Food Versus Fuel Debate Intensifies in US

August 10, 2012By Andy RowellBlog Post, Featured 2 Comments

The highly-charged debate of food versus fuel is rising rapidly up the American political agenda, after the worst drought for 50 years in the US has inflicted huge damage on the country’s maize crop. The debate has now intensified with the UN calling for an immediate suspension of the US government-mandated scheme which diverts around … Read More

The Madness of US and EU Biofuels Policy

November 15, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post, Featured

Sometime you just cannot make sense of the madness. In its desire to rid itself of the ravages of foreign oil addiction, the US is subsidizing domestic ethanol production. The success of this programme means that nearly four out of ten bushels of this year’s corn crop will be made into fuel for your car. … Read More

Obama’s War Machine Goes Green

October 5, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post, Featured

On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, a report from Oil Change International, entitled A Climate of War, analysed both the greenhouse gas emissions of the war and the costs involved in fighting that war rather than climate change. The report contained many shocking facts but a couple were that the projected total US … Read More

A complete mockery of forest protection

February 25, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

Anyone following the palm oil debate would not have been surprised by the findings of the BBC’s top investigative programme Panorama earlier in the week, which investigated the industry. Using GPS technology and satellite imaging, the BBC exposed how the palm oil giant Duta Palma Group is logging on both high conservation lands and deep … Read More

A Quarter of US Grain Goes to Biofuels

January 26, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post

A shocking new analysis by the respected Earth Policy Institute has revealed that over a quarter of the total US grain crop was turned into ethanol to fuel cars last year. The figure has tripled since 2004. Because the US is by far the largest grain exporter, the fact that it is feeding an increasing … Read More

US biofuels: “Just throwing money out the window”

January 8, 2010By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

In its investigation into the explosion of corporate lobbyists swarming around the US Climate Bill last year, the Centre for Public Integrity noted that “agriculture-based alternative fuels were especially well represented among the new lobbying entrees”. In fact, the CIJ pointed out, the agriculture industry is the fourth largest industry lobby on climate in the … Read More

The Angry Mermaid Strikes Back

November 16, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post

All the news reports this morning are that a deal at Copenhagen is dead. Barack Obama has said that we had run out of time to secure a deal in December. This will please the corporate lobbyists no end.  The longer they can delay action on climate the better. But now Copenhagen’s iconic mermaid is … Read More

Policy Re-Think Needed for “Biofuels Bogeyman”

August 17, 2009By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

Here’s yet more evidence to nail into the coffin of the biofuel revolution.  Biofuels have gone from the ultimate “win-win solution” to a “bogeyman” that threatens to starve the poor and keep the cars of the rich running, according to a new report by Christian Aid. Having reviewed all the evidence, the development charity has … Read More