the planet a few acres at a time. That’s why news like this is so very depressing.

From Seattlepi.com:

The remote-sensing work lead by Matthew Hansen of South Dakota State University says that from 2000 to 2005 alone, we managed to chop down 2.5 percent of the world’s rainforests. That’s 1/40th of the whole!

Hansen and his team used Landsat photography to measure the forest loss — meaning they didn’t have to reply on notoriously incomplete estimates from governments, which in some cases don’t even know the clearing is going on.

This new research shows that Brazil accounts for nearly half of global deforestation. Brazil alone! Since Brazil is a ‘developing country’, they’re exempt from the Kyoto treaty and thus have no motivation to protect the ‘lungs of the world’. They’re trying to build their economy through cutting down rainforest to plant fields for sugar cane and biofuels, as well as for logging.

It seems like well-off countries need to step in to help Brazil’s economy in a way that doesn’t sacrifice the rainforests. And, consumers need to stop buying Brazilian wood. There are plenty of alternatives out there.

The world without rainforests will not be a pleasant place to be.

Link [Seattlepi.com]
Photo credit: NASA Earth Observatory

Brazilian Wax: Really Drives Home the Point that Deforestation Is Painful

Mildly NSFW…

Deforestation hurts, like a bikini wax. From Green.tv:

/cringe at both.

Opportunists See Dollar Signs as Food Prices Spur Rainforest Destruction

What do you know, chaos and suffering is causing some folks in the position of power to take advantage of the situation. Will wonders never cease?

As people are starting to get worried about the future of our food sources, farmers in Brazil are getting excited about the prospect of making money by cutting down trees in the rainforest, burning the land and making way for pasture and crops.

Envirolink has it:

“At the very edge of the agricultural frontier, it’s very dynamic and that’s why you get statistics for deforestation that swing wildly from one year to the next,” said Roberto Cavalcanti of Conservation International.

“A small shift in food prices can have a big impact on whether it’s economical or not to move into the forest.”

The governor of Mato Grosso, one of Brazil’s biggest farming states, last week advocated more deforestation as a solution to the sharp rises in staples such as rice that are threatening to push millions of people into hunger.

“There is no way to produce more food without occupying more land and taking down more trees,” Blairo Maggi, also Brazil’s largest soybean producer and widely known as the “King of Soy”, told the Folha news agency.

This seems like a really stupid move… at the first sign of a food crisis, we start moving in on the rainforests, which we’ve been trying to protect for decades? Isn’t there a better way, people? I’m no expert, but in the times of climate change and worries over the future of the entire planet, cutting down trees in the rainforest appears to be a very bad idea.

Link [Envirolink]

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Harrison Ford ‘Deforests’ His Chest Hair for the Environment

Harrison Ford invited cameras along on an expedition, and it wasn’t the fun Indiana Jones kind: he was having his chest waxed. Considering that Harrison isn’t the type of guy you’d expect to see on television undergoing intensive man-grooming, naturally, there’s a good reason for all this. It’s all for the good of the environment!

Access Hollywood cameras taped Harrison as he endured the painful process, explaining that his aim was to “shock people into going green”. As vice chair of Conservation International, Harrison wants people to be more aware of the effects of deforestation.

From Conservation.org:

We believe that the Earth’s natural heritage must be maintained if future generations are to thrive spiritually, culturally, and economically. Our mission is to conserve the Earth’s living heritage – our global biodiversity – and to demonstrate that human societies are able to live harmoniously with nature.

In a culture where dim airhead celebrities flash their no-no parts at cameras for attention, it’s refreshing that a shock-value stunt actually has a good purpose.

Link [Ecorazzi] + [Conservation.org]
Photo: Access Hollywood

Drop Those Cookies! Girl Scouts Want You to Pass on the Thin Mints

Next time you hear a box of delicious Girl Scout cookies calling your name, picture a sad monkey. Two girl scouts from Ann Arbor, Michigan want you to know that mass consumption of Thin Mints is putting endangered orangutans out of their homes.

Seattle Times has it:

Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen, both 12, started doing research last fall on endangered orangutans in Indonesia as part of their Bronze Award project. They discovered the habitat of orangutans is being threatened by conversion of the land to the production of palm oil, an ingredient in Girl Scout Cookies.

Although the two have sold many boxes of cookies over the years, this year they sold magazines instead.

Evidently the Girl Scout higher-ups aren’t too pleased with this, considering that they depend upon cookie sales for funding. They’ve told the girls that ABC Bakers, who produce the cookies, have promised to avoid purchasing palm oil from areas deforested specifically for palm oil production, but this hasn’t satisfied the girls.

I used to be a Girl Scout, myself, in the 80s – pulling my little red wagon of cookies down the street. Had I caught wind of something like this, I most certainly would have taken the opportunity to yell things like ‘monkey killers’ at people to get out of selling cookies. Mostly because neighbor boys would chase me down the street on their bicycles making fun of my uniform, but also because, you know, I cared about monkeys and stuff.

Link [Seattle Times]

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons, in the spirit of Lolcats